Whirlwinds
Having covered the significance of the north vs. south symbolism in my previous post, we will now discuss the symbolism of the whirlwind as it pertains to our key verse of interest. Let’s look at that verse again.
“At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships.”
Daniel 11:40 NKJV
In this verse, we see a peculiar reference to the King of the North rushing against the king of the south (the second ‘him’ in the verse) like a whirlwind. At first this probably just seems like nothing more than artistic embellishment by the heavenly man presenting it. That seems to be how most people throughout history have interpreted it.
However, just as the symbolism of the north vs. south has a significant biblical precedent, we’ll soon see that the whirlwind does as well. Let’s now take a look at how the ‘whirlwind’ is used in scripture.
Terms for Whirlwind
Now, let me say up front, that we do have to be a little careful here. Let me explain why.
The Hebrew word for “whirlwind” used in Daniel 11:40 is sa`ar. If you’d like to look it up in a Strong’s concordance, it’s Strong’s number H8175. This word is only used in a handful of places elsewhere in scripture but this occurrence in Daniel is the only place where any English translation renders it as “whirlwind”. In other places it’s translated as “fear” or “terror” or something similar. So, it may seem that our search for the significance of the biblical use of whirlwind wouldn’t go beyond the very verse we are starting in.
Fortunately, there are several other Hebrew words that can also mean ‘whirlwind’. Realizing that, to determine if there is some significance to the symbol of the ‘whirlwind’, we may need to expand our search a little to allow for words that may not be exactly the same Hebrew word as that used here in Daniel.
It turns out, that some of these additional words meaning ‘whirlwind’ actually bear a very close resemblance to the word used here in Daniel 11:40. With other words of similar meaning however, such a relationship to our whirlwind in this passage may not seem as strong. To be fair in our analysis, then, we will deliberately try to limit our options to only to the words that have a clear relationship to that which is used in Daniel 11:40.
With that explanation out of the way, let’s look at two of the other Hebrew words that can mean whirlwind. These are Strong’s numbers H5590 and H5591. Here is the Hebrew representation of these words.
Hebrew Words Meaning Whirlwind
After being transliterated into English, both words are spelled ca`ar. As noted earlier, the Hebrew word for “whirlwind” used in Daniel 11:40 is sa`ar. Notice how similar all three of these words look in both Hebrew and English. There’s a reason for that. They are pronounced similarly, if not exactly the same way in both languages. So here we have 3 words. They can all mean the same thing and they are all pronounced the same way. They are clearly related.
Keeping a conservative mindset, it seems very reasonable that our search for passages relating to whirlwinds should at least include these two Hebrew words. The following are English versions of key verses that employ the Hebrew words H5590 and H5591 and that also translate them as ‘whirlwind’:
Whirlwinds in Scripture
Turning to the New King James again, Ezekiel tells us
“Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.”
Ezekiel 1:4
Notice again that here this whirlwind – a symbolic image of God – is also coming out of the north.
“No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”
Isaiah 40:24
“See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked.”
Jeremiah 23:19
“When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. … As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
2 Kings 2:1,11
In this account of Elijah, notice the association of the whirlwind with the chariot and horses. All of these things are mentioned in our passage in Daniel 11:40 as well. Isaiah also makes this association:
See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isaiah 66:15
Again, in Habakkuk, we see God riding into battle:
“Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and your chariots to victory?”
Habakkuk 3:8
Even God’s messengers are depicted in 2nd Kings as a mounted cavalry:
And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
2 Kings 6:17
In Psalms, David says
“The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the Lord has come from Sinai into his sanctuary.”
Psalm 68:17
Ezekiel 10 actually takes this imagery a step further and reveals that God’s chariot doubles as his throne.
And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. Then he spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.”
Ezekiel 10:1-2
Later in verses 15, 20, and 22, Ezekiel realizes that this throne was the same chariot he had witnessed back in verse 1:4. Notice this throne has wheels like a chariot. Rather than being a stationary object as is the case with the thrones of most earthly kings, God is pictured as taking his throne wherever he goes into battle.
Jeremiah tells us that when God sets his chariot-throne within a nation, this signifies the execution of judgement on that nation.
“I will set my throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,” declares the Lord.”
Jeremiah 49:38
Quick Comparison to Daniel 7:9-10
As a quick side note while this image of the fiery chariot-throne of God’s judgment is fresh in your mind, if you’re familiar with Daniel’s other prophecies, you’ll recall that in the vision of the 4 beasts of 7:9-10, immediately after the body of the 4th beast is destroyed by fire, Daniel sees the fiery throne of the Ancient of Days set in place. Based on what we’ve seen in scripture, we can conclude that this throne – God’s throne – has all the trappings it did elsewhere is scripture. In particular, we can infer that it has the appearance of a whirlwind-like chariot drawn by flaming horses.
At the very least, this demonstrates that imagery bearing a striking resemblance to that used in Daniel 11:40 was used at least one other time in Daniel as a symbolic portrayal of God’s judgment. Could it even suggest that these two visions of Daniel are actually describing contemporaneous events – perhaps even the same event?
That’s a topic for another time, so I’ll just let you think on that one on your own for a while. I just wanted to plant a little hint there that whatever we end up making of Daniel 11:40, it may also have a significant impact on how we understand earlier prophecies of Daniel.
Whirlwind: Recap and Summary
So, getting back to our original topic of the ‘whirlwind’, let’s take stock of what we’ve just learned.
Here in Daniel 11:40, we have a king representing the north rushing out like a whirlwind with chariots and horses against a king of the south. Elsewhere in scripture, we’ve seen whirlwinds coming out of the north that are clearly associated with God’s vehicle of judgment, his fiery chariot-throne. Within another oracle of Daniel, the vision of the 4 beasts from the sea, we saw a curiously similar judgment scenario unfold using comparable imagery.
Is it just me or does it seem that a person could be forgiven for concluding that the king of the north here in Daniel 11:40 is, somehow, a picture of God himself?
And if the king of the north represents God in this verse, maybe it’s represented God from the very beginning of the prophecy? This certainly would fit very well with all the biblical evidence we’ve seen up to this point.
Other Hints of God
In fact, in light of this realization, other seemingly irrelevant statements begin to take on heightened significance as indications that this king of the north may actually be a veiled reference to God.
Several times in Daniel, language very similar to that which is used to describe God’s prerogatives is applied to those of earthly kings. For instance, the phrase “does as he pleases” occurs 3 times in Daniel 11 itself. It appears in verses 3, 16, 36. In the first two of these verses, it’s the king of the north who does as he pleases. In the third verse, it’s just “the king”, with the term ‘north’ excluded but the last king referenced before this was the king of the north so it seems likely that this anonymous king is really another reference to the king of the north.
What’s interesting here is, that in Daniel 4:35, Daniel warns king Nebuchadnezzar that it’s God who does as he pleases. This means that 3 times in the same prophecy containing our puzzling verse, the king of the north is ascribed the unique privileges of God Himself.
We also find support for this idea in another book of the Bible which is from the same general time period as Daniel – the book of Esther. Let’s turn there for a moment.
It’s long been recognized that although God isn’t mentioned even once in Esther, His providence and guiding hand over the course of history are significant, if only implicit, themes. The assumption is that God is acting in history through the earthly characters and events of the account. These same themes are also predominant in Daniel. Further, a primary concern of the personalities of Esther is pleasing the earthly king of Persia. Statements referring to the “king’s pleasure” occur at least 14 times in Esther.
We should ask ourselves, is it just a coincidence that the pleasure of an earthly king, a king portrayed as one of the primary agents through whom God brings about His will, is such a prevalent subject of both Daniel and Esther? Could it be that these books demonstrate examples of the same sort of allusions to God’s invisible hand in history?
In another of Daniel’s prophecies, we also see mention of a king who does as he pleases. This is the king of Persia represented in a vision as a ram in Daniel 8:4. This same verse ties this concept of pleasing the king to another common theme of Daniel. The theme of irresistible destruction. Daniel 8:4 mentions that there was no one in existence who could stop the ram’s conquest. Or as Daniel puts it, “no animal could withstand him; nor was there any that could deliver from his hand”. In fact, just a few verses later, the tables are turned on the ram as a male goat, symbolizing the king of Greece, enters the scene. The goat shatters the ram’s horn in Daniel 8:7 and it’s stated that “there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand.”
In Daniel chapter 3, we find Nebuchadnezzar rhetorically asking what god could rescue those who refused to worship the image he had made. He specifically asks “what god could rescue them from my hand”. We also see king Darius in Daniel 6 trying to devise a plan to rescue Daniel from the lions. In the cases of both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, it’s God who is ultimately credited with the ability to rescue his servants from certain destruction. We see this when Nebuchadnezzar responds to the saving of Daniel’s friends from the fiery furnace in Daniel 3:28.
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king?s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”
Daniel 3:15
Likewise, Darius responds in similar terms to Daniel’s miraculous rescue from the lions:
So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!” … When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” … He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Daniel 6:16, 20, 27
Is it then just an insignificant coincidence that the earthly kings of chapter 8 (the Ram and the Goat) are also said to have this power to rescue? And is it just shear happenstance, that verse 4 of that same chapter, chapter 8, also uses the phrase “does as he pleases” elsewhere attributed to God alone. And is it just by chance that the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, is the central Greek figure of that same chapter and also chapter 11 where he’s one of the Kings of the North?
Now if all these instances indicate that these nations and kings possess powers that are characteristic of God alone, is it any stretch of the imagination at all to think that the king of the north of Daniel 11 is to be understood as none other than God himself acting out his will in history through earthly nations?! It seems to me that a person could easily reach that conclusion.
Further, elsewhere in scripture, the whirlwind seems to be associated with the early warnings and initial phases of God’s judgment. We saw this earlier, where Ezekiel witnessed God’s whirlwind-like chariot-throne leaving the temple and the city of Jerusalem, coming to rest over the Mount of Olives, the mountain east of Jerusalem. This signified that God had abandoned the city and would not be fighting for her when the Babylonians came to invade.
Even before Ezekiel’s time, Hosea 8:7 has God stating that the destruction of the Northern King of Israel would be tantamount to reaping the whirlwind – the fitting punishment for sowing nothing but spiritual wind. This last occurrence of whirlwind is quite different than the three Hebrew words we looked at earlier. In keeping with our commitment to not consider such words, we will establish our case here independent of it. However, after this case is established, an investigation into this word can be quite fascinating itself. Perhaps we can do that in another article.
Suffice it to say, there is a longstanding tradition that the presence of God and the initial phases of his wrath are indicated by the concept of the whirlwind.
Returning to Our Question
So, let’s backup for a moment. Where exactly are we in relation to the question we set out to answer earlier? That question was “what justification is there for supposing that the kings of the north and south in the second part of Daniel 11:40 are different than they were in the first part?”. So far we’ve seen that similar changes in identity that are abrupt and undetectable by context alone do occur several times elsewhere in this prophecy. We’ve also seen convincing evidence that God is somehow to be understood as the true king of the north and spiritual forces in opposition to him are symbolized by the south. That is, the earthly kings associated with the symbol of the north are the agents of God’s judgment and the king of the south represents the recipients of God’s judgment. We’ve also seen evidence that he is most associated with this whirlwind during the early warnings and initial phases of his judgment. While all this is certainly interesting, it’s hard at this point to see how this all brings us any closer to the answer we are looking for. Something still seems to be missing from this equation.
Judgment Patterns in Scripture
There is in fact one more piece to the puzzle that we will need before the picture will be complete. This has to do with the pattern in which God portions out his judgment on nations.
Imagine, for example, a nation that has been under observation by God for a good long time. He finds that their actions continually displease Him. How does God deal with such a nation? According to the Bible, he generally lets their transgressions continue only to a predetermined point. When that transgression extends beyond this point, that’s when he brings judgment on that nation. God alludes to this principle of his judgment when he informs Abraham how long his descendants will remain outside the land of Canaan.
In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.
Genesis 15:16
Here, God acknowledges that the Amorites are sinful people but in his patient forbearance, he indicates that he has given them a certain threshold which their sin must exceed before he will bring judgment on them. In this passage, he also hints that when the time does come for judgment on the Amorites, Abraham’s descendants will be the executors of God’s judgment. That judgment will be the military might of Israel.
And we find this principle at work throughout scripture. God’s judgment against one nation takes the form of the military power of an opposing nation.
These nations are not chosen for this purpose because their rulers are necessarily more pleasing to God or because they have an established zeal for enforcing God’s laws. A nation is chosen in many cases simply because they already have a selfish disposition toward subjection of the nation that God wishes to judge. God, with his sovereign power to bend the forces of evil to his will, uses foreign nations as unwitting participants in His overall plan. As far as they are concerned, their aggressive actions towards other nations are for the purposes of furthering their own interests. They have little or no regard for the purposes of God. This evil intent does not escape God’s attention, but he tolerates it long enough to fulfill His purposes.
Therefore, just as with the nation that is currently the focus of God’s judgment, the nation executing that judgment -the executor- is assigned a specified point to which God will no longer tolerate its evil intentions either. When this point is reached, the executor of God’s judgment will be convicted itself. That nation will then become the new focal point of God’s judgment. And just as with the earlier nation, the executor of this judgment will be a nation itself, albeit, a different one. And so the cycle continues on and on.
Lest we assume that this observation is mere speculation on our part, God Himself says point blank that this is exactly how he operates. Consider how he describes the manner in which he would deal with ancient Assyria in these passages from Isaiah:
“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations. … When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.”
Isaiah 10:5-7,12
God fulfilled this promise when the forces of Babylonia conquered the Assyrian empire.
Combining this cyclical principle of judgment of nations by the military forces of other nations and the principle that God’s judgment emanates from the north, we can deduce that after the executor nation (symbolized by the north) finishes carrying out God’s judgment on the judged nation (symbolized by the south), the focus of God’s judgment should then tend to progress from the south toward the north.
To put it another way, as the judgment on the south subsides, it gives way to God’s compassion for the suffering remnant, and the new target of God’s judgment becomes the north, the former executor of God’s wrath. Here again, we don’t have to speculate. This principle is stated explicitly on several occasions in scripture:
God commands Ezekiel:
“Say to the southern forest: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it”.
Ezekiel 20:47
A chapter later, God says,
“Because I am going to cut off the righteous and the wicked, my sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.”
Ezekiel 21:4
This south-to-north progression of judgment even seems to be alluded to in the description of how the guards were arranged around the young king Joash to protect him from the evil Athaliah:
2 Kings 11:11, and 2 Chronicles 23:10 tell us that the guards, each with weapon in hand, stationed themselves around the young king Joash -near the altar and the temple and they were oriented from the south side to the north side of the temple. These guards, the agents of God’s wrath, were instructed to kill anyone who dared to come near the king. The description of their arrangement is yet another indication that the order in which judgment is executed is in the south first, then the north.
Conclusion
I think by now you’re maybe starting to see where this is all leading. So, let’s walk through it together.
A consistent theme of Daniel is that God is in control, as reflected in the title of Dr. Gurney’s book. Nations are always operating at God’s behest whether they realize it or not. As long as they refuse to acknowledge this and do not yield to his will, they are storing up wrath against themselves. Once their disobedience surpasses a certain point predefined by God, His pent up wrath will engulf them. God has chosen the cardinal direction of the north to signify the place from where He righteously executes this just punishment. The objects of this wrath are the earthly rulers who have chosen to align themselves with spiritual forces in opposition to God. These rulers are symbolized as taking their stance in the south.
Had we been aware of this symbolism at the outset of the vision, we could have immediately sensed that the account of the kings of the north and south was depicting a judgment scene. We would have been able to infer from the very start that the judgment on the recipient nation would gradually cease. Further, as that judgment would draw to a close, we could anticipate that God’s judgment would be shifting its focus northward all the while. Ultimately, the focus of judgment would rest completely on the north. It’s quite possible that this transfer of roles may occur implicitly and transparently so as to preserve the heavenly viewpoint symbolized by the north vs. south imagery. This by itself would seem to lend more credence to the idea that maybe the identities of the nations do change exactly as Dr. Gurney proposes. This would appear justifiable even with only the striking parallels between the text and the events of recorded history.
Fortunately, we have indicators well beyond that. We are not left to assume that this is only a mere possibility within the text. We actually see the intensity of the narrative increase in a very striking way. The whirlwind of the second half of verse 40 accompanied by the chariots and horses are well established Old Testament symbols. They represent the blinding suddenness with which God first blasts open the storehouses of his blazing hot wrath. This classic trademark is a dead giveaway that God’s disciplinary action, though it has been waning with regards to the south, has once more been revived. According to the Biblical pattern we’ve seen, this outpouring of wrath would seem to be the initial phase of a judgment from God. Since this is an initial phase of judgment, it would seem strange if the target were still the same nation whose judgment had been introduced at the beginning of the chapter. Rather, this judgment is in response to the sin of the nation of the north surpassing the tolerable limit which God had set for it. At this point, then, God’s wrath is terrifyingly manifest against his former, inadvertent allies. The force of God’s judgment once again returns to full strength but has come to bear fully focused on the nation that had previously represented His interests, when it was symbolized by the north.
You see, we have, for ages, wrongly assumed that the nations referred to by the north and south do not change. In reality, it is the lens through which God sees the world that does not change. And from His viewpoint, judgment comes from the north. Yet, no nation remains associated with the north forever. All nations are temporary agents of God’s wrath. Eventually, those agents will be judged themselves. And once judgment finally comes around for a nation associated with the north, that nation can no longer properly be seen by God as the north. It is no longer his agent, his executor. It becomes the target of His judgment and therefore a representative of the south. A new nation enters the scene as God’s executor and becomes associated with the north. This happens seamlessly and implicitly.
So, if we are going to detect this change in the text, we’ll need to either look to history or find something within the text itself that could serve as an indicator. Fortunately we have both. In the second half of verse 40, then, the King of the South changes from Egypt, to Syria, the former King of the North. Syria is being judged by Rome, who, according to history, has become the new king of the North.
Gurney’s Hypothesized Transition
So, there you have it. A biblically based explanation of why these verses have bewildered believers and emboldened skeptics for several thousand years. We’ve seen not only why the seemingly odd change of nations does occur but also why we should have probably been expecting the change to be necessary after reading only a few verses into the oracle. The rest is, well, history. History which we can learn more about by at another time.
We’ve covered a wealth of information in this session. Information that is hard to digest in one sitting. I’d encourage you to investigate these subjects more on your own and reach your own conclusions. Whether you ultimately agree or not with the views presented here, I’d love to hear you’re thoughts on this interpretation -positive or negative. Please post your comments below to join the conversation or email me for private inquiries. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
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