An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

Some because the relative [Which] is not expressed in the Original, take these words as a distinct question,¹ Knowest thou by what way the light is parted? and (taking up that again) by what way he scattereth the East-wind upon the Earth? But I shall speak of these words, as intending this effect of light, the scattering the East-wind. The Hebrew Word signifies strictly the Eastern part of the World, the Sun-rising, and so the East-wind, which riseth often with the Sun, or upon which the Sun hath a great command, and may be here put synecdochically for all the Winds. Naturalists tell us that lightning (which was the first interpretation) doth raise the East-wind, or causeth it to blow; and that the light of the Sun, or the Sun-rising, hat• also an influence upon the wind, or raiseth the East-wind, is both the observation of Naturalists and an assertion which hath ground in Scripture. The Sun is by some called, the Father of the Winds, and especially of the East-wind; and the East-wind hath denominations ⟨p. 200⟩both in the Greek and Latin Tongue (as the Margin shows) implying that it is much (as it were) under the dominion of the Sun. It is said (Jonah 4.8.) that, The Lord at the Sun-rising commanded or prepared a vehement East-wind to blow upon the head of Jonah. As if the rising of the Sun had some power in the bringing the East-wind; and without all doubt the East-wind (as one elegantly describes it) at that time by Gods Call, fought under the banner of the Sun, and was confederate with him for the affliction of that angry Prophet Jonah. The East-wind is a vehement wind, a drying wind, a scorching wind. (Exod. 14.21.) When the Lord lead the people of Israel through the Red Sea, it is said, He commanded a strong East wind to blow all night, and divided the Sea. The East-wind it seems, was the most proper instrument to serve the Providence of God, in dividing or scattering, and then in gathering the waters of the Sea; as here the light is said to scatter the East-wind upon the Earth. Mr. Broughton renders these words, as expressing the natural aptitude of the wind to spread it self, thus, And which way the East-wind scattereth it self over the Earth? That is, which way it will scatter, or in what Country it will blow? The winds are of a most diffusive nature, they scatter themselves, they disperse, and pass through the air with much violence and vehemence.