An Angel Rides in the Whirlwind: A Commentary

November 17, 2001 | Ironword

[Ironword]

“After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: ``We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?”

WHEN in his Inaugural Address President Bush spoke the poetic “angel rides in the whirlwind” phrase, drawn from a letter written to Thomas Jefferson by John Page following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I thought it was a verse of scripture that I had somehow missed or forgotten. Indeed, though he spoke this phrase twice, I didn’t later bother to locate the text of the phrase in the Bible.

Upon seeing the phrase recently recalled again in a brief piece written by a well-known commentator, I broke out a concordance and began searching for either a direct or similar text in the Bible.

There is none that I can find.

Some who have previously commented on this phrase have claimed that Page’s inspiration was the manifestation of the Almighty (i.e., theophany) as He led the Israelites out from the land of Egypt. However, while it may have been Page’s inspiration (and that is not certain), it is not exegetically accurate, as the Almighty was present in the “pillar of cloud by day” and in the “pillar of fire by night” -- there was no whirlwind in the desert, neither a storm.

With two exceptions, “whirlwind” when appearing in scripture (i.e., the Old Testament, as the word never occurs in the New Testament) is associated with providential judgment, as in the following (Nahum I:2,3):

2 God is jealous and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

The two exceptions to the use of “whirlwind” as a portent of judgment are when Elijah is carried up “into heaven by a whirlwind,” and when “the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind” following Job’s trials. Here, regarding the communication to Job, it is the Almighty directly speaking out from the whirlwind (i.e., another theophany), and not an angel (i.e., a divine messenger) sent to speak on His behalf.

Angels are occasionally the instruments of the Almighty’s judgments -- for example, the “destroying angel” or the various angels discussed in the Apocalypse (Book of Revelation).

What Page was likely trying to communicate to Jefferson was the perception of a providential hand guiding the events that ultimately led to the creation of the United States of America. With this perception I would completely agree, yet not with its expression in the context of an angel riding in a whirlwind and directing a storm, which connotes the execution of judgment.

Yet what was the president trying to communicate with this phrase? Probably, the thought that a providential hand had guided the contentious presidential election of 2000, along with an allusion to the contentious presidential election between Jefferson and John Adams. I would agree that a providential hand guided the election of 2000, for God is sovereign over the affairs of mankind, but would not agree that the potential unsettling of our typically routine transfer of power was a pouring out of gracious blessings from heaven upon a righteous nation.

It is a peculiar phrase, one of unknown origin that does not on its face suggest blessing; rather, a providentially directed whirlwind of judgment or chastisement.

What think ye?

[Ironword]

Bobrick, interviewed by phone from his Vermont home, said he did not understand the connection between "angel in the whirlwind" and Bush's inaugural address, since there is no national crisis taking place today to compare with the creation of a new nation in 1776.

Seems almost prophetic, in light of this.

[Pinetop]

Bush's inaugural now seems eerily prophetic. I wonder if he thinks of that and wonders if he was being pointed to a hereafter?

Oddly enough, his very public office is a very private station.

Everyone of us must keep this man in our prayers.

[DB]

I take it to mean that America is the storm of man yielding to or being guided by God through an Angel taking it forward to a higher righteous purpose. I could be wrong… ;-)

[Prodigal Daughter]

I am so enjoying this thread. Reading man's poetry and, best of all, God's poetry in the morning with my cafe con leche. Searching God's poetry for whirlwind: whirlwind search and whirlwind is Strong's #5492 from Strong's 5486 which is from TWOT #1478. I think it was a poor choice for an inaugural speech. Possibly the speechwriters and the President consulted some Biblically ignorant clergy when they wrote the speech?

Also, why do you say angels don't have wings?

[Prodigal Daughter]

I would say rather than God causing storms: man's disobedience causes storms. God allows us to experience the storms and the curses that are in the storm because of His righteous judgment and love for us and every thing else you said.

[Prodigal Daughter]

George Barna published the results of a survey a few months ago; approximately 246,000 abortions were performed last year on women who described themselves as "born again Christians", some 15% of all abortions. I believe 37% of all abortions were performed on women who identified themselves as belonging to mainstream churches. From the time of the Pilgrims onward until at least the National Day of Prayer and Fasting in 1976, the church preached repentance and fasting; collective repentance as a nation and as a church, but repentance has been replaced with the gospel of prosperity and materialism.

[Ironword]

Excellent lexicographical search link.

Obviously, from the etymology, "whirlwind" is an allegory for judgment. Addison used the phrase to describe a providential rout of the Gaul, whereas Page appears to have intended it to suggest a providential direction of the storm of revolution.

I thought its incongruent appearance in the Inaugural Address was ominous; perhaps God has now turned his attention to the pruning of the wild grape?

My comment about angels not having wings is based on their dscriptions in the Bible -- when physically described, they are always human-like in appearance. I believe the depiction of angels with wings is an artists' folly, similar to the depictions of Christ with then-unlawful long hair and Teuton Aryan features.

[Ironword]

Bush's inaugural now seems eerily prophetic.

It does. Like Caiaphas the High Priest (and I don't in any way mean to compare Bush to that wicked one), because of his station, he could well have been given to prophesy for the nation.

[Ironword]

I take it to mean that America is the storm of man yielding to or being guided by God through an Angel taking it forward to a higher righteous purpose.

It could be its intended meaning in the Inaugural -- except that America hasn't been yielding to God for many decades.

[Ironword]

From the time of the Pilgrims onward until at least the National Day of Prayer and Fasting in 1976, the church preached repentance and fasting; collective repentance as a nation and as a church, but repentance has been replaced with the gospel of prosperity and materialism.

Yes, the recent calls for "prayer" and the public "prayer meetings" have been pathetic -- no mention of individual or collective repentance and humility before God; rather, social psychobabble sessions replacing that God whose many attributes include justness and righteousness with one who is merely an emotional comforter.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bobrick, interviewed by phone from his Vermont home, said he did not understand the connection between "angel in the whirlwind" and Bush's inaugural address, since there is no national crisis taking place today to compare with the creation of a new nation in 1776.

Seems almost prophetic, in light of this.

Indeed. I guess GW is a man of God.

[Pinetop]

America's pendulum has always swung between the vision of religious outcasts who came here to establish religious colonies and the vision of post-Enlightenment thinkers who gave Americans the right to the pursuit of happiness.

Over the last 50 years, the contemporaneous ascendancy of individual rights with the legal suppression of religious thought in public institutions and policy resulted in civil discord. (We may just now be realizing the dire effects internationally.) Would it perhaps have balanced these competing interests if racial integration, which had such strong religious support, had been implemented in churches rather than in the public schools where religion was silenced? Maybe.

In recognition of America's late-20th century's solipsism, God was pronounced "dead." Some denominations thinking they were being relevant, made humanistic psychology their message, supplanting teaching God's word with elementary psychology and sociology affirming the sanctity of the individual's right to choose. As the individual's right to have his/her choices satisfied was blessed, demands proliferated among those who believed that choices had been denied them. Americans splintered into sparring groups of rights-based identities. Lots of litigation--we were all paying damages to each other. Everyone was a hypenated American. Until about half of the population looked around and saw that our institutions and character were in decline. The pendulum started to swing back. But, while we were all swinging on the pendulum of our democracy ala Harry Lloyd, global telecommunication was directly marketing U.S. products and programs for the retail satisfaction of individual choice into pendulum-free theocracies where "individual rights" is an oxymoron.

So here we are, some 200 years after Page wrote that an angel rides in the whirlwind hoping that the Almighty will direct the storm.

[McGavin999]

I think the angel in a whirlwind directing the storm was a beautiful portrayal of faith. It says that whatever trials and turbulance we may go through, (the storm), has God's hand (the angel) directing the ultimate outcome. That was my thought when President Bush first spoke those words, and it applies even more now.

God does not cause tragedies, but he CAN and DOES direct the outcome.

[Ironword]

I recall McCain's moving speech at the convention, "I am haunted by the vision," where he meant an awe of the future potential of the USA. I suppose the eloquent "angel rides in the whirlwind" phrase can be interpreted poetically, but I was looking at it in a exegetical way.

[Prodigal Daughter]

I looked in my topical index to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

Whirlwind--a great storm or tempest.
A. used literally of:
Elijah's translation: 2 Kin. 2:1; It's fury: Is 17:13.
Used figuratively of:
Sudden destruction...Prov. 1:27
Suddenness: Is. 5:28
God's anger Jer. 23:19
God's might: Nah 1:3.

I was wondering if you thought it was a deliberate choice of words or an ignorant choice?

[Prodigal Daughter]

Calling historians!

[exmarine]

From the time of the Pilgrims onward until at least the National Day of Prayer and Fasting in 1976, the church preached repentance and fasting; collective repentance as a nation and as a church, but repentance has been replaced with the gospel of prosperity and materialism.

Yes, the recent calls for "prayer" and the public "prayer meetings" have been pathetic -- no mention of individual or collective repentance and humility before God; rather, social psychobabble sessions replacing that God whose many attributes include justness and righteousness with one who is merely an emotional comforter.

Yes, you and Prodigal Daughter are right on. I will add that most Americans (even many so-called Christians) do not like to think that God may judge America. Why wouldn't He? Is this God a different God that judged Israel? Did Jesus Christ not judge Jerusalem in 70 AD? Yes He did. God does not cause "tragedies" (recipient's perspective), rather He judges righteously.

I am disgusted by all of this pagan "god bless america" effusion. Which god would that be in the pantheon of american gods? I don't know. The official god of the U.S. government is hard to discern - it is either "any ole god" (Islam is peace and is equal with Christianity) or it is naturalism (the religion taught in our schools). Take your pick. Either way, the U.S. is in big big trouble. I believe the blinders are on so it may already be too late. However, God may spare America simply because of the small percentage of righteous people (His imputed righteousness) in this country (less than 5% of the population). (God withheld His judgment in Genesis because there were a mere 10 righteous men in the city).

"God Please Spare America" is my slogan.

[Ironword]

I was wondering if you thought it was a deliberate choice of words or an ignorant choice?

I think the phrase was chosen for rhetorical value, without knowledge of what it truly conveys. Which is also why I consider its possible nature as a prophetic utterance upon the nation if it chooses to remain impenitent. Of course, repentance averted the judgment upon Nineveh, but have we yet seen our bleached Jonah?

[Ironword]

"God Please Spare America" is my slogan.

That is more appropriate and accurate, or perhaps "God help America."

Let us hope and pray for a Great Awakening, which move can only be graciously bestowed from above.