Sowing Wind, Reaping Whirlwind: Sin's Inevitable Harvest

The consequences of sin are inescapable, though not always apparent to the superficial observer. Transgression may appear productive of happiness, yet the wicked possess no reasonable expectation of contentment—neither now nor in the eternal world.

Who sows the wind? Sow the wind (zaraʿ ruaḥ) is a proverbial expression for labouring in vain. Four categories cultivate this futile harvest: sensualists who yield to the gratifications of sense, as Solomon confessed (Ecclesiastes ii.1, 10–11); worldlings who pursue riches, which are proverbially uncertain and multiply anxieties; formalists whose mere round of religious services can never satisfy the conscience; and false professors who wish to be thought religious while destitute of spiritual life.

What shall they reap? The whirlwind (suphah) represents extraordinary calamities that are sudden, irresistible, and tremendous. Napoleon's dismissal of Elohim to La Place—"we have no longer any need of that hypothesis"—preceded a half-century of anarchy and the Reign of Terror in France. Montesquieu wisely countered: "Elohim is as necessary as freedom to the welfare of France!"

This illustration from Sketches of Sermons teaches urgent application: redeem the time with earnestness, and recognize the blessedness of those living toward Adonai. The harvest follows inevitably from the seed.