Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.
Ver. 9. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind] Which is a wonderful wind indeed; τυφων the Greeks call it (as they do a like wind at sea ευροκλυδων, the mariner's mischief), the Latins, vortex, because it turns up trees by the roots, houses by the foundation, Job 1:19, and turbo, as breeding great trouble; for which cause also Pope Urban was called Turban. It suddenly ariseth and as suddenly ceaseth, but doth much mischief, and especially in strait and narrow places. In allusion whereunto the apostle would not have people to be wherried and whirled about with every wind of doctrine, Ephesians 4:14, as unstable souls use to be. Illebius, for instance; who, as a Protestant, first turned Antinomian, and afterwards a Papist. So the old Illuminati, boasting at first of a certain angelic purity, fell suddenly to the very counterpoint of justifying beastiality (Spec. Europ.). For prevention of this pernicious lightness, "It is good" (saith the apostle) "that the heart be established with grace," Hebrews 13:9. That men be sound in the faith, well principled, bottomed and ballasted.
And cold out of the north] Heb. out of the scattered winds. North winds scatter the clouds, clear the sky, and so bring on fair cold weather, Kαι Bορεης αιθρηγενετης (Hom. Odyss.). By mezerim here some understand certain stars toward the north pole; Arcturus, the Vulgate Latin rendereth it.