Ecclesiastes 1:6
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
The Hebrew word roo-agh means wind, and the verse describes it going toward the south, turning about to the north, whirling continually, and returning again according to its circuits. It belongs to the Preacher's sermon by Solomon the son of David, king in Jerusalem, written about 977 after he tasted all the pleasures, wealth, luxury, and idolatry this world could give. He yielded to all the desires of the heart and flesh and was led away by his many wives, and found no satisfaction.
In its surrounding verses the wind's repeated circuits illustrate the wearisome, recurring labor and vanity that mark the world subjected to the curse. They show the folly of earthly pursuits without hope in God and the nothingness of humanity without God, presenting the vanity of human life and the utter uselessness of all human pursuits apart from God. The record of his wise search for pleasure that found it not shows that following all the luxuries the human mind could invent produces nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit. Yet the sermon interweaves excellent practical instruction and leads to the conclusion to fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
The wind does not blow by mere caprice but follows regular courses that are laws of nature. Its ordered, recurring circulation is an observable truth of nature that careful observation can discover and that can be scientifically demonstrated. That ordered cycle is evidence of God's controlling power over nature and over the conditions that produce rain. Recognizing God's power in natural laws helps people better understand and appreciate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The wind's circuits can serve as means of providence. Winds helped bring the gospel to Scotland, wrecked the Spanish Armada, and favored William of Orange's landing in England, thereby advancing Protestantism and civil and religious liberty. The wind's recurring circuits are part of the repeated patterns of the natural world that, in the wider passage of Ecclesiastes 1:4-9, accompany the succession of generations and the repetition of human life, in which people see the same sights and follow the same course as those before them. The movement of workers into the South and back out again is like this circulation: because the stream flows both ways, it does not materially increase the supply of workers there.