The “east wind, which bringeth immediate destruction … is an Old World cultural symbol. The people of the Bible recognized the existence of four prevailing winds as issuing, broadly speaking, from the four cardinal points: north, south, east, and west. … The north wind is cold; the west wind coming from the Mediterranean Sea is moist; the south, warm; and the east, which crosses the sandy wastes of the Arabian Desert before reaching Palestine, can be violent and destructive. It was called ‘the wind of the wilderness’(Job 1:19; Jeremiah 13:24; cf. Genesis 41:6, 23, 27; Ezekiel 27:26; Psalm 78:26)” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary, 2:187; see also the commentary in this volume on Mosiah 7:31).