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FULL BACKGROUND
RAIN — There are three Hebrew words used to denote the rains of different seasons, (1.) Yoreh (Hos. 6:3), or moreh (Joel 2:23), denoting the former or the early rain. (2.) Melqosh, the “latter rain†(Prov. 16:15). (3.) Geshem, the winter rain, “the rains.†The heavy winter rain is mentioned in Gen. 7:12; Ezra 10:9; Cant. 2:11. The “early†or “former†rains commence in autumn in the latter part of October or beginning of November (Deut. 11:14; Joel 2:23; comp. Jer. 3:3), and continue to fall heavily for two months. Then the heavy “winter rains†fall from the middle of December to March. There is no prolonged fair weather in Palestine between October and March. The “latter†or spring rains fall in March and April, and serve to swell the grain then coming to maturity (Deut. 11:14; Hos. 6:3). After this there is ordinarily no rain, the sky being bright and cloudless till October or November.
Rain is referred to symbolically in Deut. 32:2; Ps. 72:6; Isa. 44:3, 4; Hos. 10:12.
Easton, M. G., M. A. D. D., Easton’s Bible Dictionary, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1996.
RAIN. The importance and character of rainfall is emphasized in the OT by the use of several words. The general term is maµt\aµr, combined sometimes with gesûem, a violent downpour (1 Ki. 18:41; Ezr. 10:9, 13), to suggest torrential rains (Zc. 10:1; Jb. 37:6); zerem, a rainstorm (Is. 25:4; 28:2; 32:2; Hab. 3:10; Jb. 24:8), is sometimes accompanied by hail (Is. 28:2; 30:30). In contrast are the rebéÆbéÆm ‘showers’ (Dt. 32:2; Ps. 65:10; Je. 3:3; 14:22; Mi. 5:7), and reséÆséÆm, a ‘rain-mist’ (Ct. 5:2). Seasonal rainfall, yoÆreh and moÆreh, ‘former rains’, and malqoÆsû, ‘the latter rains’, are a reference to the onset and termination of the rainy season (Dt. 11:14; Jb. 29:23; Ho. 6:3; Joel 2:23; Zc. 10:1f.; Jas. 5:7).
Frequently the term maµt\aµr indicates that this source of blessing to man comes from God himself, from the heavens. The Baalim were early associated with the springs, wells and streams, but Yahweh was the rain-giver (Je. 14:22), for can ‘any among the false gods of the nations . . . bring rain?‘ This challenge was vindicated by Elijah before the priests of Baal (1 Ki. 18:17-40). Heaven is thus invoked for rainfall (Ps. 72:6), and its blessings are compared with the mechanical devices of the Egyp. shaduf for lifting river water from the Nile (Dt. 11:11). Heb. sûet\ep_, ‘torrential rain’, ‘flood-water’ (Ps. 32:6; Pr. 27:4; Dn. 9:26; 11:22; Na. 1:3), is used in the plural in Jb. 38:25 to denote irrigation channels (normally peleg÷, as in Pss. 1:3; 119:136; Pr. 5:16; 21:1; Is. 30:25; 32:2; La. 3:48), as though a heavy downpour were likened to a channel of water poured from the reservoir of heaven (cf. ‘the peleg÷ of God’, Ps. 65:9; also Gn. 7:11, where the ÕarubboÆt_ or ‘sluices’ of the sky are opened). Gentle rain or rain-mist (t\al) is associated with beneficent gifts (Dt. 33:13). It is the first of blessings promised to Jacob’s land (Gn. 27:28) and to Israel (Dt. 28:12). The descent of rain is likened to the blessings of the kingdom (Ps. 72:6-7). In contrast, the presence of clouds and wind without rain is likened to a man who ‘boasts of a gift he does not give’ (Pr. 25:14). (*Dew.)
The rainfall of Palestine is so closely identified with the cool season that the Arab. sûitaµÕ refers to both winter and rain. There is the same significance in Ct. 2:11, ‘For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.‘ Equally the summer season is suggestive of the hot, dry period, e.g. ‘My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer’ (Ps. 32:4). During the preliminary period of mid-Sept. to mid-Oct. the moist sea air encountering the very hot dry air from the land surface causes thunderstorms and the irregular distribution of rainfall. This is vividly described in Am. 4:7, ‘I would send rain upon one city, and send no rain upon another city: one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered.‘ The onset of the effective rains usually begins in mid- or late Oct., but may be delayed until even Jan. These ‘former rains’, so earnestly longed for, cause a fall in temperature so that convectional currents are eliminated and the damp atmosphere produces a brilliance in the sky, described by Elihu: ‘And now men cannot look on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them’ (Jb. 37:21). The cool, rainy season is the pastoral setting to the joys described by the psalmist (Ps. 65:12-13). Between April and early May, the ‘latter rains’ describe the last showers at the close of the rainy season (Am. 4:7).
Modern scholars agree that no climatic change has occurred within historic times. See J. W. Gregory, ‘The Habitable Globe: Palestine and the Stability of Climate in Modern Times’, Geog. Journ. 76, 1947, pp. 487ff.; W. C. Lowdermilk, Palestine, Land of Promise, 1944, pp. 82ff.; A. Reifenberg, The Struggle between the Desert and the Sown, 1956, pp. 20-24; N. Shalem, ‘La Stabilité du Climat en Palestine’, Proc. Desert Research, UNESCO, 1953, pp. 153-175. This does not mean that there have not been minor fluctuations in climate, but they have not been great enough to influence civilizations materially. Prolonged droughts such as those recorded in 1 Ki. 17:7; Je. 17:8; Joel 1:10-12, 17-20, indicate their disastrous effects, especially when there is no dew to compensate the lack of rainfall (2 Sa. 1:21; 1 Ki. 17:1; Hag. 1:10). (*Cloud; *Dew; *Palestine.) j.m.h.
The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1962.
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