Russel informs us, that the rains in those countries usually fall in the night, as did those extraordinary thunder storms already mentioned, which happened in the month of July.*

The rainy season is limited to the autumnal and winter months; for, although some showers occasionally fall in the time of harvest, it is reckoned a very uncommon occurrence. In this light Harmer thinks it was viewed by Solomon :†- As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.'‡ But the wise man seems rather to have had his eye on the injurious effects of rain in that season of the year. As rain in harvest interrupts the labours of the reaper, and injures the fruits of the earth, so vicious and unprincipled men, when they happen to be crowned with honour, and elevated to places of power and trust, uniformly prove a nuisance to society; instead of being a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well,' they encourage the wicked, and depress the good and the virtuous.

Nor does that affecting historical incident, recorded in the second book of Samuel, refer to the ordinary state of the weather in the time of harvest, but to an unusual drought and scarcity, that God, in his just displeasure, sent upon the land of Israel, on account of Saul and his bloody house; which were not removed till seven of his sons were hanged up by the Gibeonites before the Lord:- Then Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest upon them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.'§

But although these texts, when viewed in their connexion, do not seem to contain any allusion to the ge

* Russel's History of Aleppo, vol. ii. p. 282. + Harmer's Observ. vol. i. p. 22.

§ 2 Samuel xxi. 10.

+ Prov. xxvi. 1.

neral character of the harvest months, no doubt ought to be entertained of the fact stated in the beginning of the section. The time of harvest was generally dry, a circumstance favourable to the labours of the husbandman, on whose success depended the subsistence of the poor and the needy. But the winter months were often extremely cold and rainy; thus Ezra describes the ninth month, which answers to our January, ́ as a time of much rain,' so heavy and incessant, that the people could not stand without to hear the law read, and to rectify the disorders that had crept into the congregation.*

6

When Dr Shaw was at Tozer, in December 1727, they had a small drizzling shower, which continued two hours; and so little precaution was taken against accidents of this kind, that several of the houses, which, as usual in that country, are built only with palm branches, mud and tiles baked in the sun, corresponding perhaps to the untempered mortar of Ezekiel,+ and explanatory of its nature, fell down by imbibing the moisture of the shower. Nay, the Doctor firmly believed, if the drops had been either larger, or the shower of a longer continuance, or in the language of the prophet, overflowing,' the whole city would have dissolved and dropt in pieces.‡

6

The time of the first rains is differently stated by modern travellers. According to Dr Shaw, the first autumnal rains usually fall about the eleventh of November: from a manuscript journal of travels in those countries, Mr Harmer found that the rain fell in the Holy Land, on the second of November; and he was assured by the historian of the revolt of Ali Bey, who lived some years in Palestine, that the rains begin to fall there about the eighteenth day of September; at first they descend in slight showers, but as the season

* Ezra x. 9, 13.

Shaw's Travels, vol. i. p. 250.

+ Ezek. xiii. 11.

advances, they become very copious and heavy, though never continual.*

Dr Shaw seems to suppose, that the Arabs of Barbary do not begin to break up their grounds till the first rains of autumn fall; while the author of the history of Ali Bey's revolt, supposes that they sometimes plough their land before the descent of the rain, because the soil is then light and easily worked. This statement contains nothing incredible; grain will remain long in the earth unhurt, and vegetate as soon as the descending showers communicate sufficient moisture. The oriental husbandman may cultivate his field, as is often done in other countries, in expectation of rain; a circumstance to which Solomon seems to refer :-' He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.' If they never sowed in the East but when the soil was moistened with rain, they could have no reason to observe whether the wind threatened rain or promised fair weather; but if the seed was cast into the ground previous to the descent of the rain, they might naturally enough be induced to wait till they observed the signs of its approach.

The rainy season in the beginning of winter, by the concurring testimony of travellers, is commonly introduced by a gale of wind from the north-east. In Syria, the winds are variable in November, and the two succeeding months; seldom strong, but more inclined to the north and east than any of the other quarters. They continue to blow nearly in the same direction, till about the end of February, when they begin to blow hard westerly. The weather in April is in general fair and clear; seldom dark or cloudy, except when it rains, which it does in hard thunder showers, as in the last month, but not so often. When light northerly or easterly breezes happen to blow,

* Harmer, vol. i. p. 11.

† Ecclesiastes xi. 4.

they have commonly a few close hazy days; but the westerly winds are generally fresh.

In the East Indies the commencement and the breaking of the monsoons are generally very severe, and the rain descends in the most astonishing torrents. In a few hours the inhabitants find themselves in a liquid plain. The high and the low grounds are equally covered, and exhibit the appearance of an immense lake; and surrounded by thick darkness which prevents them from distinguishing a single object, except such as the vivid glare of lightning displays in horrible forms. In the winter months the mountain floods swell the small rivers of India in a wonderful manner. Within a few hours they often rise twenty or thirty feet above their usual height, and run with astonishing rapidity; and the larger rivers, before gentle and pellucid, are then furious and destructive, sweeping away whole villages with their inhabitants and cattle, while tigers and other furious animals from the wilds join the general wreck, and unite their horrid voices with the cries of old men and helpless women, and the shrieks of their expiring children, in its passage to the ocean. It is in such a scene that the beauty of Elihu's speech to Job, in which he mentions the great rain of his strength,'* are properly understood.† Even in the milder climate of Judea the rains pour down three or four days and nights together, as vehemently as if they would drown the country; sweeping away in their furious course the produce of the field, and the soil on which it grew; the flocks and herds and human dwellings, with their hapless inmates in one promiscuous ruin.‡ Far different are the feelings awakened in the mind by the sight of a majestic pure and quiet river, on whose verdant pastures the flocks repose, or drink, without alarm or danger of its flowing waters. So full of ma

*Job xxxvii. 6.

+ Forbes' Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 120, and vol. iii. p. 52.

Vitriaco, as quoted by Harm. vol. i. pp. 197, 198; Obs. vol. i. p. 5.

jesty, and gentleness, neither alarming the fears, endangering the safety, nor encouraging the carelessness of genuine Christians, are the consolations of true religion. So the Psalmist felt, when he selected the loveliest image in the natural world to convey an idea of the rich and ample provision which the divine bounty has made for man. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.'*

In the rainy season, the wind alters and begins to blow from the west in February, and continues in the same point till May; after which, seldom any more rain falls in Syria till autumn, when the wind blows commonly from the north-east. These remarks will throw light on that part of our Lord's address to the Jews, in which he adverts to the state of the weather: - When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, there cometh a shower, and so it is.' This declaration our Lord seems to have made to the people in spring; for his words entirely correspond with the state of the weather in that season; but not in the close of autumn, and the beginning of winter. The lilies then, which are mentioned in the same chapter, might be growing at that very time, before the eyes of his auditors: Consider the lilies how they grow, they toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith.' §

A very small cloud is often the forerunner of a violent storm or hurricane. The cloud like a man's hand, which the servant of Elijah saw rising over the sea, is, for want of due observation, commonly regarded as an unmeaning circumstance in the prophetic history. In

*Psalm xxiii. 2.

+ Russel's Hist. of Aleppo, vol. i. p. 65. Luke xii. 54. [The observation still holds true at Jerusalem, where our Lord uttered these words.-Robinson, ii. 97.]—Editor. § Luke xii. 27.