"Drought and heat consume the snow-waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned" (xxiv. 19). In 2 Sam. xxiii. 20, we read of Benaiah that "he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow." Dr. Robinson states that at Jerusalem " snow often falls in January and February to the depth of a foot or more; but does not usually lie long. The ground never freezes; but Mr. Whiting had seen the pool at the back of his house (Hezekiah's pool) covered with thin ice for one or two days."-(Researches i. 429.) Dr. Kitto, in his Physical History of Palestine, p. 210, has collected the following notices of snow in Palestine : "Le Bruyn, travelling along the maritime coast, in this month (January), found the whole country around Tripoli covered with deep snow. On the same coast more to the south, between Tyre and Acre, on the 9th, Buckingham found the cold great, and the thermometer at 45° in the open air, before sunrise. Brown takes notice of snow at Jaffa on the 24th of this month. Major Skinner, who states that he traversed the country in a season unusually severe, speaks much of snow and cold. He mentions a village under Mount Carmel, in which many houses had been destroyed by the great quantities of snow which had fallen. He spent a night in that village, and on the morning of the 28th found the courtyard full of snow which had fallen during the night. Snow was then resting on the ridge of Mount Carmel. Penetrating to the interior of the country, the same traveller reached Nazareth on the 30th. heights around the town, and many of the houses in it, were covered with snow, large heaps of which were piled up in the courtyard of the convent. Many of the smaller houses had been destroyed by it; and the next day, he found that the deep snow in the streets rendered it impossible to quit the city, and difficult to move about in it. A thaw had, however, commenced. The snow falls thick, and lies long on the mountains and The high intervening plains and valleys of Jebel Haouran, which may be said to bound eastward the country beyond Jordan. Madox found it so at the end of this month. The same traveller, on the 13th, found Damascus covered with snow as well as the mountains and plains around it. From its peculiarly low level, and enclosed situation, the plain of Jericho, and indeed the whole valley of the Jordan, enjoys a remarkable mild winter climate. Mariti adduces and confirms the statements of Josephus, who reports that the winter of the plain of Jericho resembled spring, and that the inhabitants were clothed in linen garments at the same time that it snowed in other parts of Judea. Correspondingly, Burckhardt takes notice that snow is almost unknown on the borders of the lake of Tiberias." The absence of rain during the summer months is to a great extent compensated by heavy dews, which have the two-fold effect of moderating the extreme heat and refreshing the herbage. Hence dew is enumerated among the special gifts of Providence :-God give thee of the dew of heaven" (Gen. xxvii. 28): "The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew" (Deut. xxxiii, 28): "The ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew" (Zech. viii. 12). The amount of moisture deposited by the dew was such that it was entitled "the drops" or "rain of the night" (Cant. v. 2). Hence we can understand how decisive was the testimony required by Gideon when he said:" Behold I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water" (Judg. vi. 37, 38). Modern travellers frequently notice the heaviness of the dew in Palestine: we shall cite Dr. Robinson, who rose in the middle of June records :"The sun gloriously upon us as we sat at the door of our tent, upon the summit of Tabor. A very heavy dew had fallen during the night; so that the tent was wet as with rain. After the sun had been up about half-anhour, a fog came on and veiled everything below from our view. We now prepared to depart; but three of our mules had strayed away during the night, and this detained us for an hour. Meanwhile the fog cleared away, and we had again the glorious prospect of yesterday."-(Researches, ii. 368.) The latter part of this passage supplies an excellent illustration of the image used by the prophet Hosea to describe the shortlived amendment of the Israelites :-"O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud; and as the early dew it goeth away" (Hos. vi. 4). |