Dew: "There is no dew properly so called in Palestine, for there is no
moisture in the hot summer air to be chilled into dew-drops by the
coldness of the night. From May till October rain is unknown, the sun
shining with unclouded brightness day after day. The heat becomes
intense, the ground hard, and vegetation would perish but for the
moist west winds that come each night from the sea. The bright skies
cause the heat of the day to radiate very quickly into space, so that
the nights are as cold as the day is the reverse, a peculiarity of
climate from which poor Jacob suffered thousands of years ago
(Genesis 31:40) To this coldness of the night air the indispensable
watering of all plant-life is due. The winds, loaded with moisture,
are robbed of it as they pass over the land, the cold air condensing
it into drops of water, which fall in a gracious rain of mist on
every thirsty blade. In the morning the fog thus created rests like a
sea over the plains, and far up the sides of the hills, which raise
their heads above it like so many islands. At sunrise, however, the
scene speedily changes. By the kindling light the mist is transformed
into vast snow-white clouds, which presently break into separate
masses and rise up the mountain-sides, to disappear in the blue
above, dissipated by the increasing heat. These are 'the morning
clouds and the early dew that go away' of which Hosea
(Hosea 6:4; 13:3)
speaks so touchingly" (Geikie's The Holy Land, etc., i., p. 72
Dew is a source of great fertility
(Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 33:13; Zechariah 8:12)
and its withdrawal is regarded as a curse from God
(2 Samuel 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1)
It is the symbol of a multitude
(2 Samuel 17:12; Psalms 110:3) and from its
refreshing influence it is an emblem of brotherly love and harmony
(Psalms 133:3) and of rich spiritual blessings
(Hosea 14:5)
