DEW. In a dry climate, and in the hot season, dew plays an important part in water supply. Only on this basis can we understand Elijah’s threat in 1 Kings 17:1, “There shall be neither dew nor rain....” In areas where skies are normally clear in summer, and cooling at night, heavy dews are produced wherever (e.g., with a wind from the sea) moisture is present in the atmosphere. On the Levant Coast dew is formed on between twenty and twenty-five nights per month in summer. This dew will prob. represent the vital difference between total barrenness and a vegetation cover: it may freshen up shrubs or plants sufficiently to offer at least a meager form of pasture for flocks. It can even keep a man alive for limited periods: dew collection has been reported by several desert travelers when short of water.

Nowhere does the Bible more clearly reveal its environmental background than in the prominence given to the dew and in its treatment of dew as a symbol of blessing. It is mentioned in Isaac’s blessing of both Jacob and Esau (Gen 27:28, 39) and in Moses’ blessings of the tribes (Deut 33:13, 28). In Proverbs 19:12 the king’s favor is likened to the dew and in Hosea 14:5 God promises that He will be like dew in blessing His people. Conversely, if the dew is withheld this is, or would be, a sign of God’s displeasure (Hag 1:10).