by Barry Britnell
Synopsis: Do you want to be reassured of the promises of God? Then look no further than the rain that falls on the Sea of Galilee.
For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full (Deut. 11:10-15).
I have always been interested in the weather. I remember performing weather experiments for science fairs while in high school. I loved weather so much that in the spring of 1991, I graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Meteorology. In addition, I have always been interested in the Bible. As I read the wonderful stories in the Bible, I see that it is filled with specific instances and comments about the weather.
Just before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, Moses spoke to the people and described the wonderful land that God was providing to them, saying that God will provide the land with "early rain and later rain." What exactly does that mean? Let me try to explain.
Living in North Alabama, we see a lot of rain. On average, we will receive about 55 to 60 inches of rain per year. For the most part, that rain falls consistently throughout the year. We have some months that are wetter than other months. However, normally, the rain falls on us all year round.
Due to the upper air currents and geography of the area, the weather in Israel acts much differently. While they have the same four meteorological seasons, (spring, summer, fall, and winter) as far as rainfall is concerned, they only have two seasons. They have the wet season and the dry season. The wet season lasts from October to May. The dry season lasts, of course, from May to October. During the dry season, the land of Israel receives very little, if any, rain. Therefore, the early rains fall in October and the later rains fall in May.
For the past several years, the land of Israel has been going through a drought. Rain falls during the rainy season, but not as much as is needed. Consequently, that has caused several ripple effects throughout the land, including the lowering of the water level of the Sea of Galilee. Every year, as the months of October and November arrive, I always try to track the weather in Israel by paying special attention to the websites of the Israeli Meteorological Service, websites that display the water levels across the land, and various live web cameras.
So far in this current rainy season, the rainfall has been very good. Every few days, the land has received fair amounts of rain and the water levels are slowly beginning to rise. Recently, I was able to capture a screenshot of a live web camera from the city of Safed (see image on next page), which sits a couple of miles north of the Sea of Galilee. In this image, you can see a beautiful rain shower over the lake.
Over 3,500 years ago, God made a promise to the children of Israel, saying that He would provide water for the land "in its season." He did exactly that. In doing so, He taught the people valuable lessons. He taught them about the love He has for them. He taught them to appreciate things that are given to them. Also, He taught them to not be wasteful of the blessings that they have been given. God has been continually teaching those same lessons to people every year since He made that promise.
We base everything we believe on the promises that God has made to us. Do you want to be reassured of the faithfulness of those promises? Then, every fall, sit back and watch the storm clouds spread across the Sea of Galilee. In so doing, you will once again be reminded that once God makes a promise, He always keeps it.
Author Bio: Barry Britnell is the founder of Exploring Bible Lands, LLC (exploringbiblelands.com) and leads Bible Study tours to the land of Israel. He also works with Appian Media (appianmedia.org) to produce Biblically-sound videos used in teaching others about the Bible. Barry and his wife, Tabatha, have three children, live in Athens, AL, and worship with the Capshaw Church of Christ.
Image 1: The stream at the Tel Dan Nature Preserve which eventually feeds into the Jordan River.
Image 2: Looking south across the Sea of Galilee.
Image 3: Storm over the Sea of Galilee.
