Drought
DROUGHT. Any community whose habitat embraced a semi-arid region on the desert’s fringe would certainly be painfully aware not only of the value but also of the variability of rainfall amounts which is characteristic of such a region. The Atlas of Israel has an interesting series of rainfall maps for the period 1931-55; they reveal deviations from long term mean of over one hundred percent in individual years. When successive subnormal years occur (cf. 1 Kings 17:1) famine results. Numerous Bible passages see drought as evidence of God’s withholding blessing from His people. See Rain; PALESTINE, CLIMATE OF.