phrases in the world? The eyes of the Lord were upon the land. It
needed his care; and therefore his care it had.

Therefore the Jew was to understand from his first entry into the
land, that his prosperity depended utterly on God. The laws of
weather, by which the rain comes up off the sea, were unknown to
him. They are all but unknown to us now. But they were known to
God. Not a drop could fall without his providence and will; and
therefore they were utterly in his power.

'And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my
commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your
God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the
first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn,
and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields
for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to
yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and
serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord's wrath be
kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no
rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish
quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.'

Now the Bible story is, that this warning came true. More than once
we read of drought--long, and severe, and ruinous. In one famous
case, there was no rain for three years; and Ahab has to go out to
search through the land for a scrap of pasture. 'Peradventure we
shall find grass enough to save the horses and mules alive.'

And most distinctly does the Bible say that these droughts came at
times when the Jews had fallen into idolatry, and profligacy
therewith. That is the Scripture account. And if you believe in
the living God, whose providence ordereth all things in heaven and
earth, that account will seem reasonable and credible to you.

What special means God used to bring about these great droughts we
cannot know, any more than we can know why a storm or a shower
should come one week and not another. And we need not know. God
made the world, and God governs the world, and that is enough for
us.

Be that as it may, Moses goes down to the very root and ground and
true cause of the riches of the land, and of the rainfall, and of
the prosperity of the Jews, and of the prosperity of any living
nation on earth, when he says, 'Therefore shall ye lay up these my