The Bible’s take on rain

I’VE GOT RAIN ON THE BRAIN. And in pools in my backyard.

It has been raining so much here in the heartland that we have little choice but to mow the yard when the grass is wet.

I wondered if the Bible has any laments I could sing about that. But given the fact that the Bible lands are more desert than rainforest, I doubted it. People in Bible times cherished the rain. Baal, a chief god of the Canaanites who lived in what is now Israel, was the god in charge of sending rain.

It’s a little gross, but some of the ancients said rain was Baal’s semen.

Okay, it’s a lot gross.

But as one theory goes, people would worship Baal by having sex with his priests and priestesses in temples and in hilltop shrines. If the worship scene (which some might think of as a peep show) excited Baal enough, he would express his appreciation in a burst of rain.

I would have wanted an umbrella.

Jews who worshiped God said Baal was nothing more than an imaginary god chiseled in rock and less real than statues of a dead man.

Jews taught that rain came from God. Since they were fond of God, they were fond of his rain.

• “Can any of the worthless foreign gods send us rain?
  Does it fall from the sky by itself?
  No, you are the one, O Lord our God!
  Only you can do such things” (Jeremiah 14:22).
• “You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops” (Psalm 65:1).

Three dogs spent the wet weekend with me. I actually had to throw canvass painter’s tarps over the carpet to protect it from muddy rainwater.

But when I read these Bible passages written in an arid part of the world and when I remember the stretches of drought we’ve endured in recent years, I’m not so bothered by the rain.

Like a psalmist I could sing.

Praise God for sump pumps,
windows with flashing,
and carpet cleaners who do good work.

The Lord sends the rain
and gives me the sense to check my weather app
so I can get ready for it.

Praise God
from whom all rain and blessings flow.

Bible Gateway Blogger