http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Johnson/Edna/Elizabeth/1939/raininharvest.html
Rain In Harvest“As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool” (Pro 26:1).
To most of us, harvest time is of little concern because our complex city lives are far removed from the production of food supplies. However for the Hebrew people, as well as those in any agricultural district today, the harvest was a most important season. For illustration, read Genesis 8:22 and Genesis 45:6. From this we can see that such an occasion drastically affected the lives of the people.
Between the barley harvest in April and the wheat harvest, only a few showers fell. These were welcomed because they increased the yield of wheat (Amos 4:7). Samuel made use of the unusual occurrence of rain during the wheat harvest to strike fear into the hearts of the people (1 Sam 12:17). Such an unusual storm likely did much damage to the crops, bringing fear to the hearts of the farmers. They would know assuredly that God was not blessing them in their disobedience. A destroyed harvest typified devastation or affliction (Job 5:5; Isa 16:9; 17:11; Jer 5:17; 50:16).
Using two very strong figures of speech, the Lord has shown us clearly that honor given to a fool will surely destroy him and us. What better analogy could He have given to the agricultural people of that day!
Beth Johnson
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The King James Version.Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)