# Does Rain equal Winter in Israel?
Gen 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. KJV
My translation from Hebrew:
All the days of the earth: seed (1) and harvest (2); cold (3) and hot (4); early fruit (5) and late fruit (6); the warm hours (7) and twisting away of the light (8).
(1) ×.ר.×¢. – cast from a distance. 1- spreading seed 2-conceiving 3- arm; limb that sets hand in motion 4-seeds of legumes
(2) ק.צ.ר. – shorten 1-cutting 2-harvesting 3-being shortened 4-being brief 5-being impatient 6-branch
(3) ק.ר.ר – cool 1-being cold 2-cooled room
(4) ×.×.×. â glow, project heat 1-being glowing hot 2-exhibit sexual heat 3-glowing anger 4-sun 5- sun-idol
(5) .ק.צ.ר. – shorten 1-cutting 2-harvesting 3-being shortened 4-being brief 5-being impatient 6-branch
(6) ×.ר.×£. â make vulnerable; taunt 1-taunting; insulting 2-disgracing; shaming 3-betrothing; freezing legal status 4-jeopardizing 5-maturing 6-blaspheming 7:winter; period of vulnerability
Something I rarely do is bring in the âother wordsâ that were built on the two root system. But this time itâs necessary because the author of my favorite reference book The Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (published in 1999) fell victim to the modernism of our times. Here are the words that more accurately reflect the meaning of âchorefâ. ×ר×-**parch**; ×ר×-**restrain**; ער×-l**oosen**; ער×-**mix**
Iâm going to stop here and write to you a little. The point of breaking down this scripture is to show that we have a modern idea of âwinterâ that does not exist in the ancient Hebrew language. Choref has become a ânewâ word in modern Hebrew it now means the rainy season; just as aviv has come to mean Springtime in modern Hebrew. But if we donât return to the ancient scriptural understanding then we DONâT understand what is being said. It clouds our perception of the time of the aviv and we end up saying the âwinter rains are still here so it canât yet be the aviv seasonâ; this statement is not a scripturally based belief.
When the time of the aviv approaches the weather can change or it can be delayed depending on the will of Elohim. This year we have realized the ripening of the grains without the âshoravâ winds. Shorav is the hot, dry, strong blowing winds that come on the Land just before or sometimes after what would have been the harvest of the volunteer barley in ancient Israel. Even today most years the shorav comes to ripen the barley but this has not been the case this year. Iâve thought with every instance of the strong winds starting that the shoravim have arrived and we would be entering the time of the shorav and choref.
Shorav winds bring choref. Choref is the time of the year that the winds **parch **the Land and **loosen **the soil, you may have seen some of my photos of our red horizon from the dust, or soil loosening. Choref is the time the growth on the Land is **restrained **from continuing to grows due to the **parching **of the Land. The shorav **mixes **the seeds into soil that are now dried or parched and have dropped to the earth to wait for the latter rains to begin again and to bring forth another cycle of Life on the Land.
When this processed is finished the Land is stripped, many times there arenât even dried stalks of the wild vegetation left standing on the Land. I have seen enough to know it well and I still feel a bit of sorrow when it begins but rest in the promise of another cycle of life to come.
The Strongâs understanding of this choref is correct: H2778 to pull off, that is to expose as stripping.
We are not promised a season in Israel as we think of seasons in our modern understanding. We are promised that on THIS Land Elohim will be the garderner. As Adam was to have tended Eden so Elohim tends this Land:
Deut 11:10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is **not **as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12 A land which the **LORD thy God careth for**: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
What comes after the restraining, the parching, the loosening and the mixing? The latter rains appear! This is a true scriptural picture of the Land, even today, this cycle remains as promised in Genesis 8:22.
There was so much confusion added to the understanding of the young members of the Body of Messiah when the Nehemiahites applied their modern understanding of winter to their findings. What a division it caused to ripple through our ranks and Iâm sure the enemy of our Elohim must have taken pleasure in his results.
Sometimes itâs wise to wait until the dust settles so the truth can be more easily seen and understood. I hope the dust has settled in your lives if you have had doubts and that the intention of this verse and the meaning of winter/choref has been clear to you. Winter was not the best word for this verse because of our modern understanding.
Now I will finish the verse.
(7) ×.×.×.- ascend 1-day; time of alertness 2-daily life permitting to grow
(8) ×.×.×. â blend together 1-night; time when everything is mixed 2-if not only; conditional expressing 3-loop; knots holding together 4-spiral staircase
As we have seen the rains have nothing to do with knowing winter/choref in Israel. In fact, our modern understanding of winter would not have been known to the ancestors.
And so you will know, the rains have nothing to do with knowing the season of the aviv according to the scriptures:
Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
Hosea 6:3 ** **Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Be on guard and don’t be swept away by the understanding of men!Updated Apr 20, 2019, 9:06 AM