Summer Drought
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Ps. 32:4; Hag. 1:11)—the dry season in the land of Israel, normally extending from late spring into early autumn. Grass withers, soil hardens, and both people and animals depend heavily on stored water and nighttime dew (Deut. 28:23; Ps. 102:4). Haggai presents drought not merely as climate but as covenant judgment calling the returned community to reorder its life before God. The source’s single nineteenth-century thermometer reading is omitted as anecdotal and not representative climate data.