Neither say in their heart
It came not into their mind, they never once thought of it, namely, of what follows, let us now fear the Lord our God;
they were not influenced and engaged to the fear of God, neither by his power in the preceding instance, nor by his goodness in the following one: that giveth rain;
in common, all the year round, at proper times, for the use of men and beasts. This is a pure gift of God, and an instance of his goodness, and is peculiar to him, what none of the gods of the Gentiles could give, ( Jeremiah 14:22 ) : both the former and the later, in his season;
there were two particular seasons in the year in which the land of Israel had rain; the one was in the month Marchesvan, answering to part of October and part of November, and this was the former rain, after the seed was sown in the earth; and the other was in the month of Nisan, answering to part of March and part of April, just before the time of harvest, and this was the latter rain: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest;
which was reckoned by weeks, because of the seven weeks between the passover and pentecost: the barley harvest began at the former, and the wheat harvest at the latter, called the feast of weeks, ( Exodus 34:22 ) and these were appointed of God, the harvest itself, ( Genesis 8:22 ) and the weeks in which it was gathered in, ( Leviticus 23:15 Leviticus 23:16 ) , and these appointments and promises the Lord carefully observed, and faithfully kept.