King James Bible Dictionary

"There is no dew properly so called in Palestine, for there is no moisture in the hot summer air to be chilled into dew-drops by the coldness of the night. From May till October rain is unknown, the sun shining with unclouded brightness day after day. The heat becomes intense, the ground hard, and vegetation would perish but for the moist west winds that come each night from the sea. The bright skies cause the heat of the day to radiate very quickly into space, so that the nights are as cold as the day is the reverse, a peculiarity of climate from which poor Jacob suffered thousands of years ago (Genesis 31:40). To this coldness of the night air the indispensable watering of all plant-life is due. The winds, loaded with moisture, are robbed of it as they pass over the land, the cold air condensing it into drops of water, which fall in a gracious rain of mist on every thirsty blade. In the morning the fog thus created rests like a sea over the plains, and far up the sides of the hills, which raise their heads above it like so many islands. At sunrise, however, the scene speedily changes. By the kindling light the mist is transformed into vast snow-white clouds, which presently break into separate masses and rise up the mountain-sides, to disappear in the blue above, dissipated by the increasing heat. These are the morning clouds and the early dew that go away' of which Hosea (6:4; 13:3) speaks so touchingly" (Geikie's The Holy Land, etc., i., p. 72). Dew is a source of great fertility (Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 33:13; Zechariah 8:12), and its withdrawal is regarded as a curse from God (2 Samuel 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1). It is the symbol of a multitude (2 Samuel 17:12; Psalms 110:3); and from its refreshing influence it is an emblem of brotherly love and harmony (Psalms 133:3), and of rich spiritual blessings (Hosea 14:5).

A merciful providence
Deuteronomy 33:13

Forms imperceptibly
2 Samuel 17:12

Forms in the night
Job 29:19

From the clouds
Proverbs 3:20

Called the dew of heaven
Daniel 4:15

Absence of
1 Kings 17:1

Miraculous profusion and absence of
Judges 6:36-40
Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena

Figurative
Psalms 110:3; Isaiah 26:19; Hosea 6:4; Hosea 13:3; Hosea 14:5

This in the summer is so copious in Palestine that it supplies to some extent the absence of rain and becomes important to the agriculturist. Thus it is coupled in the divine blessing with rain, or mentioned as a prime source of fertility, (Genesis 27:28; 33:13; Zechariah 8:12) and its withdrawal is attributed to a curse. (2 Samuel 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1; Haggai 1:10) It becomes a leading object in prophetic imagery by reason of its penetrating moisture without the apparent effort of rain, (32:2; Job 29:19; Psalms 133:3; Hosea 14:5) while its speedy evanescence typifies the transient goodness of the hypocrite. (Hosea 6:4; 13:3)

DEW, noun [G. To thaw.] The water or moisture collected or deposited on or near the surface of the earth, during the night, by the escape of the heat which held the water in solution.

DEW, verb intransitive To wet with dew; to moisten.