Jerome
Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“(Verse 10) Therefore, says the Lord of hosts, because my house is deserted, and each of you hastens to his own house, for this reason the heavens are withheld from you so that they do not give rain, and the earth withholds its produce. Not only, he says, did the heavens not give rain, by which the watered soil produces crops; but not even the morning and evening dew, so that the dry fields, at least, are tempered with a little moisture. Moreover, it also devours the land, not returning the seed to the farmers, and it holds in its greedy lap what it usually produces spontaneously. I believe this to be the dew, of which it is said in the blessing to Jacob: May God give you the dew of heaven (Gen. 27:28), and the dew of Hermon that descends upon Mount Zion (Psalm 133), and it descends not from the air in which the number of varied eagles, hawks, and vultures fly and soar, but from heaven, so that if someone's soul is burning with disturbances, and wounded by the devil's spear, it may be cooled by this dew and moderate its heat. With the ground held back, the earth does not yield its fruit. For without the dew of Christ, no soul can bring forth wheat.”