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; Psalm 110:3); and from its refreshing influence
it is an emblem of brotherly love and harmony (Psalm 133:3), and of rich
spiritual blessings (Hos. 14:5).
- DIADEM the tiara of a king (Ezekiel 21:26; Isaiah 28:5; 62:3); the turban
(Job 29:14). In the New Testament a careful distinction is drawn between
the diadem as a badge of royalty (Revelation 12:3; 13:1; 19:12) and the
crown as a mark of distinction in private life. It is not known what the
ancient Jewish “diadem” was. It was the mark of Oriental sovereigns. (See
CROWN.) - DIAL for the measurement of time, only once mentioned in the Bible,
erected by Ahaz (2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:8). The Hebrew word
(ma’aloth) is rendered “steps” in Exodus 20:26, 1 Kings 10:19, and
“degrees” in 2 Kings 20:9, 10, 11. The ma’aloth was probably stairs on
which the shadow of a column or obelisk placed on the top fell. The
shadow would cover a greater or smaller number of steps, according as the
sun was low or high.
Probably the sun-dial was a Babylonian invention. Daniel at Babylon
(Daniel 3:6) is the first to make mention of the “hour.”
- DIAMOND (1.) A precious gem (Hebrews yahalom’, in allusion to its
hardness), otherwise unknown, the sixth, i.e., the third in the second row,