When Rain Fell Only on Sabbath Eves in the Days of Shimon ben Shetach

"And I will give your rains in their season" (Leviticus 26:4) — on the fourth nights. Another interpretation: "in their season" — at night, since all night long the rain comes down, and in the morning the wind blows and the clouds scatter, and a person goes out to his work. Another interpretation: "And I will give your rains in their season" — not the rains of all the lands. And how do I uphold "and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed through your seed" (Genesis 26:4)? That through the merit of Israel the heavens give their dew and the earth gives its produce, as it is said, "The LORD also shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her produce" (Psalms 85:13), and the nations of the world live by it in general; and when Israel sins, the heavens are held back. Another interpretation: "And I will give your rains in their season" — on the eves of the Sabbaths. And it happened in the days of Shimon ben Shetach, in the days of Queen Shlomtzion, that the rains were coming down on the eves of the Sabbaths until the grains of wheat became like kidneys, and the lentils like gold dinars; and the sages bundled some of them and set them aside for the generations to come, to make known how much good deeds bring about. "And the land shall yield her produce" (Leviticus 26:4) — in the order in which it was given at the creation of the world. "And the tree of the field shall give its fruit" — in the way that it did at first, when each month it produced fruit, as it is said, "month by month it shall bring forth new fruit" (Ezekiel 47:12), to fulfill what is said, "He has made a memorial for His wonders" (Psalms 111:4).