The Four Seasons Are Written Into the Earth Forever

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 8:22 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 8, 2025

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 8:22 anchors the new covenant in something every farmer and every child understands. Sowing in the season of Tishri, and harvest in the season of Nisan, and coldness in the season of Tebeth, and warmth in the season of Tammuz, and summer and winter, and days and nights shall not fail.

The Aramaic names the seasons by month. Plant in Tishri. Harvest in Nisan. Shiver in Tevet. Sweat in Tammuz. These are not abstract promises. They are the rhythm of the Land of Israel, the land the Targum's listeners walked every day. The covenant after the Flood is written into the soil itself.

Read carefully. The Holy One does not promise an easier life. He promises a predictable one. The mabul, the great flood, was a breaking of seasonal order — the fountains of the deep above, the windows of heaven below, summer and winter collapsed into one endless storm. The covenant now is the reassurance that the calendar will stand.

This is why the Hebrew calendar still tracks these months. Every Tishri when we plant, every Nisan when we harvest, we are living inside Noah's promise. The takeaway: the greatest gift after a catastrophe is not wealth. It is the return of ordinary time.

Themes

Creation Holidays Noah & Flood Holy Land

Biblical References

Genesis 8:22

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