Words that drop like rain

A flower blooms in parched soil, Antelope Valley

I was driving through the lower San Joaquin Valley, listening to a preacher on the radio, when I heard these words: "Thy doctrine will drop as the dew..." (from the CEV Bible translation).

What an odd metaphor!  Doctrine seems rather stiff and large, probably klunky when dropped.

It's hard to imagine it dropping "as the dew."  Only a male in love with doctrine could imagine it dropping softly or welcomely.  

I grant that the alliteration is striking--literally and figuratively--in a klunky way.

I looked up the verse:

Deuteronomy 32:2 Context

1Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 

Speech and words could drop like dew, yes.  

In the Hebrew Tanach, I found the verse.  The facing page (in English) says, "May my teaching drop like the rain, may my utterance flow like the dew."

First of all, the passage is identified as "The Song of Moses."  It is Moses or some other prophet speaking, not God, because verse 3 says "When I call out the name of YHWH...."  So verse 2 should not be translated "Thy doctrine."  It's "my doctrine" or teaching.

The Hebrew word lamed - qof - chet - yod could be pronounced "leek-ach-ee" and in my Webster's New World Hebrew-English dictionary, it is translated "[my] lesson; moral lesson."  It is definitely smaller than doctrine.  It is singular, not a collective plural like doctrine or information.

I can see how the prophet speaking could say, "May my lesson drop like the rain...."  It is just one little lesson, followed by another and another, like drops of rain.  But it is life-giving, like rain.

The song ends after 43 verses--43 drops of rain.  Moses says, "Apply your hearts to these words... Be careful to perform all the words of this Torah, for it is not an empty thing for you, for it is your life, and through this matter shall you prolong your days on the Land to which you cross the Jordan, to possess it."

And then YHWH commands Moses to climb Mount Abarim, see the Land of Canaan, and die.

Rain in Arizona making puddles in dinosaur footprints

Moses loved the Torah of YHWH, the Law given to him by Yahweh.  It was life-giving, like rain in the desert, where he lived most of his life.

I can feel the rain as a gift and the words of Moses from YHWH as gifts.  

Just don't hit me over the head with doctrine.