Now, they would have to grow their own food, and they would have a direct measure to see if they were righteous. The rain would come just in time if they kept the commandments, but it they didn't, the land would be cursed. Though we cannot look at weather as always a reward or punishment for sin, I think the same thing sometimes happens to us today. Near 1990, we had three or four years in a row when the Bear Lake area of northern Utah didn't get rain and the lake level dwindled. Since the high country in the Bear Lake valley gets really cold at night, and it is difficult to grow corn and vegetables, all of us up here are wheat farmers.
Cereal grasses can tolerate that cold.
We planted our crops, and the wheat came up. But with the lack of water, the crop was stressed. We'd look at our fields and the wheat heads were bending down. We had no rain, but it seemed like just when our crops were as stressed as they could get without dying, we'd get a little shower. It wasn't a big shower, but it was just enough to get this wheat out of stress and give it a drink.