the ninth month: That is, some time in December, which is the coldest and most rainy time of the year in Palestine. Dr. Russel, in his account of the weather at Aleppo, which very much resembles that in Judea, says, that the natives reckon the severity of the winter, which they call marbania:, to last but forty days, beginning from the 12th of December, and ending the 20th of January, and that this computation comes in fact very near the truth, and that the air during this time is excessively piercing, even to those that are just come from a cold climate. Ezra 7:8-9; Esther 2:16
trembling: 1 Samuel 12:17-18; Jeremiah 10:10, Jeremiah 10:13
great rain: Heb. showers