Dearth

Dearth (famine or scarcity of food) was in Scripture a recognized instrument of divine discipline and judgment. Among the notable famines recorded are: the famine in Canaan that drove Abram to Egypt (Genesis 12:10) and later sent Jacob's sons to Egypt for grain, initiating the Joseph narrative (Genesis 42); the seven-year famine predicted by Joseph and stored against (Genesis 41); the famine in the time of the judges that sent Naomi to Moab (Ruth 1:1); and the three-year famine in David's reign for Saul's bloodguilt against the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1). The famine of Elijah's day — three and a half years of drought in Israel — was both judgment on Ahab and Jezebel and a platform for God's vindication on Carmel (1 Kings 17; Luke 4:25–26). Amos lists famine alongside drought and plague as divine covenant curses sent to call Israel back to God (Amos 4:6–8).