Ice

Ice in Scripture appears primarily in poetic and wisdom literature as a figure for the power and majesty of God over creation. Job 6:16 describes wadis dark with ice and into which snow vanishes — imagery of the desolate wilderness. Job 38:29 presents God's rhetorical question: "Out of whose womb did the ice come?" — placing frost and ice among the mysteries of creation that only God controls. Psalm 147:17 describes God casting forth ice like morsels, asking "who can stand before his cold?" and then melting them with his word.

Ice and frost are relatively rare in the lowland regions of ancient Israel but occur in higher elevations — the mountains of Lebanon and the hill country — particularly in winter months. The Old Testament uses ice as a symbol of divine sovereign power over nature and as a concrete image of the extremities of weather that distinguish God's creation from human control. No specific ritual or legal significance attaches to ice in biblical law; its appearances are consistently in the domain of poetry, doxology, and wisdom reflection on the natural order.