I'm still backreading and I'm on page 2 pa lang.
Somebody mentioned here that it didn't rain on earth prior to the Great Flood.
I am thinking that statement has something to do with the fact that rainbows presumably are created after the flood lang.
Now, my question is, can we really believe there're no rainbows before the flood. isn't it that rainbows are manifestations of the color spectrum present in light and diffused by moisture in the air?
or does the rainbow statement in the bible not literal?
First, let me explain why some people think it didn't rain prior to the flood.
Before God created Adam, the bible states in Genesis 2:5–7:
5And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Then after Noah's flood, the bible says in Genesis 9:12-13:
12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.From those passages, here's what they conclude:
- God created the rainbow after the flood. There were no rainbows before the flood.
- Rainbows are caused by sunlight passing through rain droplets. If there was no rainbow prior to the flood, it's because there was no rain prior to the flood.
- That's why Genesis 2:5-6 says it was not rain but a mist that watered the ground.
Their view is not supported by scripture.
It's true that there was a time when there was no rain and only a mist watered the ground. But when was that time? Before the creation of Adam. The bible does not say that the mist-and-no-rain situation continued after Adam was created, so there's no logical basis to assume that there was no rain until the time of Noah's flood.
So if rain existed after Adam was created, then rainbows must have existed even before the flood?
Yes, why not. Rain and sunlight produce rainbows. Since rain and sunlight existed before the flood, then rainbows likewise existed before the flood.
The bible does not say that the first rainbow was created after the flood. It does not say that God had never set a rainbow in the clouds before that time. It only says that the rainbow that He set in the clouds after the rain became the token of His covenant.
Therefore, the rainbow God set after the flood was not the first rainbow ever created. Rather, it was merely the first time that God made the rainbow a token of His covenant.