Christians: Question about Noah and the rainbow...?

Question

It's my understanding that the bible says that the rainbow was created following the Great Flood as a sign of his new covenant with Noah and mankind. (bible verses below)

My question is this:
The passage makes it clear that the rainbow was *first* created after the flood... meaning that rainbows did not exist before this time.

Of course, that is based on reading the passage literally.

Is it the Christian belief that rainbows didn't exist before the time of Noah?
Or is this part of the bible really an analogy, and not literally true? (Is the flood story & rainbow thing really more like a parable?)







From Genesis 9:
And 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:
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

Answer 1

Personally I'd like to hear more about the 'ice shield' hyperbolic chamber, tim mentioned. I don't think the bible mentioned that at any point.

Answer 2

Before the flood it did not rain. The ground and all vegetation were watered by water that came up from the ground. During the deluge it rained for forty days and forty nights, a literal down pour to be able to cover the entire earth with water even above the tallest mountains at that time so no sun would have been shining to create a rainbow. Once God caused the waters to recede of the face of the ground, by runoff and evaporation, then there were clouds that could produce rains from that time on. It was God's covenant with all living creature that a rainbow could then appear because of rain in the clouds that would be a sign that never again would Jehovah bring the earth to ruin by flooding.

Answer 3

Well, I do take the bible literally. I do believe exactly as the bible says. I believe that God made the rainbow possible after Noah's flood as a covenant to humans that he will never again flood the earth. I do not believe there were any rainbows before God made that covenant with us.

Answer 4

Can there be a rain bow without rain?
Gen.2:5 And 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. Gen.2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. GOD SAID TO NOAH Gen.7:4; ... " I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights ..." Where did the rain of the flood water come from 1,656 years after Adam when Noah was age 600 years old, Noah had 350 years to live, what kind of earth allowed them long life, what kind of earth was lost then, to have rain from then on, to reduce life from near 1000 [ even after sin ], to age 70 for old age at death? Why do the resurrected need a new heavens and a new earth?

SO AFTER THE FLOOD THERE WAS A RAINBOW. AT FLOOD AND AFTER WAS RAIN.

Answer 5

The Bible does not describe the degree of clarity of the atmosphere just prior to the Flood. But apparently atmospheric conditions were such that, until a change came about when “the floodgates of the heavens were opened” (Gen. 7:11), no others before Noah and his family had seen a rainbow. Even today, atmospheric conditions affect whether a rainbow can be seen or not.

Answer 6

I see no evidence against it. subsequently I have not got any reason to not have faith it. Edit: could not have been a close-by flood, for 2 motives. First, if it became basically a close-by flood, it could be extra useful for Noah to bypass extremely than construct a great boat, fill it with animals, and stay in there for a 365 days. 2d, God promised He could in no way break the earth with a flood returned. If the flood of the Bible became in simple terms interior of reach, then God is a liar. Are you calling God a liar? Oh, and Noah's 3 sons additionally survived. and that they had a good number of youngsters. And their teenagers had teenagers. Noah is the ancestor of almost 12 billion human beings, all divided up into cultures who inherited their ancestors' flood thoughts. Noah's call isn't the comparable from u . s . a . to u . s . a . (the Hawaiians call him Nu'u), yet his tale is, for the main section. there became an ocean in the previous the flood, even though it became smaller than the collective oceans of in the present day. many of the water now interior the oceans became initially underground. It got here to the exterior interior the form of mist two times an afternoon, in simple terms like the tides.

Answer 7

reading it literally, the rainbow was created after the flood, honestly i dont know, and that subject has alot of debate, and no one knows 100% ,because we all know how a rainbow is created with white light (sunlight) being divided into prisms by passing through water droplets (most likely rain). so one might easily think that a rainbow exsisted before the flood. since there was sunlight and rain during that time. but deeper, God might have been talking about the meaning of a rainbow. lets say that tha rainbow has always been around, if that was the case, it meant nothing. but after the flood, the rainbow was God,s promise of saying that he will never destroy man using water or a huge flood. thats why it is always seen after the rain has passed.

Answer 8

Yes....God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying And I ,behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you; of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth, And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And 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 (or for ever. everlasting) generations: I do set a bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of the covenant between me and the earth, And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh, and the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. ( This is an actual formal binding agreement ) and it is very much true. When you see the rainbow, you actually see his proof of the binding agreement. I glad to see someone interested , and concerned. I hope this will be a help to you.

Answer 9

GOD ALMIGHTY is GOD ALMIGHTY and nothing you think, or say can change that. HE says in the Bible that ''My thoughts are not your thoughts''.

Now to your question: Bible says in genesis chapter one - God made the earth and every thing therein, living and non living. He made Man to rule over them, after he noticed that His creation was beautiful. Noah was not there then, but God made everything that is then. Now, He just made a covenant with mankind with a promise that we will ONLY ever see this rainbow as a remembrance of that covenant. This does not mean that it did not exist before then.
Hope you will understand this! But Bible also says he who lacks wisdom let him ask (by prayer), God who gives to everyone who asks in faith (believing that he would receive), would receive what he asked for.

Answer 10

The earth was much different before the flood.
God septerated the waters above from the waters beneth (He made a ice shield around the earth that filtered out the harmful rays of the sun. It also gave us 2x the oxygen and air pressure - like a hyperbolic chamber - very healthy).
That is why people (and plants and animals) lived to be very old. (reptiles keep growing, after several hundred years they would be very large - dinosaurs).

No rain was needed because a mist watered the ground.

For more info check out the sites below.

Answer 11

the rainbow didn't exist before the flood because the rainbow was a promise that God would never flood the Whole Earth again so the answer is it didn't exist.