Were there rainbows before the Flood?

Question

A question for the bible literalists among you.

According to Genesis 9, God "set His bow in the cloud as a token of the covenant between Him and the Earth" in the aftermath of the Flood.

Does that mean that before the flood, there were no rainbows? Does it mean God changed the laws of optics across the whole universe in order to create this wondrous object? And if so, would other devices that rely on reflection and/or refraction (lenses, mirrors etc) have worked back then?

Oh my giddy aunt, you people really are serious. I've just found a website which claims not just rain but many other geographical phenomena (volcanoes, mountains, glaciers and polar ice) also did not exist before the flood.

You believe that there has been no evolution because what God created was, by definition, perfect - yet you believe he was willing to change all these aspects of his initial design just because of the actions of wicked men?

Some of you are clearly willing to believe he changed the fundamental laws of Physics for this purpose, too. For me, this is even more alarming than evolution denial, because these are so obviously, simply observable laws.

The same website claims that oil and coal were created from pre-flood forests - in 6000 years or less, remember.

http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/FAQ215.html

I just don't know where to begin. So maybe it's time to stop the madness, or at least my part in it.

Question Closed.

Answer 1

After reading some of these responses I fear even more for the human race. Unbelievable..

Answer 2

It may be that atmospheric conditions did not allow the formation of rainbows. We know that certain conditions must be met before the formation of a rainbow. Rainbows do not just appear anywhere.

There are some clues in the Genesis account (Not just the bit about the flood, but in the preceding and folowing chapters) that show that the atmosphere dramatically changed.

for instance, after man lost out on eternal life, they generally started dying at the age range of 900-odd. After the flood, longevity rapidly decreased to a point where no expected to live much beyond 60 or 70.

A canopy of water vapour is described in Genesis as being situated above the earth's surface. The loss of this canopy during the flood is one of the reasons why the flood was so great.

Not being a scientist, I can't go into details, but you can ask for further information at this web site.

Answer 3

Good answers, guys. Keep up the good work.

And such a good question... I mean, since there's nobody and no remaining reference material from times prior to the estimated age of this scripture, someone's bound to have the answer, right?

And, yes, I'm pretty sure that (even if there were a great flood and Noah and his crew and about 70000000 species of animals were on some boat made of all the trees in the surrounding area) rainbows were around before that. "There was no rain before then"? I'm sorry, what?!?

So the trees and the humans in arid climates didn't need the water, I suppose. They were God-powered.

Excellent (albeit pointless) question. Horrible answers thus far.

Answer 4

earlier the Flood, there replaced right into a water cover above the floor of the earth. this is a factor of the water that "fell" to create the Flood in the 1st place. factors of the Amazon have an extremely severe humidity, rather much like a rainfall without the rainfall. i'm no longer asserting it replaced into precisely like that, however the water cover might/might have saved rivers and so on from evaporating to the degree that they do right this moment, thereby lowering the will in some portion of the water cycle because it operates right this moment. we've dew in the mornings, yet this could have been "heavy-duty" dew to have been the finished potential of watering plant life and wood. the fact that it replaced into called the "rainbow" is a clue that it befell because of the fact of rain. it would weren't something particular had it befell on a customary foundation earlier the Flood. EDIT: Tomo, The water cover that I talked approximately got here from Genesis a million:6 and seven which state "permit an expanse finally end up in between the waters and permit a dividing ensue between the waterws and the waters." Then God proceeded to make the expanse and to make a branch between the waters which could be under the expanse and the waters which could be above the expanse". And it got here to be so." Verse 14 facilitates us to work out that the expanse being talked approximately is our atmosphere. Asker, The mist and absence of rain is suggested in Genesis 2:5. I appeared in a Hebrew Interlinear and it makes use of the Hebrew word for bow yet in the context of a "rainbow" because of the fact it ties it in with clouds. an analogous Interlinear does use the Hebrew word for "rain" in Genesis 2:5. That occasion (of utilization of the word rain) does no longer have something to do with the King James version. Genesis 9:13 says "My bow I do provide in the cloud, and it is going to function an illustration of the covenant between me and the earth. And it shall ensue that as quickly as I carry a cloud over the earth, then the bow will easily seem in the cloud".

Answer 5

There was no rainbows because of 2 reasons
1= It never rained on earth before the flood
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.
2= It was a covenant between God & man that God would never flood the earth again.
Gen 9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Gen 9:12 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:
Gen 9:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
Gen 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Gen 9:15 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.
Gen 9:16 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.
Gen 9:17 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.

Answer 6

If as some of the answers say there was no rain before the flood how did vegetation grow to provide food for the animals that Noah took onto the Ark, in fact how did the trees grow to provide the wood to build the Ark

Answer 7

According to the Bible the laws of refraction of light were changed by God to prove he would not flood the earth again.

I do not think this particular part of the Bible is literally true, but some people do. In fact I think that the story of the flood is actually based on an actual event but the Biblical record of it was not totally accurate.
Most ancient cultures have a very similar story to the Biblical flood and only the Bible mentions the rainbow aspect of the story - it seems a very much tagged on ending to me.
There is an excellent wikipedia article on the Great Flood. It is well worth reading.

And for those who have said about there being no rain before the Flood - what about the rainbows near waterfalls (like Niagra falls) which either would have existed before the Flood or the basic laws of how light works would have to have been changed to create them.

Answer 8

b4 the flood there was no direct sun light to make a rainbow here on earth. When that water all fell from the sky at one time it then became possible. Cloud cover no rainbow

Answer 9

I believe there were rainbows before the Flood. Since God created clouds first and water vapor creates rainbows, there should have been rainbows. I believe that God just chose the rainbow, since it was already considered "good" and used it for His purposes. Of course, being God and all, He could have changed the laws of optics.
You pose a very good question about mirrors and lenses. I guess we will never know, though, because all historical records from that time, except those recorded in the Bible, were destroyed.

Answer 10

No, the rainbow is a sign that God will never flood the earth again- and yes there was no rain before the flood- so therefore no rainbow. I love seeing a rainbow- because it lets me see God more- as in "seeing" Him.

Answer 11

It never says if there was a rainbow before then.
But there wasn't any rain before then, That's why people looked at Noah so strange.
Not only did Noah not know how to build a boat, he probably had never seen one. unless he travelled to some shore somewhere.

But since there was no rain before the flood then no there were no rainbows before it either.