Was the Deluge the first time it rained!

[nablaise]

A friend mentioned that it did not rain before the Great Flood.
That it rained the first time at the time of the Deluge and after.
It seem to make sens since there was no rainbow before the Deluge and also since it seems like many things were different which includes people living many hundreds of years.

Did anyone else heard more about how things were before the Deluge…more details than or more explanation of what we have in the Bible?

God bless

 

[puzzleannie]

wow and the folks in Atlanta and the Carolinas think they have a drought! I don’t think, to put it kindly, there is any biblical basis for that idea.

 

[Strategery]

It’d be tough to grow plants without water. No rivers or groundwater either.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

A friend mentioned that it did not rain before the Great Flood.
That it rained the first time at the time of the Deluge and after.
It seem to make sens since there was no rainbow before the Deluge and also since it seems like many things were different which includes people living many hundreds of years.

Did anyone else heard more about how things were before the Deluge…more details than or more explanation of what we have in the Bible?

God bless

I have actually thought about this very question (as have others) but I never did know if there was a generally accepted answer.

I myself wonder if it ever rained. Gen 1:6-8 talks about there being a separation of water on the earth with water in the sky, but does that mean it rained? Places like Gen 2:5-6 are pretty interesting too,
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God **had not sent rain on the earth **and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-
This says no rain came yet, but we dont know if rain came after, it seems to indicate rivers and underground springs watered all the very first plant life.

It doesnt look like rain is even mentioned until Gen 6-7 (the flood) so it is possible it did not rain until the flood.

At this point, unless I see some more information, I’m leaning towards the idea that it did not rain until the flood.

 

[Fidelis]

I don’t think there’s enough information given in the Bible to definitively conclude that it never rained until the time of the Deluge.

The statement in Genesis 2 (part of the Creation narrative) only speaks of what happened up until that time: it does not address what happened after.

The early chapters of Genesis do not mention rain --but neither do they specifically mention wind, sunshine, the tides, or the seasons. Are we to conclude that these phenomena also did not exist?

Mankind did live longer at that time, but what does that have to do with rain?

Just because God designates the rainbow as a sign of the covenant between Noah and himself, that does not mean there weren’t any rainbows before then.

Short of a statement in Scripture at the time of the Deluge saying “This is the first time it ever rained until then” I don’t think we can conclude that it did not.

 

[nablaise]

Mankind did live longer at that time, but what does that have to do with rain?

About the physics and chemistry of that time.
It could be that the reason we live ~120 years is in function of how the Earth atmosphere was set up after the deluge.

It could be that the ‘environment’ was a little different before the deluge…

God bless

 

[bilop]

About the physics and chemistry of that time.
It could be that the reason we live ~120 years is in function of how the Earth atmosphere was set up after the deluge.

It could be that the ‘environment’ was a little different before the deluge…

God bless

It most likely is a literary device. When they speak of Methuzalah living “900 years” they just mean he was very old.

Likewise ancient history talks about the Persians invading Greece with 1 million men. This just mean a very large army, nowhere near 1 million was possible.

Throughout ancient and medieval history numbers are used figuratively, not literally.

We shouldn’t expect the Bible to be any different. It is inspired as to theology, not history.

God Bless

 

[YADA]

Maybe it rained … maybe it did not rain …

Using the scriptures as a weather almanac makes about as much sense as using the scriptures as a science tex book …

The scriptures are about our relationship with our creator and more importatly - the relationship our creator has with us …

It is [essentially] God’s self revelation … while it mentions events and the factors that surround those same … it is not history, science or the weather record …

So from a theological stand point - what does whether it rained before [or only after] the flood tell us about our relationship with God? How does this impact our relationship? Does it tell us anything about God’s fidelity to man? …

If this [or some other God centered one] is not the focus of the discussion then I would not waste any time in pondering the question … faith nd reason are not mutually exclusive [read the encyclical *Fides et Ratio - On Faith and Reason] …

The topic reminds me of pitting the theory of evolution against Genesis and dating the earth from the fossil record against the list of geneologies…

IMHO - scientific discoveries and mathematical proofs are not the purpose of Holy Scriptures … though God is the ultimate author of all three of them …

 

[Catholic_Dude]

It most likely is a literary device. When they speak of Methuzalah living “900 years” they just mean he was very old.

Likewise ancient history talks about the Persians invading Greece with 1 million men. This just mean a very large army, nowhere near 1 million was possible.

Throughout ancient and medieval history numbers are used figuratively, not literally.

We shouldn’t expect the Bible to be any different. It is inspired as to theology, not history.

God Bless

That might or might not be true. The Bible gives both precise numbers on things and general numbers on others.

In the case of people in Genesis 5 living hundreds of years, the fact the ages given are so precise we should assume those numbers are accurate.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

If it didn’t rain before the flood we have to admire Noah’s faith even more. He was preparing for something he had never heard of .

 

[Padraig_77]

And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth. But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface of the earth.

I think this is only referring to before Adam was created because it states, “and there was not a man to till the earth”, so it seems to indicate that because Adam wasn’t there to till and farm the land, a spring watered the earth. Then after Adam was created, it rained. At least, thats what it sounds like to me.