Had it ever rained before the Flood in Noah's day?

Verses 5-7, of our chapter, give us several additional details of the creation, and of man in particular. Verse 5 emphasizes that the vegetable creation came straight from the hand of God and was not produced by natural causes, such as rain, nor by man's cultivating skill. Verse 6 shows that it was maintained by a mist which rose from the earth itself, without water descending from above. Waters there were "above the firmament" (Genesis 1:7), but as yet they had not descended as showers on the earth. Not till Genesis 7:4, do we read of rain. Some think that the watering of the earth by mist and not rain persisted until the time of the flood. It may have been so.

It is important to consider this chapter as laying down, in a special manner, all the principles of the relationship of man, whether with God, with his wife, or with the inferior creation. Here were all things in their own order as creatures of God in connection with the earth; but man's labour not the means of their growth and fruitfulness. Nor did rain from heaven minister fruitfulness from above. The mist that watered it rose from the earth, drawn up by power and blessing, but not coming down. Yet man was, as to his place, in a peculiar one in reference to God. Man did not dwell in heaven; God did not dwell on earth. But God had formed a place of peculiar blessing and delight for man's habitation, and there He visited him. Out of this garden, where he was placed by the hand of God as sovereign of the world, flowed rivers which watered and characterised the world without. Upon Adam reposed the duty of obedience. The image of God upon earth, in the absence of evil from his nature, and as the centre of a vast system around him and in connection with him, his own proper blessing was in his immediate connection and intercourse with God, according to the place he was set in.

In verse 5 Moses describes the condition of things before man was created. Rain had not fallen. A mist watered the face of the earth. But there was a blank.

I am not aware that the waters above the heavens are more than the supplies of rain in the clouds. It has been alleged, that there was no rain till the Deluge, and that these waters came down then. It may be so. I see no proof of it.

Creation therefore did not come into being merely as a display of God's power, but as a sphere in which God's tender interest in man is wonderfully evident. Beginning with verse 4 is 'the history of the heavens and earth when they were created,” that is, an expanded view of what has been told us in Genesis 1. The Lord God made the earth and the heavens before plant life of any kind existed. Then even when He had introduced vegetation there was no rainfall, but a mist that went up from the earth to water the face of the ground (v. 6). This is another evidence of God's authorship of the Bible, for this is something that man would never have imagined. Though there were “waters above,” God did not use them as rainfall. How the earth produced the mist we do not know. However, plants were made to grow in the earth — grass, herbs and trees — only three days before God created man to care for them.

Beginning with verse 4 is "history of the heavens and the earth when they were created," and expanded view of what has been told us in Chapter 1. The Lord God made the earth and the heavens before plant life of any kind existed. Then even when He had introduced vegetation there was no rainfall, but a mist that went up from the earth to water the face of the ground (v.6). This is another evidence of God's authorship of the Bible, for this is something that man would never have imagined. Though there were "waters above," God did not use them as rainfall. How the earth produced the mist we do not know. However, plants were made to grow in the earth -- grass, herbs and trees -- only three days before God created man to care for them.

It seems clear that it is the description of plants and herbs of the third day's production, before man, the head of creation, appeared. Like man they were of full growth, and not from seed as ever since. It is not a repetition of the general fact of their origin as in chap. 1, but, like all else in chap. 2 from its true beginning, a presentation of special circumstances is here added in the only right place. On the one hand, it is not denied on geological evidence that rain can be proved to have fallen at least as far back as the carboniferous period, however immense the lapse of ages before man. On the other hand, it has been contended that it was a circumstance quite unworthy of notice that the inspired historian should notice these explanatory particulars of vegetation now existing for a few natural days without rain or culture. Evidently this is merely a difficulty and an effort on behalf of the theory of periodistic days. The admirable condescension and interest of Him Who is here shown entering into gracious relations with man are manifested by the intimation, which, in the vast geologic ages, would seem not only unmeaning but untrue. Whatever may have been the divine method before such relations could be, it was of importance for man to know authoritatively that Jehovah Elohim made not only earth and heavens, (changing for similar reason the actual order,) but "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew." These productions are specified as needful for the food of the living creatures when called into existence on earth; and there they were by God's ordering in suitable maturity, in contrast with subsequent experience. Two reasons are annexed: one that rain had not yet been caused to fall on the earth as it was now constituted; the other that man was not yet there to till the ground. Nobody could mistake, one might think, so plain a hint, but for the blinding influence of a previously conceived theory. He Who made all, even in His every arrangement, considered man and acted in view of him, now especially revealing it when He made man to know Himself in any measure and to enjoy His goodness. Hence also He would have man to know the especial provision even for that brief and peculiar while, "but there went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground." This would be strange for scientific men to predicate of the vast geologic periods since vegetation first began. We may see that it is the simple truth for the few days after the third of the first week; and the naming of it here is not only in keeping with the design of the new section, but most worthy of the special place in which man is now set as recorded.

This covenant made with Noah and all creation was unconditional. It was a covenant of promise, not depending on any faithfulness of the creature. It was something new. The words, "I do set My bow in the cloud," clearly infer that the phenomenon of a rainbow had never before been seen by mankind. This would appear strongly to support the thought we mentioned when considering Genesis 2:5-6 that until the time of the flood no rain had fallen on the earth but it had been watered by mist.

As ever, God made the first move, He spoke to Noah, warning him of "things not seen as yet." They were seen with awful vividness and destructive effect when the one hundred and twenty years had expired, but at the beginning of the period there was not the smallest sign of them. Indeed it is quite probable that what is stated in Genesis 2:5, as to the absence of rain, applied to the whole antediluvian period, and if so the announcement to Noah of the great flood of waters must have sounded to him strange, unprecedented and unbelievable from any human standpoint. However, the warning came from God, and that settled the matter as far as Noah was concerned. Here, then, is an excellent illustration of the dictum that "Faith is believing what God says, because God says it."

God's instructions as to animals and birds are repeated in verses 2 and 3. Then a respite of seven days is given before the flood would come. This shows again the longsuffering of God. When men saw the large number of animals coming to the ark and then the family of Noah all entering this completed gigantic vessel, at least then they ought to have realized that this project was not merely conceived by Noah's imagination, in spite of the fact that rain had evidently never before fallen (Gen. 2:5-6). But God gave men another week to change their minds. Perhaps as those few days passed, people were becoming more confident each day that nothing was going to happen, rather than being sensibly concerned.

In verse 11 God gives the date of the beginning of the flood in relation to the age of Noah, not only the general time, but the exact day, the 17th day of the second month, in Noah's 600th year. The many dates, names and places recorded in scripture are an invitation to anyone to check as he pleases as to the accuracy of the word of God. In this verse we are told however that, not only were the windows of heaven opened, but first that the fountains of the great deep were broken up. This must have involved a tremendous tidal wave, the seas throwing up such waters as to cover the whole habitable earth. For it is claimed that the skies above us would be absolutely full to saturation point it they contained enough water to cover the earth to a depth of only thirty feet. One scientist has written that if a planet, — Saturn for instance, — were to come into close proximity to the earth, and make two passes around the earth, it could cause a tidal wave that would cover the whole earth, lasting 150 days. Of course, God could use such means as this if He pleased, or He could accomplish what He did apart from such means. But to add to the awesome inundation, the rain fell for forty days and forty nights (v. 12).