Q: #44. Did it rain before the flood?
A: The answer appears to be no. The reason why we believe this is based on
(Gen 2:5-6) which says, "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.
(6) But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the
ground."
In addition, in (Gen 9:12-17), we have God making a covenant promise with
Noah that He would never again bring a flood to destroy the whole earth. The
sign of this promise was a rainbow in the clouds. It seems logical to assume
that if it had rained before the flood, they would have seen a rainbow in the
clouds previously.
Can you imagine the ridicule Noah would have received for building an ark
on dry land? And, when God said in (Gen 7:4) "I will cause it to rain upon the
earth forty days and forty nights," Noah must have been saying, "What is this
rain stuff?"
