Question I received

[YahChannah]

Another question,

"I have a question that is more for
personal knowledge than anything else. Since all the books of the Old
Testament, except Esther, are represented in the DSS, I feel this
question is valid. ?No Rain is mentioned before the great flood in
Noah's time... So was the Earth inshrouded by a cloud of mist,
(Gen.2.5...for theLord God had not caused it to rain upon the
earth....Gen.2.6...But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered
the whole face of the ground.), like a large greenhouse where the
temperature was about the same over the whole planet?...And was the
cooling of the Earth the reason for the excessive water being condensed
from the surrounding mist? The question may seem off-course for DSS
studies, but Genises is part of the "Corpus" and I've never known of
these questions being addressed. If this "First Rain" is correct, the
people of Noah's area would have been correct in thinking Noah was out of
his mind, for they would not have understood a warning about something
they had never seen. And if "First Rain" is correct, God was not
involved. Peace, a"
:p

[Thummim]

My take on this concerns the Garden of Eden. The Eloheem creates his garden and creates a river to water it. At first it is watered by the fog as many coastal regions are. To get the water to the trees and other flora, the Eloheem creates a man to cultivate it. In the beginning, the earth is not important. There is no rain because there are no people to need it. The first man is created for agricultural reasons. Any animals can walk to the rivers edge to get a drink. No doubt, the flora grew along the rivers edge. (this is the way of the arid regions of the earth)Then Adam and his wife are banished from the garden, and Adam is told to till the ground of which he is made of. (Gen.3:23) As of this time there is as yet no rain accounted of. I don't know if it rained prior to Noah. There is no account of any prior rain. Perhaps Noah's rain is the first. Man as tiller of the ground does not imply rain. It implies dryness and a need for rain. Interesting, this question. You may have something here. I never thought of Noah's time as not knowing rain as yet. ....Michael