4 replies to this topic

[Woody]

We are studying the LDS Standard Works, a chapter a day.

Please post your thoughts on this chapter, commentary written by others on topics related to this chapter, related passages from other chapters, etc. We all benefit from discussion.

As a stimulus to study, see if you can figure out why this quotation is relevant to this chapter:

What's the proper salutation between people as they pass
each other in this flood? -Buddha

======================
Genesis 9

1 AND God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

8 ¶ And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
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.

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:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
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.
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.
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.

18 ¶ And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

28 ¶ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years.
29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.

[frankenstein]

i like the Joseph Smith translation of Gen Chapter 9
4 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar; and gave thanks unto the Lord, and rejoiced in his heart.    5 And the Lord spake unto Noah, and he blessed him. And Noah smelled a sweet savor, and he said in his heart;     6 I will call on the name of the Lord, that he will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and that he will not again smite any more every thing living, as he hath done, while the earth remaineth;  
10 But, the blood of all flesh which I have given you for meat, shall be shed upon the ground, which taketh life thereof, and the blood ye shall not eat.    11 And surely, blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands.     12 And whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for man shall not shed the blood of man.     13 For a commandment I give, that every man’s brother shall preserve the life of man, for in mine own image have I made man.     14 And a commandment I give unto you, Be ye fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly on the earth, and multiply therein.     15 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I will establish my covenant with you, which I made unto your father Enoch, concerning your seed after you.

21 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men shall keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself.    22 And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy;     23 And the general assembly of the church of the first-born shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father Enoch.   <a name="24">  24 And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will establish my covenant unto thee, which I have made between me and thee, for every living creature of all flesh that shall be upon the earth.     25 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and thee; for all flesh that shall be upon the earth.

[Woody]

It seems very mysterious that the rainbow was placed in the clouds after the Flood. What did sunlight do before that? Did the laws of physics change? or did conditions change? Was there some component in airborne mist that is not there now? For instance, gas of some kind in the atmosphere? Were the skies almost always overcast so there was rarely any direct sunlight seen? Was there a change made to people's eyes so that they could see color?

[rpn]

Yea, wouldn't it be nice to understand that, as one of the signs of the second coming is that there will be a year without rainbows. We've always thought of it as a year without rain --- no fun surely. But what if it is some other change?

[BCSpace]

Quote

It seems very mysterious that the rainbow was placed in the clouds after the Flood. What did sunlight do before that? Did the laws of physics change? or did conditions change? Was there some component in airborne mist that is not there now? For instance, gas of some kind in the atmosphere? Were the skies almost always overcast so there was rarely any direct sunlight seen? Was there a change made to people's eyes so that they could see color?

I don't see any conclusive evidence that this was the first rainbow, only that it became a symbol of the covenant.  I think such is related to...

And the Gods organized the lights in the expanse of the heaven, and caused them to divide the day from the night; and organized them to be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years;
Abraham 4:14

In other words, they have always existed since the creation of the universe billions of years ago and God will reveal the meaning of the sign when the time is right.