Genesis 2:6

A mist. The Hebrew word translated “mist,” ’ed, is of somewhat doubtful meaning, because outside of this text it occurs only in Job 36:27. Scholars have compared it with the Assyrian edu, “flood,” and applied this meaning to the two Biblical passages where it occurs. But the word “flood” does not fit the context of either of these texts, whereas the word “mist” or “vapor” makes good sense in both instances. Ancient translations usually rendered the word “spring,” which rendering reveals that they did not understand it. The improbability that one spring could have watered the earth plainly shows that “spring” cannot be the right translation of ’ed. “Mist” seems to be the best translation, and in this instance we may think of “mist” as synonymous with “dew” (PP 96).

The fact that the people of Noah’s time scoffed at the idea that rain from heaven could bring destruction to this earth in the Deluge, and that Noah is praised for believing “things not seen as yet” (Heb. 11:7), indicates that rain was unknown to the antediluvians (see PP 96, 97). Only Noah’s eye of faith could picture water falling from heaven and drowning all living beings who would not seek refuge in the ark he built. The fact that the rainbow was instituted after the Flood (Gen. 9:13-16), and seems not to have existed earlier, lends additional weight to the observation that rain had been unknown prior to that event.