Genesis 2:5-6

These verses describe global conditions before man’s creation in terms that stress God’s gracious preparation of the world for him. They are a flashback to conditions before Genesis 1:26. Moses chose terms that contrast with conditions that existed after the Fall. [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 40.] "Shrubs" were evidently not edible whereas "plants" were. Thus Moses distinguished two types of land: arable and non-arable. [Note: Wenham, p. 58.]

The absence of "rain" and the presence of the "mist" have led some writers to postulate a "canopy theory." [Note: Whitcomb and Morris; Jody Dillow, The Waters Above.] According to this theory, a canopy of water vapor that watered the earth covered the earth initially. It reduced the destructive rays of the sun so that antediluvian man lived much longer, and it distributed heat more evenly over the surface of this planet. Such a water canopy covers Venus. This canopy supposedly broke up when God sent the Flood (Genesis 7:11). This is another of those theories that are impossible to prove or disprove conclusively. [Note: For a critique of this view, see Thomas Key, "Does the Canopy Theory Hold Water?" See also Stanley Rice, "Botanical and Ecological Objections to a Preflood Water Canopy," Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation 37:4 (December 1985):223-29.]