"When the (rain)bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." (Genesis 9:16-17)

God’s Covenant of mercy extends to all Creation.

Noah’s flood was no ordinary flood. According to the Bible, its distinguishing feature was not that it rained for forty days and forty nights. The distinctive feature of this flood is mentioned, almost in passing, in Genesis 7:11: "on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth."

What are the fountains of the great deep? The writers of the Old Testament followed the conventional wisdom of the day in assuming that t…