Physics.
“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 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” (Gen. ix, 13–15).
The Bible writer did not know that it was the refraction and reflection of the sun’s rays on the drops of water which produced the prismatic colors of the rainbow; he did not know that the phenomenon was as old as rain and sunshine, but believed it to be a postdiluvian sign thrown on the dark canvas of clouds by the Almighty.
“It seems plain,” says the Bishop of Natal, “that the writer supposes the bow to have been seen for the first time when the deluge was over.”
“The words which Moses spake unto all Israel” (Deut. i, 1).
“And Moses called all Israel and said unto them” (v, 1).
“There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel” (Josh. viii, 35).
Nature’s temple must have possessed wonderful acoustic properties to enable Moses and Joshua to reach the ears of a multitude of three millions.
“Let us build a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven” (Gen. xi, 4).
God himself, ignorant of pneumatics, believes the project possible, and confounds their language to prevent it.
“And the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were as a wall unto them on the right hand, and on their left” (Ex. xiv, 21, 22).
A fundamental principle of hydrostatics is the following: “When a pressure is exerted on any part of the surface of a liquid, that pressure is transmitted undiminished to all parts of the mass, and in all directions.”