The Promise of the Rainbow

Newsletter article for August 2000

© 2000 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

In these late summer days if you go outside after a rainstorm there is a chance that you will see a rainbow in the sky. I believe that the rainbow is truly one of the wonders of God’s creation. I believe that with their brilliant spectrum of colors, rainbows are some of the most beautiful things on earth, and I still take as much delight in seeing a rainbow as I did when I was a child.

Rainbows are special, even if you discount the myth of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I discovered the truth about this myth once during a plane trip to California. We were flying over the clouds and the sun was overhead and I looked down on the clouds and saw a complete rainbow. It wasn’t shaped like a bow, it was a complete, perfect circle. So if anyone hopes to find a pot of gold they will always be disappointed, because rainbows don’t have an end.

It is funny that I never thought about the origin of the word “rainbow” until I began to learn Hebrew. In the course of my studies I was reading the story of Noah and the aftermath of the great flood in Genesis 9:12-17 and I came across the Hebrew word qesheth. When I found the word in the lexicon it described a bow, which is a weapon that hunters or warriors use with arrows. Until this point I had never associated a rainbow with a weapon, but I could see how it made sense. The rainbow is curved just like a warrior’s bow, and since it comes after the rain, there you have a simple and ancient history of the origin of the term.

If you think about it, this helps us to understand the significance of the promise that God attached to the rainbow in Genesis 9. You may wish to read Genesis 6-9 if you are unfamiliar with the details of the story of the great flood. God, Himself, was acting as the great, righteous warrior in sending the flood to kill all His wicked enemies. The bow would be a symbol of God’s mighty vengeance on His enemies. God showed his wrath when He destroyed all the people on earth, but God also showed the power of His mercy when he saved Noah, his family, and the pairs of animals in the ark. But because God is primarily a merciful God, who prefers salvation and forgiveness to destruction, He used the rainbow as a sign of His promise never to destroy all life on earth as He did in the days of Noah. Destruction is always a last resort with God, only undertaken after all else has failed.

God tells us in Genesis 9:13, “I have set my bow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” The symbolism there is that God is hanging up his weapon in a place for all to see, so that all who see it will know that God is not our enemy. An unarmed God is a reassuring symbol for sinful people whom God wants to love Him. God’s pacific nature is shown in Isaiah’s prophesy (Isa. 42:3) where he prophesies about Jesus, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” Jesus himself reinforces this peaceful, forgiving attitude when He says in John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Look for rainbows this month, and if you see one remember God’s promise to Noah. Remember that God is a merciful and loving God, and the rainbow is a sign that God loves us.