“I have set My rainbow in the clouds”
Genesis 9:13
Cultural referenceWell-supportedGod
I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13 BSB)
* Hebrew: qeshet, the ordinary word for a war bow; God hangs up His bow, arced away from the earth, as the sign that the judgment is over.
What it sounds like today
A pretty promise attaching God's pledge to a colorful weather event.
The cultural key
The word translated 'rainbow' is simply qeshet, the everyday Hebrew word for the archer's war bow. There is no separate word for the meteorological rainbow; the image is a weapon. The ancient picture is of the divine warrior, having flooded the earth, hanging his bow in the clouds, arced upward and pointed away from the world rather than drawn against it. A god setting down his bow was a recognizable gesture of peace after conflict.
Recovered meaning
The rainbow is a laid-down weapon. God is not merely decorating the sky; He is retiring the bow that sent the flood, hanging it up as a standing sign that the war on the earth is over.
Parallels: Genesis 9:15; Isaiah 54:9