The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 220

ntm!'spberic conditiom of the earth had been and explained by it. The institution of the different from what they are at present, it rainbow as a sign clearly negatives the idea must h•ve been a frequent spectacle in the !(.Aquinas, Cajet~n) that it WD.ll origin11lly primeval hc•vens. My bow. I. e. the rain- and naturally a ~ign ; which, if it was, "it bow, ,-o{ov (LXX.), (cf. Ezek. i. 28). The was a lying sign, ' since the Flood came not- orrlinari- rain bow consists of a series of suc- withstanding its prognostications (Willet). cessiYe •zones or bands of polarised light, Of a covenant. " The bow in the hands of forming little concentric circles in the sky, man was an instrument of battle (eh. xlviii. nnd haring a common centre almost always 22; Ps. vii. 12; Prov. vi. 2; Zech. ix. 10); hdow the horizon, and di1tmetrically opposite but the bow bent by the hand of God bas to the sun. It is produced by the refraction become a symbol of peace" (Wordsworth). and reflection of the sun's light through the Between me and the earth. spherical raindrops on which the rays fall, Ver. 14.-And it shall come to pass, when and, accordinglyt must always appear, with I bring a cloud over the earth . . Literally, a grca ter or a lesser degree of visibility, 0 in my clouding a cloud, i. e. gathering "·h e11 the two material agencies come in clouds, which naturally signify store of contact. The part of the sky on which the rnin (1 Kings xviii. 44, 45). Clouds are rninhow is thrown is much ·more bright often used to denote afflictions and dangers within tlum without the bow. The outer (cf. Ezek. x.xx. 3, 18; xxxii. 7; xxxiv. 12; spnce is dark, almost bla.ck; and the inner Joel ii. 2). That the bow shall be seen in space, on the contrary, melts into the violet the cloud. Literally, and the bow is seen, almost insensibly (Nichol's 'Cyclopedia of which it always is when the sun's rays fall the Sciences,' nrt. Rainbow). It is here upon it, if the spectator's back is towards sti-led God's bow, es being his workman- the light, and his face towards the cloud. sl{ip (cf. Ecdus. xliii. 12), and his seal ap- Thus at the moment when danger seems pended to his covenant (eh. ix. 17). In the to threaten most, the many-coloured arch cloud. j~~. that wh,:ch veils the heavens, arrests the gaze. from a root signifying to cover (Gesenius). Ver. 15.-And I will remember (cf. eh. viii. 1). .An anthropomorphism introduced And it shall be for a token. riii:-t~ = Eic to remind man that God is ever faithful to tITJl'•iov (LXX. ). In Greek mythology the his covenant engagements (Calvin). "God rainbow is designated by a name (Iris) which is said to remember, because he maketh us is at least connected with ,ipo,, to spee.k, and to know and to remember" (Chrysostom). ,ip,1,, 71 , peace; is represented as the da~hter My covenant (vi,de on ver. 11), which is of Thaumas (wonder), and Electra (bright- between me and you and every living ness) the dano-hter of Oceanus; is assigned creature of all fiesh; and the waters shall the office of m~ssenger to the king and queen no more become a 11ood-hayah with le= to of Olympus; and is depi~te~ as set in -~ea,en become (cf. eh. ii. 7); literally, shall no for a sign (Homer, 'IL, ::a. 27; XTIL 547, more be (i. e. grow) to a flood; or, "and there 548 ; xxfr. 14.4, 159 ; Virgil, '1En. ,' iv. shall no more be the waters to the extent o 694 : ,-_ 606; Ovid, 'Met.,' i. 270; xi. 585). a flood "-to destroy all fiesh. The Persians seem to have associated the Ver. 16.-And the bow shall be in the rainbow mth similar ideas. An old picture, cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may mentioned by Stolberg, represents a win~ed romember the everlasting covenant. Liter- boy on a rainbow with_ an old ma1;1- kneeling ally, the covenant of eternity. One of those in a posture of worship. Th~ HIDdoos d_e- pregnant Scripture sayings that have in scribe the rainbow as a warlike weapon ID them an almost inexhaustible fulness of the hands of Indra.s their god, "with which meaning, which does not at first sight dis- he hurls flashing darts upon the impious close itself to the eye of the unreflecting giants ; " but also as a symbol of peace ex- reader. In so far as the Noachic covenant hibited to man "when the combat of the was simply a promise that there should be heavens is silenced." By the Chinese it is no recurrence of a flood, the covenant of regarded as the harbinger of troubles an~ eternity had a corresponding limit in its misfortunes on earth, and by the old Scandi- duration to the period of this present terres- navians as a bridge uniting earth and heave!! trial economy. But, rightly viewed, the (' Kalisch on Genesis,' pp. 2_23! 224). ~ 1 - Noachic covenant was the original .Adam.ic tional reflections of the Biblical narrative, covenant set up again in a different form ; they do not " account for the application and hence, when applied to it, the phrase in the Pentateuch of the rainbow to a very covenant of eternity is entitled to retain remarkable purpose," or "explain _why the itq highest and fullest significance, 1111 a New Testament represents the raIDbow as covenant reaching from eternity to eternity. an attribute of the Divine throne," or "whr, Between God and every living creature of angels are sent as messengers on earth ' all flesh that is upon the earth. (Kalisch) ; bv t are themselves accounted for Ver. 17.-And God said unto Noah, Thu OH, IX, 8-17,l 'rHE BOOK OF GENESIS. 145