I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
The flood is over, and God gives a promise, not a warning — tied to something Noah could see in the sky whenever rain returned. Three questions follow: what did God "set" there, who is the sign for, and how far does the covenant reach?
God Takes the Bow and Appoints It
The wording puts the act on God's side. He does not just point out something in nature. He gives it a meaning it did not carry before.
The bow is given as the token of the covenant; that does not mean it was created then. God could, of course, have put plenty of clouds above the earth without a rainbow. He says, "I do set my bow."
J. N. Darby (older translations read "I do set my bow in the cloud")
Commentators differ on whether the rainbow itself was new. One writer treats the question as unanswerable and points to the new meaning instead:
It is a pointless question, because Scripture has not given us enough evidence to settle it. Was the rainbow seen then for the first time, or was it well known in the earliest ages?... The least we can draw from the words is that God was now, after the flood, pleased to attach a new and merciful meaning to it.
A Sign Aimed at Fear
The sign meets the moment when fear returns — when the sky darkens again.
So there is immense comfort in the bow God's goodness pledged when He set it in the cloud. As a rule you do not see it unless there is rain, and only when the sun shines behind you from the opposite side of the sky. No sign could fit better. If the rain might stir up fear, the beautiful bow had every right to calm it, because God Himself was pleased to assure man of His unfailing covenant.
Another writer holds the two halves together — the cloud God brings, and the bow God sets:
"I bring a cloud... I do set My bow." We may not separate these two, nor look at one apart from the other. It is good for us to remember that man — himself and his works — is only fit for judgment. It is just as good to remember what God is, or the soul must sink into despair.
God Looks at It Too
The sign is not only for human eyes.
The bow in the cloud is man's assurance; but it is more, it is God's memorial of the new relationship into which He has entered with His creatures. His eye is on the bow, and not man's only. So He gives them fellowship with Himself in a sign that speaks of peace in the middle of trouble, and of light in the place of darkness.
A Covenant That Rests on God Alone
The covenant this sign confirms carries no conditions for Noah to keep. This writer also takes the wording as proof that the rainbow itself was new:
This covenant made with Noah and all creation was unconditional. It was a covenant of promise, not depending on any faithfulness of the creature. It was something new. The words, "I do set My bow in the cloud," clearly imply that no one had ever seen a rainbow before.
The promise rules out one kind of judgment, not every judgment:
Another universal judgment by water will never come again (verse 15). Another judgment is in store for this planet. "The world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly."
Light Broken Open by a Storm
The colours themselves carry meaning.
This is a lovely picture of God's glory, for "God is light." Each colour stands for some part of God's many attributes — supremacy, power, authority, grace, righteousness, holiness, love... So all the glory of God is bound up in His promise never again to judge the world by a universal flood.
That same pattern — glory shining out of a storm — appears again at the cross:
There was a cloud indeed — a dark, thick, heavy cloud of judgment pouring itself out on the sacred head of the Lamb of God... But, thank God, faith sees in that heaviest cloud that ever gathered the most brilliant and beautiful bow that ever appeared.
Summary
- Set, not found. God takes the bow and makes it His token. The covenant rests on His act of giving the sign, not on where the rainbow came from.
- Cloud, then bow. The sign appears only where there is cloud. God joins the reminder of judgment to the reminder of what He is, so fear does not turn into despair.
- His eye first. The bow is man's assurance, but it is also God's memorial. His own eye is on it, and that is why the promise holds.
- No conditions, wide reach. God makes the covenant with Noah, all creation, and the earth itself, and it depends on no faithfulness from the creature.
- Glory out of the storm. Colour after judgment pictures God showing His own glory — and faith sees that glory most clearly at the cross.