Rainbow (Heb. qesheth, “bow”; Gr. íris, “rainbow”). Atmospheric phenomenon. Arc of colors seen in the sky, opposite the sun, produced by the refraction of light in water droplets suspended in the atmosphere. Since rain was not known while the original plan to water the earth was in operation (Gen 2:5, 6), a rainbow could not appear before “the windows of heaven” were opened during the deluge. So it is likely that the 1st rainbow was seen after the flood, when the sun broke through the clouds as Noah offered his sacrifice to the Lord after leaving the ark. God then made the rainbow the sign of guarantee of the covenant promise that there would never again be a flood to destroy the earth (9:13, 14, 16). Two prophets separated by many centuries, Ezekiel and John, described this arch that they saw in vision around the throne of God (Eze 1:28; Rev 4:3). A rainbow also appears over the head of the mighty angel who came down from heaven with a little book in his hand (10:1,2).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
meteor that presents the seven colors of the spectrum, due to the refraction and reflection of the sun’s rays on the clouds and the water droplets suspended in the atmosphere after the rain. The name comes from pagan mythology, which considered this arch as the girdle of Iris, messenger of the gods. In Scripture, the ai is the sign of the perpetual covenant established by God with Noah, after the flood, according to which there will be no more floodwaters to destroy the earth Gn 9, 11, 17 .
Recalling the works of the Lord in Si 43, 11-12, it is said that the ai “has been stretched out by the hands of God”. Ben Sirá compares Simon II, high priest, son of Onias II, with the ai that illuminates the clouds Si 50, 7. The glory of Yahweh is compared to the splendor of ai Ez 1, 28. John, too, in an apocalyptic vision see the rainbow around the throne of God Ap 4, 3; also an angel coming down from heaven, with the rainbow over his head Ap 10, 1.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Heb., quechet, bow). God’s covenant with Noah declared that he would never again send a worldwide flood to destroy the entire inhabited earth (Gen 9:8-17). The rainbow is the first covenant sign and provides the key to understanding them all, including the sign of baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the new covenant. The rainbow is the promise of the Lord made visible. Thus, covenant signs express covenant promises to a covenant people. Ezekiel compares the glory of God to that of a rainbow (Eze 1:28). John, as a prisoner on Patmos, beheld the rainbow-encircled throne of God (Rev 4:3).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
syncretic sects. Name used by some groups of oriental religiosity characterized by a high degree of syncretism. Some of these groups are esoteric in nature.
Source: Dictionary of Religions Denominations and Sects
Phenomenon that occurs when a distant light passes through a body of water that is in the form of rain, steam or fog. Depending on the angle at which the light beam passes through the drop of water, different colors are projected in the shape of half a wheel. After the flood, God told Noah that the ai would serve as a reminder that “there will be no more deluge of waters to destroy all flesh” (Gen 9:9-17). According to Ezekiel, “as the ai that is in the clouds appears on the day it rains, so was the appearance of the brightness…. of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah† (Eze 1:28). John saw † œaround the throne an ai † and an angel † œwith the ai over his head † (Rev 4:3; Rev 10:1). Some rabbis point out that the ai is inverted towards the earth, as a warrior lowers his bow when he stops using it, which is a symbol of peace.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, type
see, FLOOD “The bow set in the clouds” was given to Noah by God as a covenant that he would never again destroy the whole world with a flood (Gen. 9:13-16). The conditions that cause rainbows, the refraction of light in raindrops, did not exist before the flood, since the state of the atmosphere was different from what we have after the flood. (See FLOOD). The bow mentioned in Revelation (Rev. 4:3; 10:1) is a symbol that, despite all of man’s sin, God has been faithful to his promise regarding the earth. The beautiful rainbow should always remind us of his abiding fidelity. Bibliography: Morris, HM, and John C. Whitcomb: “The Genesis Flood” (Clie, Terrassa, 1982).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
(-> deluge, covenant, Noah). In the overall view of Genesis, history before the flood has been like a dress rehearsal: God has left it to men to define his existence; he has given them the tree of life and death, he has allowed them to choose and be (Gn 2-3). The result has been clear: focused on their freedom, driven by their own desire, men destroy themselves (Gn 4), provoking the flood (Gn 6-7).
(1) Sign in the sky. After the flood, God himself is committed to guaranteeing the stability and permanence of the world, despite the wickedness of men, as he has already said in Gn 8:22: “As long as the earth remains, sowing and harvest will not cease. , cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night. From there the new word of blessing is understood, which takes up that of Gn 1,28: “grow (= be fruitful), multiply and fill the earth (parah, rabah, mala†™: Gn 9,1). Human life is the first of all values; by blessing it has arisen, in blessing it remains. Well, that blessing is guaranteed through a pact (berit) of God with all the living: “I establish my pact with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you; birds, animals and every beast of the earth that is with you… I will establish my covenant with you, and I will no longer destroy all flesh with flood waters, nor will there be any more flood to destroy the earth… This is the sign of the covenant… I put my bow in the clouds. And it will happen that when I cause clouds to come over the earth, then my bow will be seen in the clouds” (Gen 9:9-14). This is a unilateral pact, founded only on God’s fidelity, so that it does not depend on the response of men, since God offers them perpetual protection, despite what they do.
(2) Celestial arch, pact of life. It is a pact open not only to all men (Jews and non-Jews), but to men and animals: all are recipients of the same divine protection. This means that things no longer exist by the goodness of man, but by the provident grace of God. This is a pact with a sign (†™ot) of a cosmic type: the rainbow of heaven (qeshet). A more beautiful and harsh sign could hardly have been found, (a) The bow is a sign of peace, as the text itself highlights: “When I send the rain and the bow appears in the clouds I will remember the pact…”, expressed in colors of forgiveness and life, (b) But the bow is also a sign of peace in the midst of war, as the same text continues: every time the storm ignites and the rain explodes, it will be as if the world were put into a trance of death, as if a bow (weapon) of war threatened us everywhere; that is why God has to remember (zakar) the covenant and stop the rain of his destructive wrath. The war bow is for the Hebrew Bible (and for the ancient East) the military weapon par excellence: every time men saw the shape of a bow they remembered war; but the bow is also a sign of peace, being an expression of the threat of war. The celestial bow of God is more powerful than the bows of the soldiers.
PIKAZA, Javier, Dictionary of the Bible. History and Word, Divine Word, Navarra 2007
Source: Dictionary of Bible History and Word
Semicircular arch that presents the colors of the solar spectrum; visible sign of Jehovah’s covenant promise to †never again cut off from life all flesh by waters of a deluge, or thereby bring the earth to ruin†™. (Ge 9:11-16) Since there is no distinct Hebrew word for rainbow, the Bible uses the same word for the “bow” of shooting arrows. (Eze 1:28.)
There are complicated theories and formulas to explain the formation of a rainbow, but basically it can be said that when a ray of white light enters a raindrop, it acts as a small prism that refracts the ray and scatters it into its different colors, that are reflected inside it, as in a concave mirror, and come out again at different and specific angles. For this reason, the observer sees an arc with all seven colors of the spectrum (from the inside of the arc outwards: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red), although they may be mixed in such a way that they are only perceived clearly four or five. Sometimes a larger, less sharp ‘secondary’ arc is formed with the colors reversed. Science is still studying the rainbow. According to Carl B. Boyer, †œthe interaction of light energy and matter that takes place in a raindrop is such that the researcher cannot help but relate this phenomenon to quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. While it is true that a great deal is known about how a rainbow is produced, very little is known about how it is perceived by the human eye† . (The Rainbow, From Myth to Mathematics, 1959, pp. 320, 321.)
The first biblical reference to rainbows is in the account of God’s covenant with Noah and his offspring after the survivors of the Flood exited the ark. (Ge 9: 8-17; Isa 54: 9, 10) The sight of this splendid phenomenon must have been reassuring to Noah and his family and a sign of peace.
Many opinions have been offered as to whether this was the first time humans saw rainbows. There are scripturalists who are of the opinion that it was already known, and that God’s †˜giving it†™ really meant †˜giving†™ a special meaning to an already existing natural phenomenon. Many of those who hold this view believe that the Flood was only a local flood or that it did not cause substantial changes in the atmosphere.
However, this is the first mention of the rainbow, and if it had been seen before, it would not have made sense for God to use it as an outstanding sign of his covenant, since it would have been something common, not something that significantly marked a change or something new.
The Bible does not explain how diaphanous the atmosphere was before the Flood, but apparently existing atmospheric conditions were such that until a change occurred when “the floodgates of heaven were opened” (Ge 7:11), no one before Noah and his family had seen a rainbow. Even today, atmospheric conditions influence the…