The end of the rainbow

It's officially the wettest drought on record in England.

Since the hosepipe ban in the South East started 6 weeks ago, it just hasn't stopped raining. The unrelenting grey gloom out of the window of The Good Book Company offices in Epsom is only interrupted by the occasional delight of a rainbow. The appearance of which tells us that the latest shower has passed by, and the sun is out.

Looking again at the Genesis account of the flood opened a new idea to me. There is no specific word for "Rainbow" in Hebrew - just a word for "Bow" - as in the kind of bow that you fit an arrow to and send flying into the body of your enemy. The word is translated as either bow or rainbow depending on the context. So when the Lord tells Noah and his family that he has set his bow in the sky (Genesis 9 v 3), it is a sign that the Lord has mercifully hung up his mighty weapon of judgement, and has promised not to use it again until the final judgement.

This changes how we look at the bow in the sky. It is not just a pretty colourful symbol of a merciful promise. It is a deadly weapon, that the Lord has every right to wield, but which he has chosen not to use out of His mercy and grace towards us.

Imagine the feelings of the Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth as their families grew in the post-diluvian new beginning - the dreadful memory of the flood still in their minds. It starts to rain, as it does, and the rain goes on for while. The terror starts to rise in them. "Is it happening again?" they ask. "Is God judging us for our sins?"

And then the bow appears in the sky.

Massive relief.

God has held back from judgement. He has hung up his weapon of war for everyone to see. He has remembered his promise to be merciful and delay judgement. The bow is a symbol of both God's awesome power and right to be the judge of the world. But also of his grace and mercy towards sinners.