A few weeks ago
I was reading Psalm 64 and I came across the following verse:
“But God will
shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly they will be wounded.”
My immediate
reaction to this was “What?! God shooting at people with an arrow?” I
understand how this could be God reacting from His wrath, justice, or even
mercy, but I was confused at this picture. Since I really couldn’t imagine God
literally pulling out a bow and shooting to the earth, I wasn’t sure what this
meant. Thanks to my handy-dandy cross reference tool in my Study Bible, I
looked up where this originally came from, which was Genesis 9:12-16. These
verses consider God’s covenant and how He says to His people:
“This is the sign
of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with
you, a covenant for all generations to come…Whenever the rainbow appears in the
clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all
living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
“Okay, that
sounds great,” I thought, “But it really doesn’t help me with figuring any of
this out more.” So then I looked at the notes under this verse and it made a
little more sense.
Basically, to
paraphrase from my NIV Study Bible, this verse is about the symbolism of God’s
covenant. For one, before a rainbow appears in the sky, a storm is usually
preceding it. Lightning bolts that fall to the earth are symbolic of God’s
arrows. Once the storm ends, or God has fought for justice, He hangs up His bow
in the sky. This is the rainbow-or God’s covenant of mercy.
So it makes a
little bit more sense, but the fact that there are many more references
pertaining to this idea, like Zechariah 9:14 or 2 Samuel 22:15, I would think
there’d be more information on it.
So the search
continued. Here are some of the things I found:
1. The Hebrew word in this passage is qesheth which can mean four things:
a. bow (for hunting, battle)
b. bowmen, archers
c. bow (fig. of might)
d. rainbow
I think we can gather from the definitions that the type of bow regarded here is one that is likened to a weapon. So it makes sense that the original Psalm I read was about God fighting against David’s foes. The rainbow resembles a literal weapon. However, this brings us to our next point, which is that:
2. Rainbows are arched down, which would mean that God’s bow would be pointing to the sky. This would also imply that after God’s judgment rains down on earth, He points the bow back at Himself. This could be symbolic of the fact that God sent His son (part of Himself) to earth thus relinquishing His judgment on Himself. Too much of a leap? Perhaps, but it does sort of make sense. This sign is one of grace to all of us. For God promised that He wouldn’t cause a flood as big as the one He allowed in Noah’s time ever again. This is evidence of God’s mercy.
I’m sure there
is a lot more to study and learn from this theme that’s portrayed throughout
the entire Old Testament. This blog post is just sort of an introductory
section to so much more symbolism in the Old Testament, in this area and
others, that just shouts how awesome our God is.
When I revel in
this idea, I am awestruck at the character of God. But more than that, I feel
so blessed at God’s mercy. Not only did He make a covenant with Noah, He has
not gone back on His word. Whenever lightning strikes, it should remind us of
God’s justice. We definitely do not deserve a God who provides for His children
and fights on our behalf against the evil man. God shows us His mercy every
time a rainbow appears in the sky. Everyone can see it. It is not specific to a
certain tribe or tongue, but rather it is there for all. God’s mercy is there
for anyone who will notice it and accept it as his or her own. God has not
given up on us, even though we fail daily. His mercy is never failing and
ever-present.
Even when we
don’t feel or see His mercy, it is there. Just like the times when the rainbow
isn’t present or the storm is still raging and won’t let up. Just because we
can’t see it or the storm hasn’t ended doesn’t mean that God’s mercy is less or
His promise isn’t still standing.
God’s justice
will prevail until the next time that He destroys the earth. And even then His
mercy will not fail. His love and grace are eternal and His Son has provided a
way for us to revel in His promises for all eternity.
Surprisingly, I
did research for this blog post (in contrast to the past). Some of the
websites/blogs I referenced:
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