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RAINBOW – ??? ? – WHAT DOES A RAINBOW MEAN?


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RAINBOW ???  ?

WHAT DOES A RAINBOW MEAN? 

A semicircular bow, or arc, exhibiting a spectrum of colors; a visible sign of Jehovah’s covenant promise that ‘no more would all flesh be cut off by waters of a deluge, and no more would there occur a deluge to bring the earth to ruin.’ (Ge 9:11-16) 

There is no separate Hebrew word for rainbow, so the normal word for “bow” (with which to shoot arrows) is used in the Bible.—Eze 1:28.

Complicated theories and formulas are used to explain the formation of a rainbow. Basically, it seems that as white light enters a raindrop it is refracted and dispersed into different colors, the drop acting like a tiny prism. Each color strikes the inner surface of the drop and is reflected back at a different and specific angle. Thus an observer sees a bow with all seven colors of the spectrum (from the inside of the arc outward: violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red), though these may blend so that only four or five are clear. 

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Sometimes a larger and less distinct “secondary” bow is formed with the colors reversed. Scientists are still studying the rainbow. Carl B. Boyer observes: “Within a raindrop the interaction of light energy with matter is so intimate that one is led directly to quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. . . . Although much is known about the production of the rainbow, little has been learned about its perception.”—The Rainbow, From Myth to Mathematics, 1959, pp. 320, 321.

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The first Biblical reference to a rainbowis in the account of the covenant God made with Noah and his offspring after the Flood survivors came out of the ark. (Ge 9:8-17; Isa 54:9, 10) This splendid sight of itself would have been reassuring and an indication of peace to Noah and his family.

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Many opinions have been offered as to whether this was the first time humans saw a rainbow. Some commentators have held that rainbows had been seen before and that God’s ‘giving’ the rainbow at this time was really a ‘giving’ of special meaning or significance to a previously existing phenomenon. Many of those holding this view believe that the Flood was only local or did not substantially change the atmosphere.

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Nevertheless, this is the first mention of a rainbow, and if a rainbow had been seen earlier, there would have been no real force in GodÂ’s making it an outstanding sign of his covenant. It would have been commonplace, and not a significant marker of a change, of something new.

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The Bible does not describe the degree of clarity of the atmosphere just prior to the Flood. But apparently atmospheric conditions were such that, until a change came about when “the floodgates of the heavens were opened” (Ge 7:11), no others before Noah and his family had seen a rainbow. Even today, atmospheric conditions affect whether a rainbow can be seen or not.

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The glory, beauty, and peacefulness of a rainbow that appears after a storm are drawn upon in Biblical descriptions of God and his throne. In Ezekiel’s vision of God, the prophet saw “something like the appearance of the bow that occurs in a cloud mass on the day of a pouring rain.” This emphasized “the glory of Jehovah.” (Eze 1:28) 

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Similarly, John saw Jehovah’s throne of splendor, and ‘round about it there was a rainbow like an emerald in appearance.’ The restful emerald-green color of the rainbowwould have suggested composure and serenity to John, and appropriately so since Jehovah is the master of every situation, a glorious Ruler. (Re 4:3) John also saw an angel with ‘a rainbow upon his head’ (Re 10:1), which may suggest that he was a special representative of “the God of peace.”—Php 4:9.

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https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200003626?q=rainbow&p=par

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