I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
I do set my bow in the cloud, х naatatiy (H5414)] - I appoint, or constitute, since the word is used elsewhere (Numbers 14:4; 1 Samuel 12:13; 1 Kings 2:35). the rainbow, being the natural effect of the refraction and reflection of the sun's rays falling upon drops of water, must have been a phenomenon familiar to the minds of Noah and his antediluvian contemporaries; but it now for the first time had a symbolic signification attached to it, which must have rendered its appearance exceedingly welcome to the first ages after the flood. It was not the covenant itself, but only the token of that covenant; and just as the baptismal application of water, and the use of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, both of which were adopted from existing usages, were constituted the symbols of spiritual blessings, so the rainbow was now consecrated by God to be the sign and seal of that covenant by which He pledged Himself that the water 'should not be any more a flood to destroy the earth,' and that upon the sight of it 'He would remember His covenant.' No external sign could have been chosen for this purpose more suitable, from its natural properties, than the rainbow; because its elevated position renders it visible to all; and it never appears but when there is a gentle rain with the sun shining-which kind of rain is never known to do any harm, but much good.
Moreover, 'its rundle or part which should look toward the object aimed at, is always FROM the earth, showing thereby that it does not aim AT men. And it has no string, which shows that the Master will not shoot; so that a bow unbent, or without a string, is a proper symbol of peace and friendship.' In short, its appointment as a sign seems to intimate that, since the rainbow is a necessary effect of sunshine in rain, and must continue such as long as the sun and atmosphere endure, so surely shall this earth be preserved from destruction by water; and its preservation shall be as necessary an effect of God's promise as the rainbow is of the shining of the sun in a shower of rain.