God shows His rainbow at various times around the world as the reminder of His promise to us that He will never flood the earth again.
Why would God show us the rainbow throughout the world if the flood during Noah’s time was only a local event?
Aren’t rainbows local?
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A rainbow is produced by refracted light and God used it as a symbol when talking to Noah. I guess God could have chosen to make light function differently in the Middle East, but that doesn’t seem to be what he did.
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Genesis 9:8
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Genesis 9:9
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
Genesis 9:10
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
Genesis 9:11
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Genesis 9:12
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Genesis 9:13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
Genesis 9:14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Genesis 9:15
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9:16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Genesis 9:17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
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I know there are rainbows on other planets as well as described by astronomers. Does that have any bearing? Thanks.
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Interesting, Randy…did not know that about other planets. I don’t know what bearing it has on this discussion though. It is a beautiful natural event, wherever it occurs.
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Well, Kelli…the rainbow is a beautiful natural phenomena no matter when or where it occurs. The conditions must be right and you and I have to be in the right spot at the right time. Since it is a consequence of natural phenomena, it can occur whenever…There was a beautiful full arch in the sky at my grandmother’s funeral. I did not take it as a message at the time, but appreciated it. In Noah’s case, God used a natural event (which had no doubt occurred before), and while it had always been a regular phenomena, He labelled it as having a particular meaning at the time of the Flood event.
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Scripture refers to the time of Noah and the global flood that came upon the earth. Don’t see any reference to other planets and the flood.
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You do believe there are other planets, don’t you?
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Why do you ask that question?
For ones that we can observe, they wouldn’t be water rainbows, so maybe a modified term would be more precise?
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You know, I should be ashamed of myself–I had read a post in this discourse somewhere that there were methane bows on a planet, but it turns out that they haven’t actually seen them, though they’re likely on Titan Rainbows on Titan | Science Mission Directorate (nasa.gov)
@kelli, I apologize. I may have misunderstood you. I was thinking you had said that as there were bows in other parts of the Earth, that meant that there was a worldwide flood. So, I wondered if a bow on another planet would mean that it wouldn’t apply there. However, a refraction of methane (rain, but not water rain) would not necessarily be relevant, though they say here that it could be bigger than a water bow. It’s really interesting to muse on! Thanks.
The verses you quoted give you the answer. The rainbow is a sign of the covenant between God and humanity. It wouldn’t be limited to the area of the flood. BTW, the Hebrew also indicates that God didn’t create the rainbow for this He just used existing rainbows.
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Different translation
Genesis 9:13-17
New International Version
13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 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.”
17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
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A rainbow was given to show His promise that He would never flood the entire earth again. So yes, we have rainbows throughout the earth showing humanity His promise.
Other planets are not specifically mentioned in the Bible, so I wondered if you believed in them.
What does the other planets have to do with the text given here?
They were mentioned as part of the conversation. Are you diverting because you do not want to answer? A yes or no to planet question would suffice.
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Yes Dale, there are other planets.
I have a question, how old are you?
Good to know.
Will you tell me your age if I tell you mine?