వ్యాఖ్యానం ప్రస్తుతం ఆంగ్లంలో మాత్రమే అందుబాటులో ఉంది. తెలుగు అనువాదం పురోగతిలో ఉంది.
Genesis 9 — The Bow in the Cloud
God blesses Noah and his sons. He establishes the law of capital punishment for murder. He sets the rainbow as the sign of His covenant never to destroy the earth by flood again. Noah's drunkenness and Ham's sin.
“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”
— Genesis 9:13
- v.1-7 The Noahic dominion mandate; the law of life for life
- v.8-17 The covenant of the rainbow
- v.18-23 Noah's drunkenness; Ham's disrespect
- v.24-29 The blessing on Shem and Japheth; curse on Canaan
The bow is a weapon of war pointed upward — laid aside. God has hung His bow in the clouds as a sign He will not again strike the world with the flood waters.
Revelation 4:3 sees a rainbow around the throne in heaven. The same sign God placed in the sky for the eyes of men is around His own throne. He looks at the same reminder we do.
Every rainbow is a sermon. The colors are the same as the colors of the Mosaic tabernacle and the breastplate of the high priest. Beauty in the sky is theology.
The covenant is not just between God and Noah. It is between God and every living creature. The Noahic covenant is the broadest covenant in Scripture.
Notice — God says He will look upon the bow and remember. The covenant is sustained by His memory, not by ours. He keeps it whether we acknowledge it or not.
A sobering verse. The man preserved through the flood is the man who fails in chapter nine. Survivors of great deliverance are not immune from disgrace. Watch yourself most carefully after victory.
The text does not excuse Noah; it records his fall plainly. Scripture is honest about its heroes. No saint but Christ is sinless.
Notice your heart after great deliverances. The triumphant Noah of chapter eight is the disgraced Noah of chapter nine. After victory is when the guard drops. Stay sober — literally and figuratively. The rainbow above is God's reminder; your watchfulness is yours.
The bow in the cloud is the everlasting sign that God has hung up His judgment. The greater bow was laid aside at Calvary, when wrath was poured out fully on Christ in our place. Now around the throne in heaven the rainbow stands (Revelation 4:3) — judgment fulfilled, mercy reigning.
The first legal institution of capital punishment for murder. Notice the basis — in the image of God made he man. Every human is image-bearer, and to attack the image is to attack the God whose image it is.
This predates Moses, predates Sinai, predates Israel. It is universal law for humanity. The New Testament affirms the magistrate's authority to bear the sword in Romans 13:4.
The same image-of-God basis is invoked by James to forbid cursing those made in God's likeness (James 3:9). Reverence for the image must touch every word and every act toward another human.