RAINBOW

Well known symbol of the covenant of grace. In Persian monuments the child of Semiramis is portrayed as seated on the rainbow to blasphemously indicate that he was Mediator and head of the covenant of grace.

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Ge 9:13-15. This beautiful phenomenon is owing to the refraction of the beams of the sun in passing the drops of falling rain; the rays are separated into the prismatic colors, and then reflected from the cloud opposite to the sun and the spectator. We need not suppose that the rainbow was unknown before the flood; but God then appointed it to be the cheering seal of his covenant with the earth, which is as steadfast as the natural laws from which the rainbow springs.

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Rainbow. Rainbow
Caused by the reflection and refraction of the rays of the sun shining on falling rain. It was appointed as a witness of the divine faithfulness (Gen. 9:12-17). It existed indeed before, but it was then constituted as a sign of the covenant. Others, however (as Delitzsch, Commentary on Pentateuch), think that it “appeared then for the first time in the vault and clouds of heaven.” It is argued by those holding this opinion that the atmosphere was differently constituted before the Flood. It is referred to three other times in Scripture (Ezek. 1:27, 28; Rev. 4:1-3; 10:1).

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RAINBOW. → A sign that the earth will no longer be destroyed by flood Ge 9:8-16; Eze 1:28 → Symbolical Re 4:3; 10:1 → See METEOROLOGY

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Ge 9:13; Eze 1:28; Re 4:3; 10:1

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rainbow. Rainbow, n. a various colored arch in the clouds

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Rain″bow′ (–bō′), n. [[AS. regenboga, akin to G. regenbogen. See Rain, and Bow anything bent.]] A bow or arch exhibiting, in concentric bands, the several colors of the spectrum, and formed in the part of the hemisphere opposite to the sun by the refraction and reflection of the sun's rays in drops of falling rain. ☞ Besides the ordinary bow, called also primary rainbow, which is formed by two refractions and one reflection, there is also another often seen exterior to it, called the secondary rainbow, concentric with the first, and separated from it by a small interval. It is formed by two refractions and two reflections, is much fainter than the primary bow, and has its colors arranged in the reverse order from those of the latter. Lunar rainbow, a fainter arch or rainbow, formed by the moon. — Marine rainbow, or Sea bow, a similar bow seen in the spray of waves at sea. — Rainbow trout (Zoöl.), a bright-colored trout (Salmo irideus), native of the mountains of California, but now extensively introduced into the Eastern States, Japan, and other countries; — called also brook trout, mountain trout, and golden trout. — Rainbow wrasse. (Zoöl.) See under Wrasse. — Supernumerary rainbow, a smaller bow, usually of red and green colors only, sometimes seen within the primary or without the secondary rainbow, and in contact with them.