God’s Bow

By Venessa Holtzhausen

Gen 9:13 I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.
Gen 9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the cloud,
Gen 9:15 that 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.

There is an interesting word in this passage: bow. In verse 13 we read ‘my bow’ ( י ִתּ ְׁש ַק(. This word bow is the what archers use. A bow for shooting. Figuratively it is also ‘might.’

But God use this word ‘qeset’ 3 times from verse 8-17, where it is speaking specifically of the covenant between God and the earth and all living creatures.

The number 3 refer to God and the word ‘bow’ God is using here, is giving us the idea of God’s anger was directed to the earth, like a bowman taking a shot, but after the flood, His bow is turned around. No more will His anger be directed towards the earth in that manner. His bow is turned around. Never again, will the earth be destroyed in full by water.

Everything will however be destroyed in the end by fire. God did not say He will not ever destroy the earth, He just said that not by water.

Something to note is, that the flood was sudden, the people were warned before the time, everybody had enough time to prepare and only the righteous were saved.

Amen!