Why does the rainbow become the sign of the covenant that God makes with Noah and, in his person, with all the righteous of all times and nations? In antiquity, the overwhelming majority of peoples regarded the rainbow...
Why does the rainbow become the sign of the covenant that God makes with Noah and, in his person, with all the righteous of all times and nations? In antiquity, the overwhelming majority of peoples regarded the rainbow as a bridge joining heaven and earth. Along this bridge, as they thought, the gods who lived in the heavens descended to earth to human beings in order to enter into communion with them. Of course, the sacred writer sees the God of the Bible in no way as the ancient pagans saw their gods. But he preserves the image of the rainbow, making it a symbol of the covenant. And, apparently, the chief meaning of this symbol, the meaning contained in it from the beginning, becomes the connection between heaven and earth.
Indeed, any covenant-union presupposes special relations between those who make it, in this case between God and those righteous people who, like Noah, matter so much to God that He is ready to save them even when all the rest of humanity is doomed. But something else is important for the destinies of humanity: God is ready to stop the coming catastrophe for the sake of those righteous people with whom He has made a union. And the rainbow is a living reminder, and therefore an actualization of the relations that the union presupposes. Strictly speaking, it is precisely these relations that save the world from catastrophe.
Of course, one cannot count on more here: the covenant with Noah is not enough to change the situation in the world radically. What is needed here is the people of God with their history, ending in the coming of the Messiah. But it is enough to save the world from catastrophe. And that is already no small thing: thanks to the covenant with Noah, humanity receives the possibility of living until its salvation.
