,
would point to the covenant described in ix. 1-7: the rainbow
would then be the counterpart of circumcision. /1/ The covenant,
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1. The celestial bow is originally the instrument of the
arrow-darting God, and therefore a symbol of His hostility; but
He lays it out of His hand to signify that He has laid aside His
wrath, and it is a token of His reconciliation and favour. When
there has been such a storm that one might dread a repetition of
the flood, the rainbow appears in heaven, the sun, and grace,
breaking forth again. In the 0. T. Q#T has not the meaning of
a mere arc, it always means the war-bow. And what is most
important of all, the Arabs also always take the iris to be the
war-bow of God; Kuzah shoots arrows from his bow, and then hangs
it up in the clouds (D. M. Z. 1849, p. 200 seq.). With the Jews
and their kin, the rainbow has retained far into Christian times a
remarkably near relation to the Deity. It is singular that the
Edomites have a God named Kaus, as well as Kuzah.
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i.e., the law of ch. ix. 1-7, a modification of the first ordinance
given to Adam (i.
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