Category: Genesis

  • The Rainbow’s True Meaning

    God’s Covenant Promise

    A piece of rainbow obsidian

    This gorgeous stone is a piece of rainbow obsidian, a type of volcanic glass. It comes in a wide range of colors and patterns. I suspect it was a piece my father had in his lapidary stuff, but I don’t recall for sure. 

    If you are churched at all, you are familiar with the story of the flood during the days of Noah, as God’s righteous judgment on a sin-filled world. You will know the sign of His covenant.

    I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:13 ESV

    We see the rainbow and remember God’s promise. Yet do we understand what the rainbow actually symbolizes and the depth of that promise?

    The Hebrew word for rainbow is קֶשֶׁת (Qeshet). This term also means a war bow, reflecting the connection between the rainbow and God’s promise after the flood.

    In ancient times, a covenant was typically a solemn agreement between two parties, with the consequences for breaking it clearly laid out. If one party made the covenant alone, the consequences were still laid out.

    In Genesis 15, God made a covenant with Abraham. It seems strange to us, with figures walking between the remains of bloody carcasses while Abraham slept. The people of the day would clearly have understood that God alone was making the covenant and was alone responsible for keeping it. If he failed, the consequences for Himself would have been grave.

    So it is with the Noahic Covenant. The rainbow, really a Qeshet, a war bow, is pointed, curved side up. The ancient Hebrews would have understood the symbolism of a bow with an arrow pointed straight up at the heart of God. If he broke the covenant, his very heart was to be pierced.

    Only God made the covenant and put up the symbol. Only God is responsible for keeping it. We can see the Qeshet bow and remember God’s promises.

    God is faithful to keep His promises. When He promises to redeem by faith and hold us fast against everything, it is better than money in the bank. He will not fail us.

    Hold fast to your faith no matter what comes. God has us in his hands.

    Be blessed today,

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    I explore what the rainbow really meant to the ancient Hebrews, a Qeshet, a war bow pointed at the heart of God Himself, and how the Noahic Covenant shows that God alone is responsible for keeping His promises to us. God is faithful to keep His promises, so hold fast to your faith no matter what comes, knowing God has us in his hands.

     

    TAKEAWAY

    The Hebrew word for rainbow, Qeshet, also means “war bow,” tying the sign directly to God’s covenant after the flood. 

    Ancient covenants normally bound two parties, yet God made both the Abrahamic and Noahic covenants alone and bore the risk alone. 

    The bow’s upward curve symbolized that if God ever broke His promise, the consequences would fall on His own heart, not ours.

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  • In the Beginning

    Gleanings had an inauspicious beginning. I had decided to try writing, and I knew that doing so would require writing regularly. So, on January 1, 2001, I committed to writing a short daily devotional online at a site that let anyone post. 

    This was in the days long before things like blogs existed. I managed to do it, and some people even read it. It wasn’t the best of Gleanings, but it was a start that carried on for nearly 4000 issues before I hung up my writing spurs for a while.

    The Bible starts, of all places, in the beginning of the story.

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1 ESV

    Those few words start the initial revelation of God and His plan of redemption for fallen humanity. They are also very controversial words.

    What God? When was the beginning? Hasn’t the universe always existed? Surely there is no God. How long did it take? How did He do it? Isn’t that just another myth? … and so on.

    I’m not even going to attempt to answer those questions this morning. Some of them are quite valid questions, and some of them involve logical fallacies. All are beyond the scope of the short space we have.

    “In the beginning” tells us that there was a point when the material universe as we know it did not exist, and yet something (someone) was there. Even good science affirms that; I may disagree with their explanation and their time frame, but they acknowledge there was a time of nothing.

    God created. This says so much about God. He is complete in and of Himself, yet He must also be a God of incredible power and creativity. He conceived of something that had never existed, in its myriad forms. Then He made it happen on a mind-blowing scale.

    This wasn’t a child making something with Lego or Playdough. He created a universe so vast that NASA says it is at least 28 billion light-years across. Traveling at the speed of light, it would take 28 billion years to get from one side to the other. I can’t fathom the speed of light, let alone traveling 28 billion years. Let’s just leave it as God created something so big that we can’t fathom it.

    He put into place all the laws of physics and mathematics that govern how the material world functions. He created life and everything needed to sustain it. 

    Things that we take for granted, like daylight and oxygen and gravity, were made from nothing.

    He created the heavens and the earth in all their vast array. He put life here on this little blue planet. 

    All of that is incredible. Even if we knew nothing other than the beginning sentence of the Bible, we would have enough to ponder and marvel about for eternity.

    Of course, we know that the God who reveals Himself in the Bible didn’t just create the world, wind it up and let it go. He stays intimately involved in the lives of His creation, and He loves us.

    It is no wonder that the Scriptures themselves declare God and His Word as marvelous in many places.

    As Christians, we also have a second beginning. We are born again into a Living Hope. That is a miracle on par with the creation of everything. People often cry out that they want to see a miracle. Every time a sinner is reborn as a believer and given the righteousness of Christ, there is a powerful new beginning and a miracle of incredible power.

    Until next time, take some time to ponder the God who is so powerful and creative that He spoke everything into existence. The same God who brings wretched, depraved sinners out of bondage into freedom with Him forever.

    May He forever be given the honor and glory due His name.

    Blessings,

    Kevin

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    SUMMARY

    I look back at Genesis 1:1 and marvel that God spoke the heavens and earth into existence out of nothing, creating a universe so vast we can’t even fathom its size. That same all-powerful God gives every believer a second beginning, a new birth into a living hope through Jesus Christ.

    TAKEAWAY

    Genesis 1:1 declares that God created the material universe from nothing, revealing His limitless power and creativity.

    The vastness of creation, at least 28 billion light-years across, points to a God far beyond our ability to fully comprehend.

    Salvation is a second beginning, a miracle equal to creation itself, when a sinner is reborn into new life in Christ.

    Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone) 

    All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.” All rights reserved.

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.

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