Rainbow is beautiful and an imagery of grace. It has a bow shape. When I was young, we used to call it “heavenly bow” (天弓) according to Hakka dialect, our mother tongue. Bow is a weapon used for shooting the enemies during a battle in ancient time.
It was recorded that one day God the Creator destroyed the whole world because of the wickedness of the people. It was through a severe flood the people were destroyed. If there was no flood, humanity would one day destroy themselves due to wickedness. However, God spared the life of a godly and righteous family so that the world could have a new beginning. After the flood, this family started a new life and was given a sign of rainbow as a promise that God would not destroy the world with the flood again. The Hebrew word for rainbow is “keshet”, the same word used for bow, a weapon. It implies that God is willing to be gracious towards the sinners. God turned a weapon into a sign of grace. Indeed, punishment is only for a time so that there is new beginning.
It is wonderful to be given a new beginning, without which, there is no sign of future. Therefore, whenever we see a rainbow, we are reminded of grace and the hope of having a new beginning.
彩虹是美丽的，也是一幅恩典的图像。它的形状如一把弓。我小时候，根据我的母语即是客家方言，我们习惯地称彩虹为“天弓”。弓是一种在古代戦场用于射击敌人的武器。
据记载，有一天创造主，上帝因人类的邪恶而毁灭整个世界。通过严重的洪水，那个世代的人都被毁了，即使没有洪水，人类也会因罪恶而自我毁灭。但上帝却保留了一个敬虔的家庭，以便可以为人类的延续有一个新的开始。洪水过后，这个家庭开始了新的生活，并得见彩虹的标志（קֶּשֶׁת），这标志着上帝不会再次用洪水摧毁整个世界。彩虹这个词在希伯来文是“keshet”，而弓作为一种武器，也是釆用同一个字。这意味着上帝愿意对罪人有恩典。上帝愿意把武器变成了恩典的标志。事实上，惩罚只是出现在一段时间，以便人类可以有新的开始。
一个新的开始是美好的，没有了它，也就没有了未来。因此，每当看到彩虹时，譲我们想起恩典和一个能够享有新开始的希望。
A rainbow captured by my friend during his evening walk at Jalan Lintas, Penampang
我一位朋友在傍晚散步时捕捉到的彩虹景色。