Rav Amnon Bazak suggests a novel approach to explaining the significance of the rainbow. The term anan (“cloud”) is generally used in the Torah as a reference to a covering. The rainbow symbolizes the bow used to shoot arrows. The sight of the rainbow in a cloudsymbolizes the “covering” of God’s “weapon.” He shows us that He is keeping His “weapon” in its holder, rather than using it against us as He did in Noach’s time.
In light of this, Rav Amnon Bazak suggests a novel approach to explaining the significance of the rainbow. The term anan (“cloud”) is generally used in the Torah as a reference to a covering. Most commonly, the anan appears when God is present, and the cloud serves to conceal His presence to ensure that He is not “seen.” The rainbow symbolizes the bow used to shoot arrows, and thus represents weaponry. The sight of the rainbow in a cloud, then, symbolizes the “covering” of God’s “weapon.” He shows us that He is keeping His “weapon” in its holder, rather than using it against us as He did in Noach’s time. The “keshet be-anan” signifies that although God holds the “bow” with which to overturn the Earth whose inhabitants have proven themselves unworthy of its continued existence, He keeps the weapon in its sheath and mercifully allows life to continue.
We might add that the sign of the rainbow, when viewed from this angle, perhaps teaches us the lesson of keeping our “weapons” in their “sheath.” Over the course of the day, we can and often do find many reasons to express anger. The people around us are far from perfect, and there will, invariably, be times when we legitimately feel offended or wronged. The sign of the rainbow shows us that even if we have a “weapon,” when we feel justifiable resentment and have the opportunity and reason to express it, we must exercise restraint and keep our anger at bay. Just as God keeps His “bow” concealed, we, too, can and must take control of our anger and restrain it even when the hard feelings are justified.