Komentaryo sa Genesis 9:14: Rashi, Chizkuni, Kli Yakar & Sforno

בענני ענן WHEN I BRING A CLOUD — When I have it in mind to bring darkness and destruction upon the world.

ונראתה הקשת, “when the rainbow becomes visible;” the fact that the bow appears without arrows appearing at the same time, is to serve as reassurance to the beholder.

And it shall be, when I bring clouds over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. Regarding the rainbow, there are many opinions, and great commentators have pondered this matter, as have many others. For at first glance, it seems that the rainbow was created anew at this time and indicates the new covenant that God made with all living things. Yet our eyes see that the rainbow is a natural phenomenon born from the sun when it strikes the moist air. Mahariya [Abarbanel] explained that even before this the rainbow emerged from the sun’s rays, but it wasn’t visible to creatures at all, neither in clouds nor in the air. This was because from the beginning of creation, the vapors rising from the earth were very thick and dense due to the earth’s strength, as it is written, and a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground (Genesis 2:6). Even a single mist rising from the earth was sufficient to water all the ground, and due to the great abundance of water in the air, the sun’s rays could not pass through it to the extent that the rainbow could not be reflected, neither in clouds nor in air. This was the cause of the flood — meaning, the abundance of water within the vapors. Through God’s mercy, after the flood He diminished the vapors and purified the air until the sun’s rays could pass through it. Then the rainbow became visible to creatures in the cloud, and this served as a sign for them of the reduction of water in the air, such that there would not come another flood to destroy all flesh. And regarding what was said, and I will see it to remember the eternal covenant, the explanation is like “and I will show it,” similar to now I know that you fear God, which Rambam explained as meaning “now I have made known.” Ramban also inclined toward this view, except that he wrote that initially the rainbow was visible in the air but not in clouds, and after the flood it became visible in clouds as well. However, their interpretation is difficult to accept given what our Sages said (Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 65a, Babylonian Talmud Ketubot 77b) that in the days of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi the rainbow was not seen. If so, the air returned to its original state, and after their deaths it returned to being pure and thin as before. These are matters that are strange for the intellect to accept — that the air would change during different time periods.