A Midrash
by Cherie Karo Schwartz.
based on Genesis 6:5-8,17-22, 8:13-22
(from Reading Between the Lines: New Stories from the Bible, edited by David Katz and Peter Lovenheim)
 

Noah and his family stepped out from the ark into the first sunshine they had seen in forty days and stood upon land. When they saw the clean new Earth, Noah and his family wept for joy. God wept with them. God spoke to Noah and his family, saying:

“I am your God who brought you forth into this new land. Look around you and see the cleansed Earth. Listen and hear the sounds of animals and see the wind moving through the trees. The world is once again new. I know the world cannot always be this way: it does not seem to be human nature to always be good. But you and the generations to come after you can try.” Noah was willing to do whatever God asked of him.

God continued, “I will make a covenant with you., the first of the world's new people. I will give you a sign that I am with you, one that will remind you that the world was created in peace and then re-created in peace, to remain so for all time. The sign will be a bow, that fills the heavens, an arc of light. But this will be a new light, one that shines through the waters of a flood or a rain of tears. This light will show all the colors of beauty that can fill your lives as you live in peace.”

Then God bent toward the Earth with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and made an arc across the sky. And just where the hand of God had been, there was a sheltering band of every color spread out across the clear blue sky.

First, red for the blood that gives people life.

Then orange, for the flames of warmth that bring comfort, and for the fire of the soul.

Yellow, for the sun which helps all things grow, in the full light of day.

Green, for grass and trees, and the plant's new life.

Blue, for the sky and the sea, connecting heaven and earth.

Indigo, for the dawn and the dusk, at the beginning of the day and of the night.

And violet, for the deep night, when the world rests and renews itself.

Noah and his family gazed at the beautiful arc of light, watching the rainbow flow from one end to the other. They saw it touching near and far, bridging sky and ground.

And then Japheth, Noah's youngest son, asked his father, “We came full circle in our journey on the ark, from dry land to water and once again to dry land. Why doesn't the rainbow come full circle?”

Noah puzzled over his son's question. He looked up to study the arc of colors in the sky. Then he answered:

“Perhaps the rainbow is a sign. Not all things are yet full circles. God has begun the work by making the arc in the heavens.

Making the arc come full circle here on earth will be our work.” And so it remains.