Bow

The bow runs through Scripture in two largely separate registers. As a weapon it is the long-range tool of hunters, kings, and armies, and the natural picture for steady or treacherous purpose. As the colored arc set in the cloud after the flood it is a token of covenant, taken up later by the prophets and seers as the visual marker of the glory of Yahweh and of the throne. The two senses are kept under a single head, and the umbrella clusters around the same poles: the literal weapon and its archers, the divine archer who fires arrows of judgment, and the rainbow.

The Weapon and the Hunter

The earliest UPDV bows are domestic and pastoral. Ishmael "dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer" (Ge 21:20), and Hagar's despair at his side is measured "as it were a bowshot" away (Ge 21:16). When Isaac sends Esau to provide him a meal, he says, "take, I pray you, your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt venison for me" (Ge 27:3). The bow here is the ordinary kit of the man who lives off the land.

In the Hand of Israel

The bow becomes a tribal and national instrument. The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh are counted among "valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war" (1Ch 5:18). David himself takes up archery as a teaching subject for the next generation: "And he bade them teach the sons of Judah, 'The Bow.' Look, it is written in the Book of Jashar" (2Sa 1:18). And a later generation of Benjamin keeps the craft alive: "the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and had many sons, and sons' sons, a hundred and fifty. All these were of the sons of Benjamin" (1Ch 8:40).

The Bow in War

In battle the bow strikes from a distance, and Scripture records the price. The archers overtake Saul on Gilboa: "the battle went intensely against Saul, and the archers, men with the bow, overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers" (1Sa 31:3). At Ramoth-gilead "a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor: therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn your hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am critically wounded" (1Ki 22:34). Jehu fells Joram with one shot: "And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot" (2Ki 9:24). Josiah dies the same way: "And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his slaves, Take me away; for I am critically wounded" (2Ch 35:23). The prophets see the bow as a tool of national terror — "[their] bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb" (Isa 13:18) — and reach for it to picture Yahweh himself turned adversary against Jerusalem: "He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has stood with his right hand as an adversary, And has slain all who were pleasant to the eye" (La 2:4).

The arrow, the bow's projectile, names the warning sign Jonathan invents to send David away: "And I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark" (1Sa 20:20). And Elisha's last act with Joash binds bow and arrow into a prophetic sign:

"And Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows; and he took to himself a bow and arrows... And he said, Open the window eastward; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot; and he shot. And he said, Yahweh's arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria; for you will strike the Syrians in Aphek, until you have consumed them" (2Ki 13:15-17).

The bow of bronze stands for the trained warrior: "He teaches my hands to war, So that my arms bend a bow of bronze" (2Sa 22:35; cf. Ps 18:34). And the bow of bronze appears again in Job as the weapon the wicked cannot escape: "He will flee from the iron weapon, And the bow of bronze will strike him through" (Job 20:24).

The Bow Broken

When Yahweh moves against a nation, he breaks its bow. "Look, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might" (Jer 49:35). "I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel" (Hos 1:5). At the close of the Gog oracle Yahweh disarms the invader directly: "I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand" (Eze 39:3), and the survivors burn what is left — "the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they will make fires of them seven years" (Eze 39:9).

Steady Bow, Deceitful Bow

A bow can be the figure for unwavering strength. Jacob blesses Joseph: "his bow remained firm, and the arms of his hands were agile, by [the Speech of] the Mighty One of Jacob" (Ge 49:24). Job in his good days says, "My glory is fresh in me, And my bow is renewed in my hand" (Job 29:20). It can equally be the figure for unreliability. The fathers of Asaph's psalm "were turned aside like a deceitful bow" (Ps 78:57); Ephraim in Hosea is the same — "they are like a deceitful bow; their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue" (Hos 7:16).

The Archer of God

The Psalmist and the prophets repeatedly show God himself as bowman. Lightning is his arrow, the storm his battle. "And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; Lightning, and discomfited them" (2Sa 22:15; cf. Ps 18:14). "He has also prepared for him the instruments of death; He makes his arrows fiery [shafts]" (Ps 7:13). "Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under you" (Ps 45:5). At the sea, "The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound: Your arrows also went abroad" (Ps 77:17). The plea for deliverance reaches for the same picture: "Cast forth lightning, and scatter them; Send out your arrows, and discomfit them" (Ps 144:6); "you will prepare with your bowstrings against their face" (Ps 21:12). Habakkuk's theophany draws bow and arrows together: "Your bow was bared naked; By means of [your Speech] the arrows are assigned by oath" (Hab 3:9).

The same imagery turns inward when the sufferer feels himself the target. Job protests, "His archers circle me round about; He splits my reins apart, and does not spare" (Job 16:13). Lamentations: "He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow" (La 3:12).

The Rider with the Bow

In the Apocalypse the weapon-bow surfaces again. The first horseman of the seal vision goes out with one: "And I looked, and saw a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and there was given to him a crown: and he came forth conquering, and to conquer" (Re 6:2).

The Bow in the Cloud

The other bow is set in the cloud after the flood, and it is given as a covenant token. Yahweh says to Noah:

"I have set my bow in the cloud, and it will be for a token of a covenant between [my Speech] and the earth. And it will come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant... and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh" (Ge 9:13-15).

The covenant is "everlasting" and reaches "every living soul of all flesh that is on the earth" (Ge 9:16). Sirach takes it up as a moment of doxology:

"Behold the rainbow, and bless the Maker of it; It is exceedingly majestic in its glory; It encompasses the [heavenly] vault in its glory, And the hand of God has spread it out in might" (Sir 43:11-12).

And the high priest Simon, glorious in his temple service, is compared to it: "Like the sun shining upon the Temple of the King, And like the bow appearing in the cloud" (Sir 50:7).

The Bow on the Throne

What begins as a covenant token in the sky becomes the visual marker of glory. Ezekiel sees the throne-vision and reaches for it: "As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Yahweh" (Eze 1:28). John at Patmos sees the same: "and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at" (Re 4:3); and again, "I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was on his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire" (Re 10:1). The arc that began as Yahweh's pledge after the flood ends as the sign that surrounds his throne and crowns his messenger.