Besides the significance of the number 42 in the Book of Matthew/Mattityahu 1, please see this recent study: https://glclifestyling.com/2015/12/matthew-1-the-answer-to-the-question-is-42-not-41/, there is also a connection to the number 42 and how bows in the clouds are formed. This leads us to the HOLY SPIRIT! Please see below.
Ezekiel/Yechezk’El 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. 27And I saw as the colour of electrum [other translations say glowing/gleaming metal/amber/copper/brass/bronze], as the appearance of fire round about enclosing it, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. 28As 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 the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.
The above description, I fully believe, is of the HOLY SPIRIT whom Ezekiel/Yechezk’El fell upon his face in front of, more than once in the Book of Ezekiel. Another NAME of HIS is listed above, the GLORY of the LORD/YHWH. Do you realize that with HIS BRIGHTNESS appearing as “the bow that is in the cloud”, this means that in Genesis/B’Resheet 9 the LORD/YHWH sealed the covenant HE made with Noah/Noach with the HOLY SPIRIT! How beautiful!
This also happened to Daniel in chapter 10 when he met THE WORD of ELOHIM/GOD and John/Yochanan in Revelation 1 when he saw the SON OF MAN. Both of these last two names are NAMES of YESHUA/JESUS and both descriptions given by Daniel and John are similar enough that I believe they are proof of the same being. These are descriptions that show worship and prove DEITY! Please see: https://glclifestyling.com/2013/07/what-do-the-father-ancient-of-days-his-son-word-lamb-messiah-and-his-set-apart-holy-spirit-look-like-part-2/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow
A rainbow is not located at a specific distance from the observer, but comes from an optical illusion caused by any water droplets viewed from a certain angle relative to a light source. Thus, a rainbow is not an object and cannot be physically approached. Indeed, it is impossible for an observer to see a rainbow from water droplets at any angle other than the customary one of 42 degrees from the direction opposite the light source. Even if an observer sees another observer who seems “under” or “at the end of” a rainbow, the second observer will see a different rainbow—farther off—at the same angle as seen by the first observer.
Rainbows span a continuous spectrum of colours. Any distinct bands perceived are an artefact of human colour vision, and no banding of any type is seen in a black-and-white photo of a rainbow, only a smooth gradation of intensity to a maximum, then fading towards the other side. For colours seen by the human eye, the most commonly cited and remembered sequence is Newton‘s sevenfold red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet,[2][3] remembered by the mnemonic, Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (ROYGBIV).
Rainbows can be caused by many forms of airborne water. These include not only rain, but also mist, spray, and airborne dew.
When sunlight encounters a raindrop, part is reflected but part enters, being refracted at the surface of the raindrop. When this light hits the back of the drop, some of it is reflected off the back. When the internally reflected light reaches the surface again, once more some is internally reflected and some is refracted as it exits the drop. (The light that reflects off the drop, exits from the back, or continues to bounce around inside the drop after the second encounter with the surface, is not relevant to the formation of the primary rainbow.) The overall effect is that part of the incoming light is reflected back over the range of 0° to 42°, with the most intense light at 42°.[18] This angle is independent of the size of the drop, but does depend on its refractive index. Seawater has a higher refractive index than rain water, so the radius of a “rainbow” in sea spray is smaller than a true rainbow. This is visible to the naked eye by a misalignment of these bows.[19]
The reason the returning light is most intense at about 42° is that this is a turning point – light hitting the outermost ring of the drop gets returned at less than 42°, as does the light hitting the drop nearer to its centre. There is a circular band of light that all gets returned right around 42°. If the sun were a laser emitting parallel, monochromatic rays, then the luminance (brightness) of the bow would tend toward infinity at this angle (ignoring interference effects). (See Caustic (optics).) But since the sun’s luminance is finite and its rays are not all parallel (it covers about half a degree of the sky) the luminance does not go to infinity. Furthermore, the amount by which light is refracted depends upon its wavelength, and hence its colour. This effect is called dispersion. Blue light (shorter wavelength) is refracted at a greater angle than red light, but due to the reflection of light rays from the back of the droplet, the blue light emerges from the droplet at a smaller angle to the original incident white light ray than the red light. Due to this angle, blue is seen on the inside of the arc of the primary rainbow, and red on the outside. The result of this is not only to give different colours to different parts of the rainbow, but also to diminish the brightness. (A “rainbow” formed by droplets of a liquid with no dispersion would be white, but brighter than a normal rainbow.)