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CLOUD.—In Scripture, as with us, the clouds are the visible masses of aqueous vapour, darkening the heavens, sources of rain and fertility, telling the present state of the weather or indicating a coming change. They serve also for figures of instability and transitoriness (Hos_6:4), calamity (Lam_2:1), the gloom of old age (Ecc_12:2), great height (Job_20:6), immense numbers (Heb_12:1). The following points should be noted. 1. The poetic treatment in Job. The waters are bound up securely in the clouds, so that the rain does not break through (Job_26:8); when the ocean issues from chaos like a new-born child, God wraps it in the swaddling-bands of clouds (Job_38:9); the laws of their movements are impenetrable mysteries (Job_36:29, Job_37:16, Job_38:37). 2. The cloud indicates the presence of God, and at the same time veils the insufferable brightness of His glory (Exo_16:10; Exo_19:9 etc.). Similarly the bright cloud betokens the Father’s presence, and His voice is heard speaking from it (Mat_17:5). But a dark cloud would effectually hide Him, and thus furnishes a figure for displeasure (Lam_3:44). At Rev_10:1 the cloud is an angel’s glorious robe. 3. The pillar of cloud and fire directs and protects the journeyings of the Exodus (Exo_13:21, Psa_105:39). This corresponds with the fact that armies and caravans have frequently been directed by signals of fire and smoke. 4. The cloud alternates with the cherub as Jahweh’s chariot (Psa_18:10, Isa_19:1). Indeed, the cherub is a personification of the thunder-cloud. The Messianic people and the Messiah Himself sweep through the heaven with clouds (Dan_7:13, Mar_14:62, Rev_1:7), or on the clouds (Mat_26:64): hence the later Jews identified Anani (= ‘He of the clouds,’ 1Ch_3:24) with the Messiah. The saints are to be caught up in the clouds (1Th_4:17). The Messiah’s throne is a white cloud (Rev_14:14). 5. In the ‘Cloud Vision’ of Apoc. [Note: Apocalypse, Apocalyptic.] Bar 53–73, the cloud from which the twelve streams of water pour is ‘the wide world which the Almighty created’—a very peculiar piece of imagery.
J. Taylor.