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( , 6051), “cloud; fog; storm cloud; smoke.” Cognates of this word appear in
Aramaic and Arabic. Its 87 appearances are scattered throughout the biblical material.
The word commonly means “cloud mass.”
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is used especially of the “cloud
mass” that evidenced the special presence of God: “And the Lord went before them by
day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way …”(Exod. 13:21). In Exod. 34:5, this
presence is represented by
only: “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood
with him [Moses] there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.”
When the ark of the covenant was brought into the holy place, “The cloud filled the
house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for
the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11). Thus the
“cloud” evidenced the presence of God’s glory. So the psalmist wrote that God was
surrounded by “clouds and darkness” (Ps. 97:2); God appears as the controller and
sovereign of nature. This description is somewhat parallel to the descriptions of Baal, the
lord of the storm and god of nature set forth in Ugaritic mythology. The “cloud” is a sign
and figure of “divine protection” (Isa. 4:5) and serves as a barrier hiding the fullness of
divine holiness and glory, as well as barring sinful man’s approach to God (Lam. 3:44).
Man’s relationship to God, therefore, is God-initiated and God-sustained, not humanly
initiated or humanly sustained.
In its first biblical occurrence,
is used in conjunction with God’s sign that He
would never again destroy the earth by a flood: “I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall
be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Gen. 9:13). Elsewhere, the
transitory quality of a cloud is used to symbolize the loyalty (Hos. 6:4) and existence of
Israel (13:3). In Isa. 44:22, God says that after proper punishment He will wipe out, “as a
thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.…”
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can mean “storm cloud” and is used to symbolize “an invading force”: “Thou
shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and
all thy bands, and many people with thee” (Ezek. 38:9; cf. Jer. 4:13). In Job 26:8, the
storm cloud is said to be God’s: “He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the
cloud is not rent under them.” In several passages, the thick storm cloud and the darkness
accompanying it are symbols of “gloom” (Ezek. 30:18) and/or “divine judgment” (Ezek.
30:3).
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can represent the “smoke” arising from burning incense: “And he shall put the
incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy
seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not …” (Lev. 16:13). This “cloud of smoke”
may represent the covering between God’s presence (above the mercy seat) and sinful
man. If so, it probably also symbolizes the “divine glory.” On the other hand, many
scholars feel it represents the human prayers offered up to God.
TO COME
(
, 935), “to go in, enter, come, go.” This root appears in most Semitic
languages, but with varying meanings. For example, the meaning “come” appears in the
Babylonian letters of Mari (1750-1697 B.C.). The corresponding Ugaritic word (1550-
1200 B.C.) has the same significance as its Hebrew counterpart, while the Phoenician