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Cloud The Hebrew so rendered means "a covering," because clouds cover the sky. The word is used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as indicating the splendour of that glory which it conceals (Exo 16:10; Exo 33:9; Num 11:25; Num 12:5; Job 22:14; Psa 18:11). A "cloud without rain" is a proverbial saying, denoting a man who does not keep his promise (Pro 16:15; Isa 18:4; Isa 25:5; Jde 1:12). A cloud is the figure of that which is transitory (Job 30:15; Hos 6:4). A bright cloud is the symbolical seat of the Divine presence (Exo 29:42, Exo 29:43; Kg1 8:10; Ch2 5:14; Eze 43:4), and was called the Shechinah (q.v.). Jehovah came down upon Sinai in a cloud (Exo 19:9); and the cloud filled the court around the tabernacle in the wilderness so that Moses could not enter it (Exo 40:34, Exo 40:35). At the dedication of the temple also the cloud "filled the house of the Lord" (Kg1 8:10). Thus in like manner when Christ comes the second time he is described as coming "in the clouds" (Mat 17:5; Mat 24:30; Act 1:9, Act 1:11). False teachers are likened unto clouds carried about with a tempest (Pe2 2:17). The infirmities of old age, which come one after another, are compared by Solomon to "clouds returning after the rain" (Ecc 12:2). The blotting out of sins is like the sudden disappearance of threatening clouds from the sky (Isa 44:22). Cloud, the pillar of, was the glory-cloud which indicated God's presence leading the ransomed people through the wilderness (Exo 13:22; Exo 33:9, Exo 33:10). This pillar preceded the people as they marched, resting on the ark (Exo 13:21; Exo 40:36). By night it became a pillar of fire (Num 9:17).