Rendiho op Clothes. To rend or tear the gar- ments was finom the earliest period an action express ive of the highest grief (Gen. xxxvii, 29). Jacob and David did it on various occasions ; and so did Joshua, Hezekiah, and Eara (2 Sam. xiii, 81 ; Joeh. vii, 6; 2 Kings xix, 1 ; Ezra ix, 8). The high-priest was for- bidden to rand his dodies (Lev. z, 6 ; xxi, 10), prob- ably meaning his sacred garments: perliapa those referred to In Matt xxvi, 65, were such as were ordi- narily worn, or merely judicial, and not pontiikial gannents. Sometimes it denoted anger, or indigna- tion mingled with sorrow (Isa. xxxvi, 22; xxxvii, 1; Acts xiv, 14). See Rending.
Clond (properly *)^^, anon , as cocermg the sky, vf^iXrf), The allusions to clouds in Scripture, aa wdl as their use in symbolical language, roust be midcr- stood with reference to the nature of the climate, when the sky scarcely exhibits the trace of a cloud fit>m tiie beginning of May to the end of September, during which period clouds so rarely appear, and rains so sd- dom fall, as to be considered phenomena — as was the case with the harvest-rain which Samuel invoked (1 Sam. xii, 17, 18), and with the little cloud, not laiger than a man's hand, the appearance of which In the west was immediately noticed as something remaika- ble not only in itself^ but as a sure harbinger of rain (1 Kings xviii, 44). As in such climates clouds re- freshingly veil the oppressive glories of the sun, douds often symbolize the Divine presence, as indicating the splendor, insupportable to man, of that glory which they wholly or partially conceal (Exod. xvi, 10; xxxiii, 9; Num. xi, 26; xxi, 6; Jobxxii,14; Psa, xviii, U, 12 ; Isa. xix, 1). The shelter given, and refreshment of rain promised by clouds, give them their peculiar prominence in Oriental imagery, and the individual cloud in that ordinarily cloudless region becomes weD defined, and is dwelt upon like the individual tree in the bare landscape (Stanley, Syria and Paleslme^ p. 140). Similarly, when a cloud appears, rain is ordi-
CLOUD, PILLAR OP
891
CLOVIS
narQjr apprehended, and thna the " doad wiihont rain** becomes a proverb for the man of promise without peii- fbrmance (Prov. xvi, 15; lea. xv^ 4; xxv, 5; Jude 12; eomp. Prov. xxt| 14). The doad is, of ooorse, a fi^rore of transitoriness (Job zxz, 15; Hos. yi, 4), and of whatever intercepts divine fovor or human suppli- cation (Lam. ii, 1 ; iii, 44). Being the least substan- tial of visible forms, undefined in shape, and unre- sCraioed in position, it is the one among material things which most easily suggests spiritual being. Hence It is, so to speak, the recognised machinery by which su- pernatural appearances are introduced (Isa. six, 1; £zek. i, 4; Bev. i, 7, et passim), or the veil between things visible and invisible; but, more especially, a mysterious or supernatural cloud is the symbolical Beat of the Divine presence itself— the phenomenon of duty vouchsafed by Jehovah to the prophet, the priest, the king, or the people (Psa. Ixviil, 84; Ixxxix, 6; err, 8; Nah. i, 8). Sometimes thick darkness, some- times intense luminousness, often, apparently, and es- pecially by night, an actual fire is attributed to this glory-cloud (I^ut. iv, 11; Exod. xl, 85; xxxUi, 22, 28 ; 2 Sam. xxii, 12, 18). Such a bright doud, at any rate at times, visited and rested on the Mercy-seat (Exod. xxix, 42, 48; 1 Kmgs viii, 14 ; 2 Chron. v, 14 ; Eaek. xliii, 4), and was named Shekinah (q. v.) by late writers (see Tholemann, De nube supra arcOy Lips. 1771-1762; Stiebrita, De area fcedem, Hal. 1768). Tlras Jehovah appeared at Sinai in the midst of a doud (Exod. xix, 9; xxxiv, 5); and when Moses had built and consecrated the tabemade, the doud filled the court around it, so that Moses could not enter (Exod. xl, 84, 85). The same happened at the dedication of the Temple by Solomon (2 Chron. v, 18; 1 Kings viii, 10). So Christ, at his seccmd advent, is described as descending upon douds (Matt, xvii, 5 ; xxiv, 80, etc. ; Acts i, 9; Rev. i, 7; xiv, 14, 16). To come in the doads, or with the clouds of heaven, was among tlie Jews a known symbol of Divine power and majesty ; and Grotius observes that a similar notion obtained among the heathen, who represented their deities cov- ered with a doud. (See the treatises on the symbol- ical nimbus or halo by Nicohii [Jen. 1699], Beiske [Dissert, ii, No. 4].) Hence " douds and darkness** appear to be put as repfesenting the mysterious nature of the Divine operations in the govemmetit of the worid (Psa. xcvii, 2). Clouds are also the symbol of armies and multitudes of people (Jer. iv, 18 ; Isa. Ix, 8 ; Heb. xii, 1) ; a figure referring to the effects of a Isffge and compact body of men, moving upon the sur- fiace of an extensive plain, like a doud in the dear sky. A day of clouds is taken for a season of calam- ity (Erek. xxx, 3; xxxiv, 12). Peter compares false teftchers to douds carried about with a tempest (2 Pet. U, 17). Solomon compares the infirmities of old age, whidi arise successively one after another, to *' douds returning after rain*' (Eccles. xii, 2). The favor of a king is compared to ** a doud of the latter ndn,'* re- f^vshing and fertiliring the earth (Prov. xvi, 16). The sadden disappearance of tiireatening clouds from the sky is employed by Isaiah as a figure for the blotting out of transgressions (xliv, 22). See Wemys's Ciavis Symbolical s. ▼.