Wildbranch Hebrew Word of the Week: CLOUDS

This section will be devoted to Scriptural words and their meaning. We will not only establish the etymological roots of these words, but we will reveal how many English words are actually Hebrew words. Everything and anything you might want to know about the Hebrew language will be discussed and presented in this section.
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CLOUDS

I thought we might take a break from the 'rabbinical' words for just a bit and cover a few prophetic words. The word 'cloud' in the scriptures is very thought provoking. There are actually five words used for clouds in the Bible. The words 'av, shachaq, chaziyz express the most literal picture of those white fluffy mists in the sky. Shachaq means to pound or beat something to a fine powder. 'Av expresses the idea of a thick covering and is often just translated as thick, and chaziyz refers just to the presence of clouds with lightning.

There are two words that have very interesting and prophetic meanings and appearances to them. The word that is most translated as 'cloud' is 'anan. It's first appearance is tied to the covenant that God made with man with respect to the world never being destroyed again by a flood. The bow in the 'anan of B'reshith 9:13-17 is the token of that covenant. The word 'anan literally means 'to observe' or that which 'speaks of a time'. Clouds are signs of the presence of God. We know that a cloud led the children of Israel through the wilderness and that this experience was prophetic of another exodus and another wilderness in the last days (Hitgalut 1:7, 10:1, 11:12, 14:14-16). We are told in Dani'el 7:13 that the Messiah's coming is to be observed with the clouds of heaven. Luke tells us in the book of Acts that the Messiah was taken up and a cloud received him. Luke goes on to say that Yahshua will return in like manner (Acts 1:9-11; Mattityahu 25:30, 26:64) So it is no wonder that many Jewish commentaries on Dani'el 7:13 refer to the coming Messiah as the 'anan adam, or the cloud man.

The last Hebrew word translated as cloud puts the crown, so to speak, on the Messiah. It is the word nasiy'. This word is translated as cloud, prince, and ruler and it's verbal root means to rise up or to lift up.

Yechezk'el 37:25
"And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Ya'akov, my servant, in which your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell in it, even they, and their children, and their children's children forever; and my servant, David, shall be their PRINCE forever."

Shalom Alecheim!