Sons of clouds

Isaiah condemns the people of Judah as “sons of a sorceress” (57:3). “Sorceress” translates ‘anan , which is derived from a verb “to cover” and sometimes refers to the gathering of clouds (Genesis 9:14). This particular form of the verb is typically used for the “dark arts” that take place under cover (Leviticus 19:25; Deuteronomy 18:10, 14; etc.). But in another form, the word simply means “cloud,” and refers to the cloud that led Israel though the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22; 14:19-20), the cloud into which Moses ascended on Sinai (Exodus 24:18).

In this sense, the people Judah are supposed to be “sons of the cloud.” They are to listen to and obey the words spoken to Moses in the cloud. The word of God is deposited in the Most Holy Place under the enthroned cloud. That’s where Israel is to turn for divination. Torah is Israel’s “dark art,” brought out of the cloud into the full daylight, read to everyone. In Isaiah’s terms (57:3), Judah is to draw near ( qarab , cf. Leviticus 1:1-3) to the cloud that birthed them.

To seek guidance or knowledge of the future from some other source – from one who consults the dead, for instance – is to exchange one cloud for another, the true form of dark art for a counterfeit. It is to become sons of a different cloud.

We are sons of a cloud too: sons of the bright glory that enveloped Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, sons of the cloud into which Jesus ascended, into which we ascend in Him.