Clouds in the Book of Mormon

In this week's CFM reading, we learn about Isaiah's prophetic calling in Isaiah 6 / 2 Nephi 16, where he sees the Lord. In verse 4, we read:

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

It is no coincidence that the smoke appears as Isaiah is seeing the Lord. Smoke/cloud is an ancient Israelite indicator of the "shekinah", the presence/dwelling of God. We find several other examples of this in the Old Testament:

The pillar of cloud in the Exodus (Exodus 13:21-22)

21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The smoke on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:18

And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

The dedication of the temple of Solomon in 1 Kings 8:10-13

10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord,

11 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.

12 Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

13 I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.

Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 10:4

Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 

As we have seen many times before, the Book of Mormon contains many elements of Israelite culture and language. This is no exception. The use of "cloud" in the Book of Mormon is very much in line with this concept in the OT demonstrated above. Consider these examples:

Alma the younger's conversion in Mosiah 27:11:

And as I said unto you, as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood

The miraculous conversion of the Lamanites in Helaman 5:28-29:

28 And it came to pass that they were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness, and an awful solemn fear came upon them.

29 And it came to pass that there came a voice as if it were above the cloud of darkness, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, and seek no more to destroy my servants whom I have sent unto you to declare good tidings.

Perhaps it would seem strange to relate the «cloud of darkness» to God? But notice how it resembles the passage in 1 Kings 8:12, where the cloud is also described as "thick darkness". This comes from the Hebrew, "araphel" and is found in several Old Testament passages.

Jesus' ascension in 3 Nephi 18:38-39 is another example:

38 And it came to pass that when Jesus had touched them all, there came a cloud and overshadowed the multitude that they could not see Jesus.

39 And while they were overshadowed he departed from them, and ascended into heaven. And the disciples saw and did bear record that he ascended again into heaven.

As a final example, we have the Lord visiting the brother of Jared twice in Ether 2, verses 4 and 14

And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a cloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not.

And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.