The Lord on a Light Cloud
Tomos 4. The vision concerning Egypt.
“Behold, the Lord is seated on a light cloud, and he will come to Egypt, and the handmade things of Egypt will be shaken before his face, and their heart will be overcome within them” (Isaiah 19:1).
In these words the prophet sets out to teach how the land of the Egyptians was saved and drawn as in a net into true religion, plainly through faith in Christ, although it worshipped many gods and was sick with error beyond measure.
For they were, as it were, in deep darkness. They knew nothing at all of him who is God by nature and truly the Maker and Lord of all, and they fastened their worship on the creation. What was still more absurd, they made themselves the craftsmen of their own gods and kept a swarm of idols of every shape in their temples, so that they even moulded likenesses of irrational animals, set up altars, and sacrificed to them.
Since sin had multiplied among them, grace had to abound all the more (Romans 5:20); the Physician had to shine upon those so grievously sick, and the divine and heavenly light had to flash upon those darkened in heart.
“Behold, then,” he says, “the Lord is seated on a light cloud, and he will come to Egypt.” But what might it mean that the Lord is seen on a light cloud? Come, let us say what we can.
Some interpreters have said that the light cloud is the holy flesh of the Lord, that is, the temple taken from the Virgin. They liken it to a cloud because it is free, perhaps, of the more earthly impulses and desires, and is, as it were, above and on high. For the holy body of Christ, the Saviour of us all, is truly all-pure and free of every earthly impurity. Others again have taken the holy Virgin to be what is called a light cloud.
For my part, I think that saying he sits on a light cloud may also hint to us at a breadth of other meanings. For the blessed prophets, when they beheld the glory of God, wrote down their visions in many ways. Isaiah says that he saw the Lord of hosts on a throne, high and lifted up, with the highest rational powers standing in a circle around him, singing his praise and saying that heaven and earth are full of his glory (Isaiah 6:1–3).
The all-wise Daniel seats the Ancient of Days on a throne; he insists that a thousand thousands serve him, and says that ten thousand times ten thousand stand around him (Daniel 7:9–10); and that he also saw one like a Son of Man…
Greek
ΤΟΜΟΣ ∆ ΟΡΑΣΙΣ ΑΙΓΥΠΤΟΥ.}1 9Ἰδοὺ Κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης, καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ σεισθήσεται τὰ χειροποίη- τα Αἰγύπτου ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἡττηθήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς.9 Τίνα δὴ τρόπον ἡ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων σέσωσται χώρα ‹70.452› καὶ σεσαγήνευται πρὸς εὐσέβειαν, διὰ πίστεως δὲ δηλονότι τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ, καίτοι πολύθεος καὶ ἐκτόπως νοσοῦσα τὴν πλάνην, πειρᾶται διδάσκειν ὁ προφήτης ἐν τούτοις. Ἦσαν μὲν γὰρ οἷάπερ ἐν σκότῳ βαθεῖ, τὸν μὲν φύσει Θεὸν καὶ ἀληθῶς ὄντα τῶν ὅλων δη- μιουργὸν καὶ Κύριον ἠγνοηκότες παντελῶς, ἀνάπτον- τες δὲ τῇ κτίσει τὸ σέβας· καὶ τὸ ἔτι τούτου παρα- λογώτερον, τεχνουργοὶ τῶν ἰδίων ἀναδεικνύμενοι θεῶν, καὶ πολύμορφον εἰδώλων ἐσμὸν ἐν τοῖς τεμένε- σιν ἔχοντες, ὡς καὶ ζώων ἀλόγων ἀναπλάττειν τύπους, καὶ βωμοὺς ἱστάντας καταθύειν αὐτοῖς. Ἔδει τοίνυν πλεοναζούσης ἐν αὐτοῖς ἁμαρτίας, ὑπερπερισσεῦσαι τὴν χάριν, καὶ τοῖς οὕτως ἐχθίστως νενοσηκόσι ἐπι- λάμψαι τὸν ἰατρὸν, καὶ τοῖς τὴν καρδίαν κατεσκοτι- σμένοις τὸ θεῖόν τε καὶ οὐράνιον ἐναστράψαι φῶς. Ἰδοὺ τοίνυν, φησὶ, Κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κού- φης, καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Ἀλλὰ τί ἂν βούλοιτο πα- ραδηλοῦν τὸ ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης ὁρᾶσθαι τὸν Κύριον; Φέρε λέγωμεν ὡς ἔνι· Τινὲς μὲν τῶν ἐξηγητῶν κούφην ἔφησαν εἶναι νεφέλην τὴν ἁγίαν τοῦ Κυρίου σάρκα, τουτ' ἔστι, τὸν ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου ληφθέντα ναόν· καὶ νεφέλῃ παρεικάζουσι, διάτοι τὸ ἀπηλλάχθαι τάχα που κινημάτων καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν τῶν γεωδεστέρων ἄνω τε καὶ ὥσπερ ὑψοῦ. Πάναγνον γὰρ ἀληθῶς καὶ ἁπάσης γεώδους ἀκαθαρσίας ἀπηλλαγμένον τὸ ἅγιον σῶμα τοῦ πάντων ἡμῶν Σωτῆρος Χριστοῦ. Ἕτεροι δὲ αὖ κούφην ὠνομάσθαι νεφέλην ὑπειλήφασι τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον. Οἶμαι δὲ ἔγωγε τάχα που καὶ ἑτέρων ἡμῖν ἐννοιῶν ὑποσημῆναι πλάτος, τὸ ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης καθῆσθαι λέγειν αὐτόν. Πολυτρόπως μὲν γὰρ οἱ μα- κάριοι προφῆται, τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξαν καταθεώμενοι, γεγράφασι τὰς ὁράσεις. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἡσαΐας ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου τεθεᾶσθαί φησι τὸν Κύριον Σαβαὼθ, περιεστώτων ἐν κύκλῳ τῶν ἀνωτάτω δυνάμεων λογικῶν, ὑμνολογουσῶν τε αὐτὸν, πλήρη τε εἶναι λεγουσῶν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δέ γε πάνσοφος ∆ανιὴλ Παλαιὸν ἡμερῶν ἐπὶ θρόνου καθίζει· χιλίας τε χιλιάδας λειτουργεῖν αὐτῷ διατείνεται, καὶ μυρίας μυριάδας περιεστάναι φησί· τεθεᾶσθαι δὲ καὶ ὡς Υἱὸν ἀνθ