Clouds and Prophets

Σκοτεινὸν ὕδωρ ἐν νεφέλαις ἀέρων ἀπὸ τῆς τηλαυγήσεως ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ αἱ νεφέλαι διῆλθον ̓Εν πολλοῖς τόποις τῆς γραφῆς τὰς νεφέλας ἀλληγορικῶς φερομένας εὑρίσκομεν. Τὸν γὰρ οι κον τοῦ ̓Ισραὴλ ἀμπελῶνα εἰπών, νεφέλας ἐντολὰς λαμβανούσας μὴκ' ετι βρέχειν αὐτόν, οὐκ αλλας η τοὺς προφήτας εὑρίσκομεν. Οὐκ ετι γοῦν παρ' ἐκείνοις τὸ Τάδε λέγει κύριος, καὶ τὸ ̓Εγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με· μέχρι τούτων τῶν νεφελῶν ἡ ἀλήθεια λάμπει. Αὐται γοῦν αἱ νεφέλαι ψυχαῖς ῥέουσαι πνευματικῶν λόγων ὑετὸν οὐ γῆς ἀλλ' ἀέρος εἰσίν· τοῖς γὰρ ἐπιγείοις ἀποταξάμεναι καὶ μηκέτ' αὐτὰ φρονοῦσαι, μετεωριζόμεναι καὶ ἐπαιρόμεναι ὑπὸ τῆς σφῶν ἀρετῆς καὶ τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος πνεύματος ἀέρος εἰσίν. Τὸ ἐν αὐταῖς οὖν ὐδωρ, πρὶν ὑπὸ ̓Ιησοῦ ἐκβάσεως καὶ σαφηνείας τυχεῖν, διὰ τὸ τοῖς πολλοῖς δυσθεώρητον σκοτεινὸν ει ναι λέγεται. Ὁταν δὲ λαλήσαντος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν πληρωθῶσιν ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται, ̓Απὸ τῆς τηλαυγήσεως (τουτέστιν ἐπιλάμψεως αὐτοῦ) ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ συνελεύσονται, νεφέλαι φανεραὶ καὶ ἀρίδηλοι γινόμεναι διὰ τὸ παρεῖναι τὸν προαναφωνηθέντα ὑπ' αὐτῶν. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμους, Ψαλμος ΙΖ'

Dark waters in the clouds of heaven; before the brightness of His face the clouds pass. 1 In many places of the Scriptures we find that clouds allegorically indicate the prophets. For calling the house of Israel a vine, the clouds receive the command not to rain on it, and so we do not find prophets there, nor things such as: 'These things says the Lord,' nor, 'And the word of the Lord came to me,' until the truth brightens the clouds. These clouds, then, are the souls flowing with spiritual speech, water not of the earth, but of the air, pouring in drops onto the earth, and not, as they are disposed, with the appropriate power and spirit within that allows them to be suspended in the air. Such, then, was the moisture among them in that time before the descent and revelation of the Saviour by which they spoke obscurely to many. For with the speech of God in the Son in recent times, fulfilled were the Law and the Prophets, and so before the brightness of His face the clouds pass, and through His presence brighter are made the things they preached about him.  Didymus the Blind, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 17 1 Ps 17. 12-13