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•CLOAK an upper garment, “an exterior tunic, wide and long, reaching to the ankles, but without sleeves” (Isaiah 59:17). The word so rendered is elsewhere rendered “robe” or “mantle.” It was worn by the high priest under the ephod (Exodus 28:31), by kings and others of rank (1 Samuel 15:27; Job 1:20; 2:12), and by women (2 Samuel 13:18).
The word translated “cloke”, i.e., outer garment, in Matthew 5:40 is in its plural form used of garments in general (Matthew 17:2; 26:65). The cloak mentioned here and in Luke 6:29 was the Greek himation, Latin pallium, and consisted of a large square piece of wollen cloth fastened round the shoulders, like the abba of the Arabs. This could be taken by a creditor (Exodus 22:26,27), but the coat or tunic (Gr. chiton) mentioned in Matthew 5:40 could not.
The cloak which Paul “left at Troas” (2 Timothy 4:13) was the Roman paenula, a thick upper garment used chiefly in travelling as a protection from the weather. Some, however, have supposed that what Paul meant was a travelling-bag. In the Syriac version the word used means a bookcase. (See Dress.)
•CLOSET as used in the New Testament, signifies properly a storehouse (Luke 12: 24), and hence a place of privacy and retirement (Matthew 6:6; Luke 12:3).
•CLOUD The Hebrew so rendered means “a covering,” because clouds cover the sky. The word is used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as indicating the splendour of that glory which it conceals (Exodus 16:10; 33:9; Numbers 11:25; 12:5; Job 22:14; Psalm 18:11). A “cloud without rain” is a proverbial saying, denoting a man who does not keep his promise (Proverbs 16:15; Isaiah 18:4; 25:5; Jude 1:12). A cloud is the figure of that which is transitory (Job 30:15; Hos. 6:4). A bright cloud is the symbolical
seat of the Divine presence (Ex.29:42, 43; 1 Kings 8:10; 2 Chronicles 5:14; Ezekiel 43:4), and was called the Shechinah (q.v.). Jehovah came down upon Sinai in a cloud (Exodus 19:9); and the cloud filled the court around the tabernacle in the wilderness so that Moses could not enter it (Exodus 40:34, 35). At the dedication of the temple also the cloud “filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10). Thus in like manner when Christ comes the second time he is described as coming “in the clouds” (Matthew 17:5; 24:30; Acts 1:9, 11). False teachers are likened unto clouds carried about with a tempest (2 Peter 2:17). The infirmities of old age, which come one after another, are compared by Solomon to “clouds returning after the rain” (Ecclesiastes 12:2). The blotting out of sins is like the sudden disappearance of threatening clouds from the sky (Isaiah 44:22).
Cloud, the pillar of, was the glory-cloud which indicated God’s presence leading the ransomed people through the wilderness (Exodus 13:22; 33:9, 10). This pillar preceded the people as they marched, resting on the ark (Exodus 13:21; 40:36). By night it became a pillar of fire (Numbers 9:17-23).