XX The shelter given, and refreshment of rain promised, by clouds give them their peculiar prominence in Oriental imagery. When a cloud appears rain is ordinarily apprehended, and thus the "cloud without rain" becomes a proverb for the man of promise without performance. ( Proverbs 16:15 ; Isaiah 18:4 ; 25:5 ; Jude 1:12 ) comp. Prov 25:14 The cloud is a figure of transitoriness, ( Job 30:15 ; Hosea 6:4 ) and of whatever intercepts divine favor or human supplication. ( Lamentations 2:1 ; 3:44 ) A bright cloud at times visited and rested on the mercy-seat. ( Exodus 29:42 Exodus 29:43 ; 1 Kings 8:10 1 Kings 8:11 ; 2 Chronicles 5:14 ; Ezekiel 43:4 ) and was by later writers named Shechinah.