AE 594 - more on clouds; AE 595 - rainbows

AE 594 [17, 18]

I looked, and behold
a wind of a tempest came out of the north,
a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself in itself,
and a brightness round about it.
(Ezekiel 1:4)

The cherubim stood on the right side of the house
when the man entered in;
and the cloud filled the inner court;
and the glory of Jehovah mounted up
from above the cherub upon the threshold of the house;
and the house was filled with the cloud,
and the court was full
of the brightness of Jehovah's glory.
(Ezekiel 10:3, 4)

The "cherubim" signify the Lord in respect to guarding,
that there be no approach except through the good of love;
so, too, the "cherubim" signify the heavens,
in particular the inmost or third heaven,
because the angels who are there
receive Divine truth in the good of love,
therefore it is Divine truth,
which is in its essence the good of love,
that guards.
This Divine truth,
as it comes down out of the inmost heaven
into the lower heavens,
and at length into the world where men are,
from being pure becomes thus by degrees more dense,
consequently in the lowest degree it appears like a cloud;
this is why it signifies Divine truth
accommodated to the apprehension of the angels
who are in the lowest heaven, who are spiritual-natural,
and finally to the apprehension of men in the natural world.
Moreover, as Divine truth in this degree is similar
to the Divine truth in the sense of the letter of the Word,
 "cloud" signifies the Word as to the sense of the letter.
It was this Divine truth that filled the court like a cloud,
and at length the house,
at the right side of which stood the cherubim;
and as this Divine truth is inwardly
the spiritual that shines from heavenly light,
therefore it is called "glory,"
and it is said that
"the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory."

When God makes the light of His cloud to be bright.
(Job 37:15)

Because the higher heavens appear
before the eyes of those who are in the lower heavens
as covered by a light and bright cloud
(for the reason that the lower angels are unable to see
the higher or interior Divine otherwise
than in accordance with their own quality),
therefore also Divine truth in the higher heavens,
or what is the same thing,
the higher heavens themselves,
are meant in some passages in the Word by "clouds;"
for whether you say Divine truth or the heavens
it is the same,
since the heavens are heavens from Divine truth,
and the angels there are angels
from the reception of Divine truth.

AE 595 [3]

 A "rainbow" signifies interior Divine truth,
such as the Word is in the spiritual sense,
because the light of heaven,
like as the light of the world,
according to its incidence upon objects
and its modification in them,
presents variegations of color and also rainbows . . ..
But the rainbows that appear in the angelic heaven
differ from the rainbows that appear in the world,
in that the rainbows of heaven are from a spiritual origin,
while the rainbows of the world are from a natural origin;
for the rainbows of heaven are from the light
that arises from the Lord as a sun,
and as that sun is in its essence the Lord's Divine love,
and the light therefrom is Divine truth,
the variegations of light which are presented as rainbows
are variegations of intelligence and wisdom with the angels.
From this it is that rainbows there
signify the form and beauty of spiritual Divine truth.
But the rainbows of the world are from a natural origin,
namely, from the sun of the world and its light;
therefore they are merely
modifications and consequent variegations of light
by waters that fall from a cloud.
And because there are like appearances of color
in the spiritual world as in the natural world,
and because these correspond,
therefore the rainbows of the world
have a similar signification as the rainbows of heaven,
namely, spiritual Divine truths in their form and beauty;
these truths are such
as those of the Word in the spiritual sense.