See the book HaLashon and Torsini’s book. And the meaning of the clouds as an image in Abraham Joshua Heschel’s God in Search of Man… (briefly). And also in Jacob Nagen’s book on Sukkot. It’s a broad topic. And for now, see especially here, by Yehoshua Enbal

https://rationalbelief.org.il/%d7%a0%d7%a1-%d7%95%d7%98%d7%91%d7%a2-%d7%91%d7%99%d7%a6%d7%99%d7%90%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%a6%d7%a8%d7%99%d7%9d/

:”Regarding the accepted interpretation that attributes the findings to the Santorini eruption, Velikovsky shows hundreds of historical testimonies indicating that this was a far greater upheaval and that its effects continued for many decades. The Sages also said (Yevamot 72a) that throughout those forty years Israel was under rebuke and the north wind did not blow; this refers to a climate change that endangered the performance of circumcision. In the Prophets it appears that the children of Israel moved through the desert under a cover of clouds; the desert was a place of deep shadow and gloom (Jeremiah 2:6, 31; Psalms 105:39). Velikovsky brings historical testimonies about clouds in the desert in the period in question. For example, Abulfaraj, in Ancient Semitic History (cited in Ages in Chaos, p. 48), recounts that the Amalekite tribe saw a cloud on the horizon, and they went ceaselessly after clouds west of Egypt, fleeing בעקבות a natural disaster. (The original text is not connected at all to Israel or the Exodus; Abulfaraj collects pre-Islamic Arabic traditions.)
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The pillar of cloud occupies a central place in the whole story of the Exodus and the wanderings in the desert, more than the pillar of fire. The cloud also had a practical role and not only a symbolic one: “And He put darkness between you and the Egyptians” (Joshua 24:7, based on Exodus 14:19); the cloud threw the Egyptian camp into confusion (14:24). Here the cloud is described as something murky and harmful, darkening and obstructing. On the other hand, the cloud was a symbol of the Divine Presence, as it is written: “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud rested upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle” (Exodus 40). So the cloud covering the tent is connected with the glory of the Lord filling the Tabernacle. And at the same time there is a direct connection to the journeys: “Whenever the cloud was lifted from over the Tabernacle, the children of Israel would set out throughout all their journeys; but if the cloud was not lifted, they would not set out until the day it was lifted” (ibid.). When the cloud rose, the children of Israel traveled after it.

Of course, one can say that the cloud served a symbolic role, similar to the tops of the balsam trees, where when a sound was heard in them it was a sign to David to go to battle (II Samuel 5). Apparently this was a sign of the angel of the Lord moving above the camp. But still, the role of the cloud in the desert is much more central and essential; it is the axis around which the camp of Israel and its actions revolved for forty years.

The Sages said: “‘That I made the children of Israel dwell in booths’—these were Clouds of Glory; this is the view of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Eliezer says: they made actual booths for themselves” (Sukkah 11b). And the plain-sense commentators adopted Rabbi Eliezer’s words. Thus Ibn Ezra says: “Scripture says, ‘that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths’ (Leviticus 23:43), but how could they dwell in clouds? For booths are not like clouds… And if there is a tradition that there were seven Clouds of Glory, then let us set aside our reasoning and rely on the tradition” (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 15:22). Rashbam says: “He encircled him with angels who guarded them… and one who explains this as the encircling Clouds of Glory is not correct, for according to the plain sense the cloud is only the pillar of cloud before them, and ‘the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way'” (on Deuteronomy 32:10). Indeed, the Torah nowhere mentions Clouds of Glory, and certainly the interpretation of booths = clouds is not the plain sense.

According to these commentators, apparently the Clouds of Glory are simply the pillar of cloud—that is, all the miraculous acts of protection and deliverance in the desert were called by the single name of “the cloud,” after the Divine Presence and holiness that caused all this. Since the Divine Presence was in the camp, snakes, scorpions, and hostile foreigners were miraculously prevented from entering it, and their clothes were not damaged, etc. But the meaning is not that they were literally covered by clouds. And certainly the description of “six clouds from six directions” is not to be taken literally—does it mean they walked on a cloud and not on the ground? (The number of clouds is unclear: in Numbers Rabbah there is one opinion that there were five and another that there were seven, and in Sifrei some say two and some say four. That strengthens the view that this refers to actions attributed to the cloud and the Divine Presence, not to the physical shape of the cloud.) The actions attributed to the cloud are not natural actions of a cloud. A cloud cannot protect from snakes and scorpions, nor from infiltrators. So perforce the cloud is only a symbol of this protection. And although the aggadah says that the clouds covered the camp, the Torah explicitly says, “and when the sun grew hot, it melted,” and Balaam saw Israel from the top of the peak. And so it is written in the Zohar (Exodus 51b): “What is this pillar of cloud? Rabbi Abba said: it is the support of the righteous one and the spreading of his imprint.”

A source for this interpretation—that the “Clouds of Glory” are merely an expanded explanation of the “pillar of cloud,” meaning the Divine Presence in the camp, or individual providence—is found in a baraita in the Talmud: “The pillar of cloud [was given] in the merit of Aaron… Aaron died, and the Clouds of Glory departed” (Ta’anit 9a). And thus the supplying of the Israelites’ needs and their protection are attributed to the pillar of cloud: “Rabbi Huna of Beit Horon said: ministering angels would load from Laban’s flock and come and place it among Jacob’s flock. Rabbi Tanhuma said: a torrent of rain. The Rabbis said: Clouds of Glory” (Genesis Rabbah 73:10). And likewise: “‘And the princes brought’—some say the princes of Israel, and some say the Clouds of Glory brought them” (Pesikta Zutrata, Exodus 35). “The cloud would burn the snakes” (Numbers Rabbah 19:22). When the fire and heat drove at Israel and afflicted them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the Clouds of Glory: rain dew before My children” (Tosefta Arakhin 1:10).

But it seems that all this is only secondary teaching—the character of the Sages’ use of the term “Clouds of Glory,” which included all the providence and guidance of that generation. But the source of this idea is a realistic, physical description that developed from the time of the events themselves. Rabbi Akiva’s explanation that the “dwelling in booths” mentioned in the Torah actually means dwelling under the shade of sheltering clouds is already mentioned in the book of Isaiah, which says: “Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day and smoke, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there shall be a canopy. And there shall be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for refuge and shelter from storm and rain” (Isaiah 4:5-6). Clearly the expression “a cloud by day and flaming fire by night” refers to the Torah’s verse, “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire.” And as is usual in Isaiah and the Prophets, in the future the world will return to being as in ancient days; therefore from the continuation—”over all the glory there shall be a canopy, and there shall be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for refuge and shelter”—it is understood that so it was in ancient times as well, at the time of the pillar of cloud and fire. Thus the cloud served as a booth and canopy to save from the heat (and so it is also said in the apocryphal book Biblical Antiquities, ch. 15). And clearly Isaiah does not mean a booth made of leaves and branches, but the cloud in question, and he calls it a booth in the sense of a covering, because he relied on the interpretation in the Torah that the festival of Sukkot is also in remembrance of the cloud. The point is not that God calls the cloud a “booth,” for that is not the normal way of speaking. There is no doubt that the children of Israel made booths, as the text explicitly says. But when God glorifies Himself and says, “that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths,” He does not mean to celebrate the bare fact that the children of Israel built themselves straw huts, but rather the broad and miraculous covering and protection that He gave them. Besides the booth of leaves and wood, there was around them another immense cloud that guarded and protected them; it was, so to speak, an upper roofing over a tangible physical booth. Therefore, “that I made them dwell in booths” refers to the miraculous element, God’s acts that were integrated with the booths made by human hands, and building a sukkah is also a remembrance of the Clouds of Glory. (According to Rabbi Eliezer, the sukkah alludes not to the Clouds of Glory but to actual booths. But one should not infer from his view that there were no Clouds of Glory, only that they are not the meaning of this verse of “that I made them dwell in booths.” And it seems that the matter of the Clouds of Glory is an ancient and accepted tradition, as Isaiah’s verse teaches us.)

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Elsewhere, the Sages described the clouds as something very natural, saying: “During those forty years that Israel was in the desert, the north wind did not blow for them. What was the reason? So that it would not scatter the Clouds of Glory” (Yevamot 72a). That is, these were completely natural clouds, and if a strong wind had come it would have dispersed them. So this is not merely some symbolic spiritual reality, but a tangible cloud dependent on the laws of nature, and its own power was not enough to remain attached to the camp except through the expedient of preventing the north wind. See also: “And Amalek came—Rabbi Yehoshua says that he would enter beneath the Clouds of Glory and kidnap souls from Israel and kill them” (Mekhilta de-Rashbi on Exodus 17:8). From this it appears that its operation was natural; as such it was limited, and sometimes one could outsmart it. And in the verse (Exodus 40) it is mentioned that Moses could not enter because of the cloud, whereas on the other hand he came in the cloud several times when God revealed Himself to him.

The cloud’s first function is guiding the way: “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night” (Exodus 13:21). The going “by day and by night” was apparently only immediately after the Exodus, not during the later long and orderly encampments. Later too it says, “The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people,” and here too the words may be interpreted as referring to the first days before they settled into a permanent camp, when they did not know where to continue and how to flee from the Egyptians. (The cloud was present “throughout all their journeys,” and the intention there is to emphasize that it did not depart, etc.) But when they stood before the Red Sea, it does not seem that the cloud guided them into the sea to lead them on the way; rather they were perplexed.

The expression “the pillar of cloud did not depart” teaches that this matter had a natural dimension. For with a symbolic miracle there is no need to emphasize and say that it did not depart. The meaning is that the cloud could have been in the whole region, and the novelty is that it stayed attached to the camp of Israel and benefited them. But the main benefit of the cloud was blocking the sun. The desert sun is hot, beating, and very difficult for an entire people to live under. It seems that the cloud covered a very large area in order to give Israel shade so they could survive in the desert, and this was its main purpose: “And Clouds of Glory were above them so that the sun would not rule over them, and thus Israel passed so that they should not suffer” (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 1:33). According to this, the plural expression “Clouds of Glory” does not refer to seven clouds, etc., but to a very great multiplicity of many clouds that covered the whole face of the sky and turned the desert into a place where one could live. So too Jonathan expresses it: “And the cloud of the glory of the Lord’s Presence shaded them by day when they traveled from the camp,” for everything is attributed to that cloud, and the main thing is the shade. Thus the children of Israel felt that the Lord dwelled above them: “He found him in a desert land, and in a howling wasteland; He encompassed him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, hovers over its young…” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11). The cloud of the Lord hovered over the children of Israel like the wing of a great eagle sheltering its young….
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According to the idea presented here—that the barrel of geological explosives began erupting during the period of the Exodus—the Sinai desert was its seismic focal point. For forty years the desert did not rest; tongues of fire rose between the cliffs, mountains and hills shook and collapsed, and a cloud of ash covered the sky.”

“For the cloud of the Lord was over the Tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.”

“And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of the incense shall cover the cover that is over the testimony, so that he not die.”

Maybe all of this came from the incense, so that at night they would see the fire and by day the cloud of the incense?