Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 13:21

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

21. went ] In the Heb. a ptcp., implying ‘went continually.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21, 22. How Jehovah, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, guided the Israelites in their journeyings. For cloud, and fire, as symbols of the Divine presence, cf. on Exo 3:2, Exo 9:28, Exo 19:9; Exo 19:18, Exo 20:18. The Pent., however, contains three representations of the Divine presence in the cloud, corresponding to the three sources: in J the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night precedes the Israelites continuously to guide them in the way (so here, Exo 14:19 b, 24 a, Num 14:14 b, Deu 1:33; comp. Neh 9:12; Neh 9:19, Psa 78:14): in E the pillar of cloud is not spoken of as a guide, but it descends from time to time and ‘stands’ at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and Jehovah speaks in it to Moses (so Exo 33:9 f., Num 11:25; Num 12:5, Deu 31:15; cf. Psa 99:7): in P (who does not speak of a ‘pillar’) the cloud covers the Tent of Meeting immediately upon its erection, and remains there, with fire in it by night, till the camp is to be moved, when it is lifted up above it (Exo 40:34-38, Num 9:15-22; Num 10:11 f.: cf. v. 34, Exo 14:14 [the words, ‘and thy cloud standeth over them’: comp. Psa 105:39; also Isa 4:5 ], Lev 16:2, Num 16:42, and on Exo 16:10). The fiery cloud thus formed an imposing visible symbol of the spiritual presence of God, guiding (J), protecting (P), or (E) speaking in Israel, during its journey through the wilderness. But, as in other cases, the symbolism had no doubt some natural basis; and it is thought by Di., McNeile and others that it was suggested by the variously attested custom of a brazier filled with burning wood being borne along at the head of a caravan of pilgrims, or an army (see reff. in Di. and McN.), or of a chief having a fire blazing before his tent (T. H. Weir, Expositor, July 1910, p. 81 f.), or carried before him (cf. Ebers, Gosen, 530, 2 544).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Pillar of cloud – The Lord Himself did for the Israelites by preternatural means that which armies were obliged to do for themselves by natural agents. The Persians and Greeks used fire and smoke as signals in their marches, and in a well-known papyrus, the commander of an Egyptian expedition is called A flame in the darkness at the head of his soldiers. By this sign then of the pillar of cloud, the Lord showed Himself as their leader and general Exo 15:3, Exo 15:6.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Exo 13:21

By day in a pillar of a cloud.

The prophetic element in life

The Lord went before them in a cloud. So God ever goes before His people, and standing as we do now on the threshold of a new year, we may recall this truth to our great comfort. The future, unknown to us, is not unknown to Him; He has gone before us, and is evermore delicately adjusting things to our discipline, our perfecting, our utmost salvation and bliss.

I. We find an illustration of the text in the preparation of the world as a dwelling-place for man. Ages before man appeared on this planet, God was preparing it as a habitation for us to dwell in. You talk of getting the house ready for some newly married pair; but consider the getting ready of this globe as the scene for humanity to dwell in, and in which to work out its fortunes. What vast ages! What complex and far-seeing adjustments! And so we find to-day that the world has been provisioned for ages, the storehouses of nature are full, we do not lack any good thing. And God also anticipated the moral exigencies of the race.

II. We find another illustration of the text in Gods government of the race. We are not moving at random, the world is full of design, the law is progress, we are always entering into our inheritance. The races of man form a vast motley multitude, and the Lord goes before us preparing for us paths, resting places, wells, palm-trees. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant (Psa 105:17). He sent a man before them. And this was not some exceptional thing; God is always sending out pioneers, outriders, heralds to prepare the way for the general host in its march through the ages. They come in science, they come in politics, they come in philosophy, they come in religion: men full of the prophetic instinct, men who anticipate a new world, and who prepare us for it. So these Josephs, these dreamers, go before us, making possible to us new creations, new redemptions, We ought all of us, as Gods people, to have a bit of this prophetic instinct in us, helping to usher in a new and better state of things–Gods messengers preparing the way. God has gone before us; He is preparing happier things for our race; and although He works mysteriously, He works certainly to His glorious purpose. And all this is true in relation to our universal life. In our worldly life God is ever providing for us new blessings, glad surprises. Some do not see God because of the cloud, but He is in it nevertheless, working out His gracious purpose. And as to our spiritual life and need, God goes before us. We believe in prevenient grace–the grace that goes before. Grace that comes before our trials, preparing us for them, so that they do not overwhelm us. Grace that comes before our temptations, warning us of them, strengthening us against them. Grace that comes before our duties, so that we no sooner hear the call than we feel the strength to obey. We may enter a new year with tranquil confidence. Sydney Smith recommended people to take short views, and we can afford to do that, because God on our behalf takes long views.

III. We find our last illustration of the text in the fact that Christ has gone before us into the heavenly places. A cloud received Him out of their sight. In that cloud He has gone before us to make ready for us once more. (W. L. Watkinson.)

The pillar of cloud; a symbol of the Bible

I. The mystic pillar resembled the Bible in the ends it answered.

1. The mystic pillar promoted their emancipation. So the Bible opens the souls prison doors, snaps its chains, delivers it from the despotism of sin, and makes its way clear into the kingdom of God.

2. The mystic pillar guided them through the wilderness. So does the Bible show us the path of life. It is ever in advance of humanity, etc.

3. The mystic pillar protected them from all that would injure. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit; the armour of the soul.

II. The mystic pillar resembled the Bible in the attributes it displayed.

1. Supernaturalness.

2. Adaptation.

3. Many-sidedness.

III. The mystic pillar resembled the Bible in the conditions it required.

1. It required a constant observance of its movements. Bible of no service unless studied.

2. It required a constant following of its movements. You must go as the Bible goes in relation to sin. Satan, holiness, and God; life and death, time and eternity. (Homilist.)

The Divine leadership of the good

I. That the good are Divinely led in the wanderings of life. The Lord went before them.

1. A visible Guide.

2. A competent Guide.

3. A faithful Guide.

II. That the good are often Divinely led during the wanderings of life into varied and unsuspected paths. The edge of the wilderness.

1. God sometimes leads His people contrary to their expectations.

2. God sometimes leads His people contrary to the dictates of their reason.

3. God always leads His people into those paths which shall yield the most sacred and safe discipline to them.

III. That the method of the Divine leadership is adapted to the changing circumstances of the good. By day in a pillar of cloud, etc.

IV. That the Divine leadership should not be mistaken in association with the ordinary agencies of life.

V. That the Divine leadership is solicitous to lead the good to their promised and peaceful destiny. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The cloudy and fiery pillar a symbol of the Bible

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I. As the pillar of cloud was given to guide and comfort, so the Bible is designed to lead the thought and console the sorrow of man. Without the Bible man would be lost in the wide waste of error. It is also intended to console the human heart in all the troubled moods of life, when its joys grow dim, when it is rendered lonely by bereavement, and when it comes to death. At such times the Bible is our chief consolation, it enables us to sorrow in hope, it shows us One who is the Resurrection and the Life.

II. As the pillar combined both cloud and fire, so the Bible unites illumination and mystery. There is mystery in it which the finest genius cannot attain, which angelic intelligence cannot interpret, and which eternity may not simplify. Deity dwells in the volume, and we expect that clouds and darkness will be round about Him. But there is fire in the Book which illumines the doctrines and morality of the Christian life.

III. As the pillar of cloud aided the outgoing of Israel from bondage to rest, so the Bible is the best help man can have in walking through this life to the next. They walk the best in the wilderness of life who pay the most heed to the Word of God (Psa 119:105). Lessons:

1. Be thankful for the Bible.

2. Follow the directions of the Bible.

3. Seek the consolation of the Bible. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Divine guidance

I. Explain the text.

1. We may observe that Gods people in every age stand in need of a guide, and without it they would miss the path of duty and of happiness.

2. The Lord Himself graciously condescends to become the guide of His people, and He alone is fit to be so. He only has a perfect knowledge of the way, and of all the difficulties that may befall them in it; and He only is able to support and defend them against the designs of all their enemies.

3. The Lord guides His people in different ages of the world, by various means adapted to their circumstances, and to the peculiar dispensations under which they live.

(1) By His Providence.

(2) By His Word.

(3) By His Spirit.

II. Symbolic meaning.

1. It was altogether miraculous, and a symbol of the Divine presence. It was called the cloud of the Lord; there it was He dwelt in the midst of His people, and spake with them face to face (Num 19:14).

2. This mysterious cloud was intended to direct the Israelites in their journey, and by it the Lord communicated to them His will.

3. The cloudy pillar in the wilderness afforded refreshment by its shade, as well as guidance by its light. And is not Jesus both our sun and shield, our light and shade, as our different necessities require? In a season of darkness, He sends forth His cheering beams; and when our soul is ready to faint within us, He ministers to our refreshment and relief.

4. The cloudy pillar was designed for safety and defence, as well as for a guide through the wilderness. (B. Beddome, M. A.)

Need of guidance

General Hill says: In many of the battles the great want with the Confederates, strange as it may seem, was accurate knowledge of the country in their front. The map furnished me (and I suppose the six other major-generals had no better) was very full in regard to everything within our own lines, but a red line without any points marked on it was our only guide to the route on which our march was to be made. (H. O. Mackey.)

Gods guidance

The other day I was walking across the Northumbrian fells to call at a shepherds house that lay distinctly enough before me on the Fell side. The directions I received from a Fellsider whom I had just left, after the manner of those who live every day in the midst of ample space, were vague indeed. The rutty, half-formed road on which I was walking was distinct enough immediately before me, but when I strove to trace the course of the road a greater distance ahead it became blended with the frowsy bracken and bronzed heather, and was utterly lost to view. To have struck boldly out across country to reach my destination by what seemed the shortest route would have entangled me among the spongy bogs and numerous streams with which the hillside was intersected. However, by carefully following the road that was visible before me I managed to pick my way and reached my calling-place in safety. So is it in our daily search after the knowledge of the Divine will. When in our impatient eagerness we wish to look too far into the future, all is indistinct and hazy; but, if we carefully note what is near and sufficiently revealed, we shall be led up infallibly to safety and to rest. (Christian Journal.)

Gods guidance of the Israelites

There was an old fisherman who got converted in his old age. He was not able to read, and therefore had to do his own thinking, not being able to catch up all ideas aired in our newspapers. A friend of mine visited him, and knowing how he loved the Word of God, said to him, Now, John, shall I read you a chapter? Yes, if you please, I should so much like to hear a chapter. I do dearly love to hear the Word read. And what part shall I read to you? About the Lizard Lights, please. Do read about them, for when I see them I always think I am near my heavenly home. I have often been out on the Atlantic on dark stormy nights, and when I caught sight of the Lizard Lights I knew I was near Falmouth harbour, and would soon be safely moored. I am afraid, ventured my friend, that I do not know about the Lizard Lights! Not know about them! Well, I thought you a gentleman, and had Scripture knowledge, but if you dont know about the Lizard Lights, you must just wait until Mary comes in. In a short; time Mary, who was his daughter, came in, and the old man said, Mary, where is that in the Book about the Lizard Lights? You know you were reading about them last Sunday night. Oh, father, she said, that was not the Lizard Lights. It was the Israelites. That old man had made a mistake in the apprehension but not in the application. The story of the Israelites told of the guidance of God, in their wanderings, and the Lizard Lights had frequently been the beacon that had guided the fisherman to his desired haven. (Mark G. Pearse.)

The pillar of cloud; historical parallels

Xenophon mentions, in his Spartan republic, in describing the military expedition of a Spartan king, that a servant, or officer, who was called firebearer, preceded the king with the fire, which had been taken from the altar, on which he had just before sacrificed at the frontier of the Spartan territory. After they had sacrificed once more, and the march had commenced, s fire which was lighted at the second sacrifice preceded the lines, without ever extinguishing. In Curtius we read, He (Alexander the Great) ordered a lofty pole, visible from all sides, to be raised over the generals tent, and from the top of this pole streamed a signal conspicuous everywhere to every one, smoke by day and fire by night. Alexander had in this, as in many other points, imitated the custom of the Persians, who, in common with most of the eastern nations, on their mashes through deserted regions, bear before the army high poles, on which iron pots are affixed, filled with lighted combustibles; so that, the smoke by day, and the flame by night, signalized the way to the troops. Thus we cannot but acknowledge a certain curious similarity between the Biblical miracle and a general military custom prevailing in the East. Under these circumstances we entirely approve of Fabers remarks: Both the miracle and the custom, collated and compared, give light to each other. The custom effects, that we find the miracle dignified and worthy of God; and the miracle shows, that that very custom cannot have been quite unknown to the Israelites. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

The pillar of the cloud and of fire

The pillar of cloud and of fire was certainly

(1) sacramental (1Co 10:1-2);

(2) of a typical character (Isa 4:5; Num 14:42).

He whom the cloudy and fiery pillar typified was the same Almighty Being who hath said to the faithful members of his militant Church, in every age of its warfare, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. The cloud was manifestly intended–

I. To guide the Israelites through the wilderness.

1. The pillar of cloud guided the children of Israel with infallible certainty. God Himself was in it; and unless He could err, their way could not be mistaken. Mark here, the glorious character of the Bible,–that light to our feet with which the unsearchable compassion of our Saviours love has provided us. It testifies of Christ. It embodies His teaching and salvation, as the pillar contained them in the.wilderness.

2. This wondrous appearance in the heavens was a constant director to Israel. In every emergency the page of divine truth may be consulted.

II. The cloudy and fiery pillar afforded not merely guidance, but protection to the Israelites in their eventful march. Sin invades, temptation threatens, and every spiritual enemy seems permitted to assail with a fierceness which might well gather gloom and despondency around the heart; but the fainting Christian is encouraged by that voice which speaks as from the cloud between him and his enemies. Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God. His life is hid with Christ in God; and amidst every trial and seduction by which his salvation is endangered, he may lay bold upon One who walks with him, and has promised to uphold him with the sufficiency of an Almighty arm.

III. The pillar of cloud and of fire had yet another office to perform for the children of Israel. It gave them refreshment and comfort in the wilderness. Now say, O Christian, is it not thus with thee in the hour of thy most oppressive trial? (R. P. Buddicom.)

The pillar of cloud and fire

I. The way along which God led his people.

II. The manner in which God guided and protected them.

1. Pillar of cloud and fire only means: Jehovah Himself their true guide. God is with His people. What decision, blended with humility, will the realization of this great truth give us! What calmness in the midst of excitement; submission under trial; perseverance under difficulties.

2. Mark the adaptation of Gods method of guidance to the condition and necessities of the Israelites. Gradual progress. (G. Wagner.)

The fiery cloudy pillar

The fiery cloudy pillar performed many friendly offices to the Israelites, It was–

1. A guide. To lead was its main mission. It was a striking illustration of the longsuffering kindness of God. Neither murmurings, nor rebellion, nor idolatry, ever drove away the angel of His presence. The guidance vouchsafed, too, was of the most gracious kind–that of a shepherd (Psa 78:52), and that of a loving and affectionate parent (Deu 1:31).

2. A light (see Neh 9:19).

3. A shade (see Psa 105:39).

4. A shield (see Deu 1:30; Exo 14:19).

5. An oracle (see Psa 119:7). He who opened His mouth in the burning bush at Horeb, opened His mouth in the cloudy pillar, and frequently spake to Israels leader for Israels benefit.

6. An avenger. When God wished to mark His displeasure, the cloud assumed a very wrathful appearance. The Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire, and troubled the host of the Egyptians. What a dreadful visage it must have worn when flashes went forth from it and devoured Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:2), and also when fire came out from it and consumed two hundred and fifty men! (Num 21:35). If the aspect of the cloud was thus at times such as to trouble those with whom God was angry, it would, no doubt, have a very pleasing one when He desired to manifest His favour to the congregation. As they looked up, they would behold the smiling face of their Divine leader cheering and encouraging them to go on in the path of duty. (W. Brown.)

The presence of God adapted to human need

The consciousness of the Divine presence is in proportion to the circumstances in which we are placed. In other words, our circumstances determine our consciousness of the Divine nearness. Sometimes life is all day–almost a summer day with great spans of blue sky overhead, and where the clouds gather they gather in beautiful whiteness, as of purity akin to the holiness of the inner and upper cities of the universe. Then what do we want with fiery displays of God?–they would be out of keeping, out of reason and out of proportion. There are days that are themselves so bright, so hospitable, so long ending, and so poetic in all their breezes, and suggestions, and ministries, that we seem not to want any dogmatic teaching about the personality and nearness of God. All beauty represents Him. Any more emphatic demonstration would be out of harmony with the splendid serenity of the occasion. Then there are periods in life all night, all darkness, all storm or weariness. We cannot say where the door of liberty is, nor dare we step out lest we fall over a precipice; all is dark, all is trouble; friends are as absent as if they were dead, and all the sanctuaries to which we have hitherto resorted are concealed by the infinite darkness. What do we want then? A bird to sing to us? That would be helpful. A little tiny voice to break the troubled silence? That would net be amiss. But what do we really want? A column of fire, a pillar of glory, an emphatic incarnation and vision of Providence; and the soul gets both these manifestations of God according to the circumstances under which the soul is living. Take it, therefore, simply as an analogy, and then it is a rational analogy; it is true to every mans experience. And if the pillar of cloud and fire should drop off, there will remain the eternal truth, that according to the souls circumstances is the Divine revelation of itself. Where the visible is enough, why add more? A man should not want much theology of a formal sort on a bright summer day. Some little tuft of cloud will represent the Infinite. Some almost invisible wing in the air–more a thought than a thing–hardly to be identified by the bodily eye, will symbolize the all-embracing power and the all-brooding love. Then at night we want what is called dogmatic teaching, broad emphasis, piercing declaration, vividness that cannot be mistaken, God almost within the clasping of the poor arms, God almost in sight of the eyes of the body. Thus God deals with us. This is true to our history. The mere cloud may go, the pillar of fire may be accepted as figurative; but the eternal truth that God comes to us in different ways under different circumstances–now as a cloud, now as a fire, now as a judgment, now as without mercy, now a roaring tempest, now a still small voice,–is a truth that remains, whatever havoc may be wrought amid the mere figurativeness by which that truth is symbolized. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Divine guidance

How does this remarkable narrative exhibit to us in every variety the picture of Gods daily guidance of His people!

1. The guidance is as indispensable, and at the same time as obvious now as it was then. God still leads His people, through the voice of the purified conscience, through the evident suggestions of His exalted Providence, through the utterances especially of His infallible Word; and all these indications differ sufficiently from what flesh and blood make known to us in order to preserve us from wandering.

2. The guidance now is indeed as mysterious, but yet as well adapted to its purpose, as that of which the history of Israel tells us. Our countless whys and wherefores are still as little answered as the questions concerning the peculiar nature and essence of the pillar of fire and of cloud which probably disturbed the minds of the ancient Israelites. But as regards the question whither, the answer, God be praised, has not remained unknown to us; all Gods guidance of His people, we know, has one good–to bring us out of disquietude into rest, out of bondage to liberty, along the path of faith to the land of sight.

3. Also in our case Gods guidance is as varied, but still as faithful, as was the promise to the ancient people. In the day of prosperity He goes before us as in the cloudy pillar, in order to temper the glow of our joy through the remembrance of His close neighbourhood; in the night of adversity the word of His promise beams on us in as friendly and consoling a manner as did the fiery pillar on Israel in midst of the darkness. But as Moses beheld in the fortieth year of his pilgrimage the same sign in the heavens which had guided and encouraged him in the first, so Gods presence is never lost to His redeemed ones in Christ, whatever else around may faint or fail. Neither by day nor by night does He take from us the tokens of His nearness; and even when He seems to hide His face from us, new thoughts of mercy and of peace are in His heart.

4. Who does not perceive how such a guidance promises as much, but also claims as much return as that of Israel? It guarantees us the entrance into Canaan, but only along the path of believing perseverance and obedience. When the way indicated through the wilderness was despised, the pillar of cloud and fire rose above many a grave, and yet there is no single promise of God to him who chooses his own path. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)

The mystic pillar

I have called it a mystic pillar–that cloud in the desert; and so to them who saw it, and to us who read of it, it was. Of what it was composed; by what means it was kept pillar-like and intact while all other clouds were carried and scattered by the winds of heaven; by what strange secret force the cloud-pillar was nightly transformed to a column of bright flame?–these are questions that no doubt often exercised the minds of the spectators, only to be dismissed again as a baffling mystery that could not be explored. And not only its nature and changes, but its direction, its movements as to time and place–they had no knowledge, could make no sure prediction. Whether it would bend to the right, turn to the left, or move straight onward; whether it would remain stationary, or begin to move night or morning, or at noon–all this, and all concerning it, was above and beyond their knowledge; the laws that governed it and the will that led it was as entirely outside their information as it was beyond their control. What they did know was that Jehovah was the God of the cloud; what they could do was to trust it implicitly, follow it constantly, seeing in it all the while the good hand of their God over them for good. In all this, for my learning and for yours, I see a picture–a true and instructive picture–of the providence of God. From the beginning until now, the ways of God to man have been shrouded in mystery, have exercised inquiring but baffled minds, have furnished material for the sneer of the infidel, the sophistry of the sceptic, and the logic of the merely scientific mind; ay, and have strained and tested the faith of the pious, and placed stumblingblocks before his faith, on which his foot hath well-nigh slipped. All this arises from the fact that men will strive to be equal with God; that their mind will cope with that of Deity, and by their finite feebleness gauge the plans and purposes of the Infinite and Eternal Lord of all. (J. J. Wray.)

Providential mercies

A clergyman who, with some others, had escaped in a boat from a burning ship, was discoursing in a large company of the marvellous favour of Divine Providence, that had so specially watched over and preserved him. A wonderful providence! A special intervention of Gods goodness! That was a very great mercy, sir, said Archbishop Whately, seriously, but I can record a greater in my own experience. I once sailed across the sea in just such a ship, and bound for just the same port, and–would you believe it?–the vessel never caught fire at all! My friends, that is the way I would have you think of, and trust in Providence, as being ever present, ever wise and watchful, and, like the cloud-pillar of Israel, ever for your real good–pursuing its Divine and gracious path. Good and bad, light and shade, joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity, things present and things to come, all are proceeding on precisely the same plan,–namely, the working of the soul and mind of God for His glory in the true well-being of His creatures, and for the ultimate advancement and elevation of mankind. Wherever the pillar went, with whatever seemingly reasonless vagaries the pillar moved, and however widely experiences and opinions differed about its moving, we know now that it led them safe enough and sure enough to the Canaan which was the longing desire of every heart. The mind of a pious and thoughtful artisan named Albert Thierney was much occupied with the ways of God which seemed to him to be full of inscrutable mysteries. The two questions, How? and Why? were constantly in his thoughts, both as to the events of his own life and the government of the world. One day, in visiting a large ribbon manufactory, his attention was attracted by a large and extraordinary piece of machinery. His eye was that of a cultivated artisan, and he was immensely interested. Countless wheels were revolving in intricate motions, and thousands of threads were twirling and twisting in all directions. He could not understand its movements, and closer study only deepened his interest and increased the mystery. He was informed that all this work and motion was connected with a common centre where there was a large chest which was kept shut. Anxious to understand the principle of the machine, he asked permission to look inside the chest. The master holds the key, was the reply. The words came to him like a flash of light. Here was the answer to all his perplexing thoughts–his anxious questionings about Providence. Yes, thought he, the Master holds the key; He knows, He governs, He directs all–God! That is enough! what need I more? (J. J. Wray.)

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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 21. The Lord went before them] That by the LORD here is meant the Lord Jesus, we have the authority of St. Paul to believe, 1Co 10:9: it was he whose Spirit they tempted in the wilderness, for it was he who led them through the desert to the promised rest.

Pillar of a cloud] This pillar or column, which appeared as a cloud by day, and a fire by night, was the symbol of the Divine presence. This was the Shechinah or Divine dwelling place, and was the continual proof of the presence and protection of GOD. It was necessary that they should have a guide to direct them through the wilderness, even had they taken the most direct road; and how much more so when they took a circuitous route not usually travelled, and of which they knew nothing but just as the luminous pillar pointed out the way! Besides, it is very likely that even Moses himself did not know the route which God had determined on, nor the places of encampment, till the pillar that went before them became stationary, and thus pointed out, not only the road, but the different places of rest. Whether there was more than one pillar is not clearly determined by the text. If there was but one it certainly assumed three different appearances, for the performance of THREE very important offices.

1. In the day-time, for the purpose of pointing out the way, a column or pillar of a cloud was all that was requisite.

2. At night, to prevent that confusion which must otherwise have taken place, the pillar of cloud became a pillar of fire, not to direct their journeyings, for they seldom travelled by night, but to give light to every part of the Israelitish camp.

3. In such a scorching, barren, thirsty desert, something farther was necessary than a light and a guide. Women, children, and comparatively infirm persons, exposed to the rays of such a burning sun, must have been destroyed if without a covering; hence we find that a cloud overshadowed them: and from what St. Paul observes, 1Co 10:1-2, we are led to conclude that this covering cloud was composed of aqueous particles for the cooling of the atmosphere and refreshment of themselves and their cattle; for he represents the whole camp as being sprinkled or immersed in the humidity of its vapours, and expressly calls it a being under the cloud and being baptized in the cloud.

To the circumstance of the cloud covering them, there are several references in Scripture. Thus: He spread a CLOUD for their COVERING; Ps 105:39. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, A CLOUD and SMOKE BY DAY, and the shining of a FLAMING FIRE by night; for upon all the glory shall be a DEFENCE, (or COVERING,) Isa 4:5; which words contain the most manifest allusion to the threefold office of the cloud in the wilderness. See Nu 9:16-18, &c.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The Lord, the Son of God, whose presence and conduct the Israelites had in the wilderness, as appears from 1Co 10:4,9; compare Heb 11:26; who is sometimes called the Angel of the Lord, Exo 14:19, because he was and was to be his Fathers Angel or Messenger, sent by God unto men to ratify his covenant with them; whence he is called the Angel of the covenant, Mal 3:1, as he is upon another account called the Angel of his presence, Isa 63:9.

Went before them, not by local motion, but by his gracious and powerful operations for and about them. The pillar was but one, Num 9:15,16, having two different appearances and uses, of a cloud by day, to defend them from the heat, Psa 105:39, which in those parts was excessive; and of a fire by night, to illuminate them. It was a cloud erected towards heaven, like a pillar upwards; but downwards flat and broad, spread over the body of the people, and afterwards more eminently over the tabernacle.

To lead them the way, which was altogether necessary in those vast and pathless deserts, Num 10:33; Deu 1:33.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21, 22. the Lord went before thembya visible token of His presence, the Shekinah, in a majestic cloud(Psa 78:14; Neh 9:12;1Co 10:1), called “the angelof God” (Exo 14:19; Exo 23:20-23;Psa 99:6; Psa 99:7;Isa 63:8; Isa 63:9).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the Lord went before them,…. Who is called the Angel of the Lord, Ex 14:19, not a created but the uncreated Angel, the Angel of Jehovah’s presence, in whom his name, nature, and perfections were, even the Word and Son of God, the Lord Christ, see 1Co 10:9 who went before the armies of Israel, as their King, Leader, and Commander:

by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; through the Red sea, and the wilderness, at the edge of which they now were, which was untrodden, and trackless, and the way through it very difficult to find; and being a sandy desert, as soon as a path was made, it was immediately covered with sand, and to be seen no more: this cloud was not an ordinary one, but extraordinary, supernatural, and miraculous; in the superior part of it, it was in the form of a pillar, rising upwards towards heaven; in the lower part of it, it was more spread, and covered the camp of Israel; for, besides the use of it to show the way through a trackless wilderness, it was a shelter and protection from the scorching heat of the sun in a sandy desert, where there was scarce anything to screen them from it, to which the allusion is in Isa 4:5 this cloud was an emblem of Christ, who has sometimes appeared clothed with a cloud, Re 10:1 of the obscurity of his human nature, of the fulness of grace in him, and being in the form of a pillar, of his uprightness, firmness, stability, and visibility in it; and of the use and benefit he is to his people, partly to show them the way in which they should go, by his Spirit and word, and lead them in it by his own example, whom it becomes them to follow, he being a wise, safe, and constant guide; and partly to shelter and protect them from the heat of a fiery law, from the flaming sword of justice, from the wrath of God, from the fiery darts of Satan, and from the furious persecution of wicked men, sometimes compared to the violent heat of the sun, So 1:6

and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; whenever they travelled by night, as they sometimes did, and in those hot countries it was very agreeable; and this pillar of fire gave them light when the moon shone not, and was a direction to them which way to go: sometimes it is night with the people of God, a night of darkness and desertion, of drowsiness, sleepiness, and carnal security, or of affliction and distress: Christ is the light and comfort of his people, and by his Spirit and word illuminates, guides, and directs them what to do, and where and how to walk:

to go by day or night; to direct them in their journey, whether by night or day: this was but one pillar, though Aben Ezra thinks they were two; but it may be observed they are mentioned as one, and that the pillar of cloud in the night was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians, and gave light to the Israelites, Ex 14:19, see also Nu 9:21 and it is easy to observe that what appears as a cloud or smoke in the daytime, looks like fire in the night: so when Alexander’s army was on the march, as a signal,

“fire was observed in the night, and smoke by day,”

as says the historian x: nor can, this account of Moses seem incredible to the Heathens themselves, as Clemens of Alexandria observes y, since they relate a story somewhat similar to this, which they profess to believe; as, that when Thrasybulus brought the exile Grecians from Phyle, and willing to do it secretly, a pillar was his guide, and as he passed in the night through untrodden paths, when the moon shone not, and it was a dark winter night, a light was seen going before him, which brought them safe to Mynichia, and then left them: indeed this was not so extraordinary and miraculous, if true, as this pillar, as Bishop Patrick observes, because it was but for a night, whereas this continued all the forty years in the wilderness, until the Israelites came to Canaan’s land, as follows: the Arabic geographer z speaks of exhalations arising out of caves at the sides of mountains, which in the daytime looked like smoke, and in the night time like fire.

x Curtius, l. 5. c. 2. y Strom. l. 1. p. 348. z Climat. 3. par. 8.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

From Etham, at the edge of the desert which separates Egypt from Asia, the Israelites were to enter the pathless desert, and leave the inhabited country. Jehovah then undertook to direct the march, and give them a safe-conduct, through a miraculous token of His presence. Whilst it is stated in Exo 13:17, Exo 13:18, that Elohim led them and determined the direction of their road, to show that they did not take the course, which they pursued, upon their own judgment, but by the direction of God; in Exo 13:21, Exo 13:22, it is said that “Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night, ” i.e., that they might march at all hours.

(Note: Knobel is quite wrong in affirming, that according to the primary work, the cloud was first instituted after the erection of the tabernacle. For in the passages cited in proof of this (Exo 40:34.; Num 9:15., Exo 10:11-12, cf. Exo 17:7), the cloud is invariably referred to, with the definite article, as something already known, so that all these passages refer to Exo 13:21 of the present chapter.)

To this sign of the divine presence and guidance there was a natural analogon in the caravan fire, which consisted of small iron vessels or grates, with wood fires burning in them, fastened at the end of long poles, and carried as a guide in front of caravans, and, according to Curtius ( de gestis Alex. M. V. 2, 7), in trackless countries in the front of armies also, and by which the direction of the road was indicated in the day-time by the smoke, and at night by the light of the fire. There was a still closer analogy in the custom of the ancient Persians, as described by Curtius (iii. 3, 9), of carrying fire, “which they called sacred and eternal,” in silver altars, in front of the army. But the pillar of cloud and fire must not be confounded with any such caravan and army fire, or set down as nothing more than a mythical conception, or a dressing up of this natural custom. The cloud was not produced by an ordinary caravan fire, nor was it “a mere symbol of the presence of God, which derived all its majesty from the belief of the Israelites, that Jehovah was there in the midst of them,” according to Kster’s attempt to idealize the rationalistic explanation; but it had a miraculous origin and a supernatural character. We are not to regard the phenomenon as consisting of two different pillars, that appeared alternately, one of cloud, and the other of fire. There was but one pillar of both cloud and fire (Exo 14:24); for even when shining in the dark, it is still called the pillar of cloud (Exo 14:19), or the cloud (Num 9:21); so that it was a cloud with a dark side and a bright one, causing darkness and also lighting the night (Exo 14:20), or “a cloud, and fire in it by night” (Exo 40:38). Consequently we have to imagine the cloud as the covering of the fire, so that by day it appeared as a dark cloud in contrast with the light of the sun, but by night as a fiery splendour, “a fire-look” ( , Num 9:15-16). When this cloud went before the army of Israel, it assumed the form of a column; so that by day it resembled a dark column of smoke rising up towards heaven, and by night a column of fire, to show the whole army what direction to take. But when it stood still above the tabernacle, or came down upon it, it most probably took the form of a round globe of cloud; and when it separated the Israelites from the Egyptians at the Red Sea, we have to imagine it spread out like a bank of cloud, forming, as it were, a dividing wall. In this cloud Jehovah, or the Angel of God, the visible representative of the invisible God under the Old Testament, was really present with the people of Israel, so that He spoke to Moses and gave him His commandments out of the cloud. In this, too, appeared “the glory of the Lord” (Exo 16:10; Exo 40:34; Num 17:7), the Shechinah of the later Jewish theology. The fire in the pillar of cloud was the same as that in which the Lord revealed Himself to Moses out of the bush, and afterwards descended upon Sinai amidst thunder and lightning in a thick cloud (Exo 19:16, Exo 19:18). It was a symbol of the “zeal of the Lord,” and therefore was enveloped in a cloud, which protected Israel by day from heat, sunstroke, and pestilence (Isa 4:5-6; Isa 49:10; Psa 91:5-6; Psa 121:6), and by night lighted up its path by its luminous splendour, and defended it from the terrors of the night and from all calamity (Psa 27:1., Psa 91:5-6); but which also threatened sudden destruction to those who murmured against God (Num 17:10), and sent out a devouring fire against the rebels and consumed them (Lev 10:2; Num 16:35). As Sartorius has aptly said, “We must by no means regard it as a mere appearance or a poetical figure, and just as little as a mere mechanical clothing of elementary forms, such, for example, as storm-clouds or natural fire. Just as little, too, must we suppose the visible and material part of it to have been an element of the divine nature, which is purely spiritual. We must rather regard it as a dynamic conformation, or a higher corporeal form, composed of the earthly sphere and atmosphere, through the determining influence of the personal and specific (specimen faciens) presence of God upon the earthly element, which corporeal form God assumed and pervaded, that He might manifest His own real presence therein.”

(Note: “This is done,” Sartorius proceeds to say, “not by His making His own invisible nature visible, nor yet merely figuratively or ideally, but by His rendering it objectively perceptible through the energy it excites, and the glorious effects it produces. The curtain ( velum ) of the natural which surrounds the Deity is moved and lifted ( revelatur ) by the word of His will, and the corresponding intention of His presence ( per dextram Dei ). But this is effected not by His causing the light of His countenance, which is unapproachable, to burst forth unveiled, but by His weaving out of the natural element a holy, transparent veil, which, like the fiery cloud, both shines and throws a shade, veils and unveils, so that it is equally true that God dwells in light and that He dwells in darkness (2Ch 6:1; 1Ti 6:16), as true that He can be found as that He must always be sought.”)

Exo 13:22

This sign of the presence of God did not depart from Israel so long as the people continued in the wilderness.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

21. And the Lord went before them. Moses here proclaims another of God’s mercies, that, having redeemed His people, He was their constant leader and guide; as the Prophet also in the Psalms distinctly makes reference to both. (Psa 77:15; and Psa 78:14.) It was indeed a marvelous act of loving-kindness that, accommodating Himself to their ignorance, he familiarly presented Himself before their eyes. He might, indeed, have protected them in some other way from the heat of the sun, and directed them in the darkness of the night; but, in order that His power might be more manifest, He chose to add also His visible presence, to remove all room for doubt. But, although the words of Moses seem in some measure to include the Lord in the cloud, we must observe the sacramental mode of speaking, wherein God transfers His name to visible figures; not to affix to them His essence, or to circumscribe His infinity, but only to show that He does not deceitfully expose the signs of His presence to men’s eyes, but that the exhibition of the thing signified is at the same time truly conjoined with them. Therefore, although Moses states that God was in the cloud and in the pillar of fire, yet does he not wish to draw Him down from heaven, nor to subject His infinite glory to visible signs, with which His truth may consist without His local presence. (150) But execrable is the mad notion of Servetus, who pretended that this cloud was uncreated, as though it were the Deity of Christ, for he substituted this One Person for the Three, as if there had then been a corporeal Deity, which he calls the “figurative Son,” who was afterwards made flesh; not that He put on flesh, but because He appeared as man, compounded of three uncreated elements, and of the seed of David. But, soon after, Moses calls this same being an Angel, to which he now assigns the name of the eternal God. And with good reason, because our heavenly Father then led the Israelites only by the hand of His only-begotten Son. Now, since He is the eternal guardian of His Church, Christ is not less truly present with us now by His power than he was formerly manifest to the fathers. When, therefore, Isaiah prophesies His coming, he recounts amongst others this divine blessing, that “the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night,” — that there might be

“

a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain,” (Isa 4:5😉

as if he had said, that He would really and substantially fulfill what then was seen under a figurative symbol. And surely that promise, —

“

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night,” (Psa 121:6,)

refers not to a single day, but to all ages. The statement of Moses, then, that “He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night,” is a blessing which God extends to us, as well as to them, except only the visible symbol, which was temporary, on account of the infirmity of the people. As to his saying’ that God always appeared to them, that they might march by night as well as by day, he does not mean that they went on continually without any rest, since he had just before mentioned that their first station was in Succoth, from whence they encamped in Etham, but merely informs us that the flow of God’s grace was continual, since the token of His favor and protection shone forth no less amidst the darkness of the night than at midday itself.

(150) “Sans qu’il y soit requis une presence de lieu;” without a local presence being required. — Fr.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(21) The Lord went before them.In Exo. 13:17-18, the writer has declared that God led the people; he now explains how. from Succoth certainly, probably from Rameses, He moved in front of the host in the form of a pillar, which had the appearance of smoke by day and of fire by night. The Israelites marched, it is implied, some part of each day and some part of each night, which would be in accordance with modern practice, and is an arrangement introduced to get the march accomplished before the sun attains his full power. The pillar was at once a signal and a guide. When it moved, the people moved; when it stopped, they encamped (Exo. 40:36-38); where it went, they followed. It bore some resemblance to the fire and smoke signals which generals used when at the head of their armies (Lepsius, Denkmler, vol. ii., pl. 150, 2; Papyr. Anastas, 1; Q. Curt, Vit. Alex. v. 2, &c), and indicated that God had constituted Himself the generalissimo of the host; but it was altogether of a miraculous and abnormal character.

To go by day and night.The night journeys of the people are mentioned again in Num. 9:21.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. And the Lord (JEHOVAH) went before them Here now, at Etham, as they enter the wilderness, JEHOVAH himself takes command of the host, and all their marches are supernaturally directed for forty years. Large caravans and armies were often guided in desert marches by a fire elevated in the van. An oft-quoted instance is that of the great army of Alexander, as related by Curtius: “When he wished to move the camp he gave the signal by a trumpet, the sound of which was often not well heard because of the rising tumult. He therefore erected a pole over the imperial tent which could be everywhere seen, from which the signal could appear to all at the same time. A fire was seen there by night and a smoke by day.” (CURTIUS, De Gest. Alex. Mag., 5: 2, 7.) This on a small scale well illustrates what Jehovah now did for Israel. This vast host of at least two millions must often have been spread over several square miles, over the desert plains, up the mountain slopes, and along the wadies, or water courses, in search of pasturage, and they needed some signal that could be seen from far, and this was furnished by the lofty pillar of cloud and of fire. This seems to have been a fire within a cloudy envelope, shining brightly through it in the darkness, and giving it the appearance, in the sunshine, of a lofty column of light smoke or vapour. It rested afterwards upon the tabernacle, the fire then appearing as the SHEKINAH, ( dwelling-place of Jehovah,) and it regulated by its movements all the marches of Israel. Exo 40:34-38.

As at the burning bramble Jehovah revealed himself to Moses by fire, so now by the same symbol he reveals himself to all Israel; a symbol suited to a people whose mission it was to teach the nations the real nature of God. Fire reveals power without form power the most intense that we know, familiar yet mysterious. Considered as the source of both light and heat, it is an essential of life, genial and gladdening, yet the very emblem of terror and destruction; while at the same time it is the most expressive symbol of perfect purity. Thus the power and the wrath, the holiness and the mercy, of the formless, ever-living Jehovah, are all blended in this emblem. And what more perfect symbol is there of pure spirit, and of that Power whence all other powers spring, than that element or force which is all other material forces in disguise, and into which they all are resolvable?

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

EXPOSITION

THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD AND OF FIRE. Having stated, in Exo 13:17, that “God led the Israelites,” and determined their route for them, the writer here proceeds to explain how this leading was accomplished. With extreme simplicity and directness he states, that the conduct was effected by means of an appearance, which in the daytime was like a column or pillar of smoke ascending from earth to heaven, and in the night was like a pillar of fire. He considers the presence of God to have been in the pillar, which moved in front of the host, and showed them the way that they were to go. When it halted, they halted when it advanced, they advanced. Their journeys being made as much in the night-time as in the day, on account of the intense heat, the pillar took in the night the appearance of a column of fire, so as to be equally visible as by day. All attempts to give a rational explanation of the phenomenon are misplaced, since the writer, from whom alone we derive our information on the subject, clearly regarded it as miraculous; and both here and elsewhere (Exo 14:19, Exo 14:20, Exo 14:24; Exo 33:9; Num 12:5; Num 14:11) speaks of it as a form under which God was pleased to show himself. There is little doubt that fire and smoke signals were already used by commanders of armies for much the same purpose as that which God now accomplished in this way. The Egyptian documents of the period contain indications of the usage; and it is found among the Arabians, the Greeks, and the Persians. (See especially Q. Curt. Vit. Alex. 5.2; “Perticam, quae undique conspici posset, supra praetorium statuit, ex qua signum eminebat pariter omnibus conspicuum: observabatur ignis noctu, fiunus interdin.”) The miracle was thus, in a certain sense, founded upon an existing custom, with the difference that God here gave the signals miraculously, which were wont to be given in a natural way by the human leaders of armies. He thus constituted himself the general of the host.

Exo 13:21

The Lord went before them. From Succoth at any rate; perhaps even on the journey from Rameses to Succoth. In a pillar of cloud. The pillar was seenthe presence of Jehovah, though unseen, was believed to be in it, and to move it. To go by day and night. Or, “so that they might march both by day and by night.” Night marches are generally preferred by Orientals on account of the great heat of the days. The night-marches of the Israelites are again mentioned in Num 9:21.

Exo 13:22

He took not away. The last distinct mention of the cloud is in Num 16:42, after the destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. There is perhaps a later allusion to it in Num 20:6. In Nehemiah it is said that “the pillar of the cloud departed not from them,” so long as they were in the wilderness (Neh 9:19); and the same is implied, though not formally stated, in Num 9:15-23. There is no mention of the pillar of the cloud as still with the Israelites in the Book of Joshua. Probably it was last seen on the journey from Beth-jesimoth to Abel-Shittim in the rich Jordan valley (Num 33:49).

HOMILETICS

Exo 13:21, Exo 13:22

God’s guidance of his people.

The Israelites had quitted Egypt, had broken off from their old life, were about to plunge into that wild waste of sand and rock which separates Africa from Asia by an almost impassable barrier. If they took the northern line of march, they would come upon the sandy desert. Before them would stretch “endless sands yielding nothing but small stunted shrubsbroad plainsnewly reared hillsvalleys dug out by the last week’s storm; the hills, and the valleys, and the plains, all sand, sand, sand, still sand, and only sand, and sand, and sand again.” If they turned southward, they would find themselves in a labyrinth of twisted wadys, amid huge mountains, and in a region consisting chiefly of bare granite and sandstone rocks”the Alps unclothed.” In either case they would sorely need God’s guidance; and God’s guidance was vouchsafed to them. So it is with Christians.

I. CHRISTIANS HAVE THE GUIDANCE OF GOD‘S SPIRIT THROUGH ALL THE INTRICACIES AND DESERT PLAINS OF LIFE. The Lord leads them. God himself, God the Holy Ghost, co-equal Person with the Father and the Son in the Triune Godhead, is their guide and director, “a light to their feet and a lantern to their paths.” Most necessary to them such direction. Just escaped from Egypt, just freed from the bondage of sin, how would they wander and go astray, unless his right hand were stretched out to help and guide! On the weary waste, the dry, bare, monotonous plain of an eventless life, where no sign showed the way, where hope would fail and the heart grow faint, what could they do but for him? In the labyrinth of conflicting duties and uncertain devious paths, how could they determine on their course but for him? Alike in both he leads, directs, guides. He “will not leave them nor forsake them.”

II. THE GUIDANCE IS PERPETUAL BOTH BY NIGHT AND DAY. “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” was the promise given us by our Lord. There is no part of life from which he withdraws himselfnot the darkest night of earthly misery and disappointmentnot the brightest day of worldly success and glory. And in both alike he is neededperhaps most needed in the day. Then men think they can walk by themselves, choose their own course, direct their own paths. Then consequently they are most apt to go wrong, and “wander out of the way in the wilderness.” But he is ever at hand to restrain, correct, recover them. By internal or external cheeks, by feeling and conscience on the one hand, by his word, his ordinances, his ministers on the other, he interposes to save men from themselves, to keep them in the right way, or lead them back into the right way if they have departed from it. Darkness does not hide us from himdarkness does not separate us from himyea, “the darkness is no darkness with himthe night and the day with him are both alike.’

III. THE GUIDANCE IS VARIED TO SUIT THE DIFFERENT NEEDS OF THE SOUL. Now by cloud and darkness, an overshadowing of the soul by his felt but unseen presence; now by the flashing in of intolerable light into the secret recesses of the heart and conscience, does the Holy Spirit of God direct and rule our lives. None can limit him as to the means which he shall employ. Now he discomfits our foes, directing his keen gaze upon them “through the pillar of fire and of the cloud” (Exo 14:24); now he simply separates between our foes and us by interposing an insurmountable barrier (Exo 14:19); at one time he shines into our hearts with a mild, gentle, and steady radiance; at another, he gives us rest, as under the shadow of a cloudy canopy. At all times he chooses the means most fit to accomplish his ends, shrinking from none that are potent to effect his gracious purposes. Clouds and darkness would seem to be the things most opposite to the ineffable brightness of his most glorious nature; but even clouds and darkness are pressed into his service, and made his ministers, when they can be ministers of good.

IV. THE GUIDANCE CONTINUES UNTIL THEY REACH THE PROMISED LAND, “The pillar of the cloud departed not” from the Israelites “by day, neither the pillar of fire by night,” during the whole time of their long and weary journeying, until they reached Canaan. God’s gifts are “without repentance.” They are given for the whole period during which we need them. As the Israelites required guidance until they trod the soil of the Jordan vale, and Canaan’s hills lay plainly in sight, so do Christians need the Spirit’s gentle leading, until the whole wilderness of this life is past, and the true Canaan reached. And what they need, they have. The Spirit’s aid is with them to the end.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Exo 13:21, Exo 13:22

The fiery-cloudy pillar.

The visible pillar is no longer beheld, but God’s fiery-cloudy presence still attends the Church in her wanderings, and confers upon her benefits analogous to those enjoyed by the ancient people. God’s presence, as manifested in the pillar of cloud and fire, was

I. HOLY.

1. God is holy. Holiness is the principle which guards the distinction between the Creator and the creature. It eternally excludes everything evil and impure from the Divine nature (Martensen). It is the “zeal of the Lord of Hosts” for his own honour, and for the maintenance of the interests of truth, purity, and righteousness. The fire in the cloud was a symbol of it.

2. It is as the Holy One that God dwells in his Church. “The Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee” (Isa 12:6). Holiness, accordingly, becomes those who would serve him (Psa 93:5).

3. The privilege is great, but perilous.

(1) Sin leads to the withdrawal of God’s presence. When Israel sinned in the matter of the golden calf, God withdrew beyond the precincts of the camp. The cloudy pillar removed to a distance (Exo 33:7-10).

(2) Rebellion provokes God to anger. On more than one occasion fire came out from the midst of the pillar and destroyed the rebels (Le Exo 10:2; Num 16:22; Num 17:10). “Our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Holiness turned against sin is wrath. God tempers the vision of his holiness, which otherwise would be unendurable to man, by shrouding it in the cloud.

II. ENLIGHTENING. “A pillar of fire to give them light.” God’s presence in his Church is illuminating.

1. Whence the light shines. The light shines in the Word, in Divine providence, and in the teaching of the Spirit which illuminates both.

2. What the light does. It shows us spiritual truth. It reveals duty. It guides (see below). It cheers in the night of affliction.

3. Light with attendant mystery. The light is in the cloud. At best, we know but “in part” (1Co 13:12). Even revealed truth has its side of mystery, HI. SHELTERING. The allusion in Isa 4:6 would suggest that the cloud spread itself over the camp in the daytime, and so formed a canopy or shadow from the heat. God’s presence is a grateful shelter to his people. They feel the need of it when temptations fiercely assail, or when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the Word. “In the time of trouble shall he hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me” (Psa 27:5).

IV. GUIDING. The pillar went before the camp of Israel “to lead them the way” (cf. Deu 1:33). The cloud pointed the way in the daytime, the fire by night. The Church and the individual believer are similarly guided. He who seeks to know the will of God will not fail of direction. Providence opens the road. The light that streams from the Word shows the path of duty. “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way: walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand and to the left” (Isa 30:21).

V. ADAPTIVE. The pillar adapted itself to the circumstances of the people. In the daytime, when the sky was light, it took the form of cloud; in the night season, it shone as bright fire. Now it moved in front as a guiding beacon; again, it was spread as a grateful awning over the camp; at another time, it went behind, intercepting the enemy (Exo 14:19). Thus does God vary the aspects of his presence and the modes of his help with unfailing adaptation to the special needs of his people. He is the All-sufficient.

VI. HOSTILE TO THE ENEMY.He intercepts their pursuit; he hides his people from their fury; he makes their way dark to them; he frowns upon them, and discomfits them (Exo 14:19-26).J.O.

HOMILIES BY H.T. ROBJOHNS

Exo 13:17-22

Fire and cloud.

“And the Lord went before them,” etc. (Exo 13:21). Israel might have been in Canaan within ten days. Reason why not is given Exo 13:17. This however, not a reason for the forty years wandering: but only for the circuitous route by the desert of Sinai. The line of Israel’s march for the first two days is soon given. They start from Rameses, capital of Goshen, a store city, recently built by the Hebrews, the king there possibly. The first stage was Succoth (“tents”) perhaps a caravan station or military campa journey of about fifteen miles. Another fifteen miles to Etham on the edge of the desert. There roads, canals, now all to be left behind; just there and then appeared the FIRE AND CLOUD.

I. ITS NATURE. Point out the three leading theories, especially as the two earlier mentioned lead up to the third and the true. The phenomenon was:

1. Common natural fire. Seen as fire by night, as smoke by day. Perhaps the sacrificial fire of Israel preserved from primitive times. An ordinary caravan fire. Or such as was borne at the head of the Persian armies.

2. The same, but glorified by association with a religious idea; viz; that God was in reality the Guide of his people, and that that was well represented by the fire at the head of the hosts.

3. Altogether supernatural. God saw the need of Israel at that moment, and met it in his own superb manner. [For full discussion of Ritualistic explanations, see Kurtz, vol. 2:344-348, Eng. ed.] The phenomenon was a trinity in unity. It was one, not two, not one kind of pillar by night and another by day. It consisted of cloud, of fire (electric?) in the cloud, and of Jehovah in both (Exo 13:21; Exo 14:24) The last doubtless a manifestation of the “Angel-God” of the Old Testament.

II. FORMS AND MOVEMENTS.

1. Forms.

(1) Usually a pillar (Exo 13:21).

(2) A wall, see Exo 14:19, Exo 14:20. Must have been a wall in this case, of perhaps more than a mile in length. A wall of cloud to Egypt, hiding the moon, the sea, and the advanced movements of the armies of Israel When the cloud lifted, Israel was gone. On the other side, a mile or more of, as it were, electric fire, adding to the moon-illumination by which Israel passed through the sea.

(3) A roof or an awning. See Num 10:34; Psa 105:39; 1Co 10:1, 1Co 10:2; and the very beautiful passage, Isa 4:5, Isa 4:6.

2. Movements.

(1) Usually stationaryon the tabernacleon the mercy-seatsometimes filling the tabernacle, so that none could enter to minister.

(2) Lifting, when Israel advanced.

(3) Descending, when Israel was to rest.

III. SIGNIFICANCE. Israel could not have seen the fire-cloud for forty years without catching much of the meaning; but we more. The fire-cloud teaches that the Lord Jesus is:

1. Ever in and with the Church. The glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud.

2. In two-fold glory; in the fire of holiness; in the cloud of mercy that tempers the blaze. He so appears to the individual soulto the familyto the Churchto the nationto the wider world. Note the special outbreakings from the cloud at certain sinful crises in Israel’s history.

3. The leader of our pilgrimage. See C. Wesley’s hymn, in Wesley’s Collection, 326. Yet some scope, then as now, seems to have been left for the play of intelligence (Num 10:31).

4. Captain in our holy war. On Egyptian monuments generals are represented as flames, streaming in darkness, at the head of armies. See the hymn beginning: “Forward be our watchword.”

“Burns the fiery pillar

At our army’s head;

Who shall dream of shrinking,

By our Captain led?”

5. Our wall of defence.

6. Our canopy for comfort.

7. Whose interpositions are ever marked by wondrous timeliness. It was on the “edge of the wilderness” that the fire-cloud first appeared; and after the desert journey, seems to have disappeared, save as it may have been represented by the Shechinah above the mercy seat, which assured unwonted splendour at the dedication of the first temple.R.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Exo 13:21. The Lord went before them There can be no doubt that the Jehovah here mentioned was the same blessed Person who appeared to Moses in the bush; who conducted the Israelites through the wilderness; whom they there tempted; and who, St. Paul tells us expressly, was Christ, 1Co 10:9. This glorious and divine Leader graciously went before, and conducted them in their march; the shechinah or symbol of the Divine Presence continually attending them: for fire and cloud were the constant and acknowledged symbols of the Divine Presence, It is called a pillar of cloud or fire, amud, a pillar or column, supported or sustained in a miraculous manner by Jehovah. By this pillar of cloud and fire, the Israelites directed all their motions: it deserted them not as long as Moses lived, nor till they passed over Jordan into Canaan; it was a continual and lively monitor of the presence and protection of Jehovah; see Isa 4:5-6. Nor can their absurdity be sufficiently admired, who would insinuate, that a phaenomenon of this kind, observed for so long a period, and by so many thousand people, could have been the contrivance of Moses, and a mere natural effect. No miracle, one would have thought, could have been more solidly and substantially established; for the children of Israel, murmuring and dissatisfied as they constantly were, shewed themselves always well-disposed to have detected Moses in an imposture, if he had used any: so that we cannot conceive how it is possible for a miraculous fact to be ascertained more clearly and indisputably. It is an ingenious conjecture of a commentator (Taubman) upon Virgil, that it arose from this miracle of God’s appearing in cloud and fire, that the poets never made a deity to appear, but in a cloud with a brightness in it. See Parker’s Occasional Annotation, 6.

Behold here God’s care of his people in the way. His presence was with them: he appeared visibly to them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; to be their Leader in the pathless wilderness, their covering from the heat by day, and their cheering light and warmth by night: nor did he ever leave them till they were safely lodged in Canaan. Blessed be God, the same care is promised to us. In our journey through this world, Jesus, by his word and spirit, is our Guide and Comforter, our Light and Protector; and under his direction and influence we shall be led by the right way: nor need we fear danger or miscarriage, when he saith, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Happy the soul that walks thus!

Reflections on the pillar of cloud and fire.

The sojourners of Goshen were now escaped from the land of Egypt, and about to enter into the vast wilderness of Arabia, which interposed between them and the promised land. Jehovah, who makes the clouds his chariots, and darkness his pavilion, was pleased to go before them in a marvellous pile of cloudy vapours, resembling a pillar, ascending from their camp. Here he dwelt, not for a short time as in the bush, but for the space of forty years. A most extraordinary thing! and none of the least of the standing miracles which he shewed to the chosen seed. The fame of this strange phaenomenon was spread abroad among the nations, who heard that the cloud of the Lord stood above the camp of the Israelites; it might, therefore, be very well supposed to move the question, “Who is this that comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke?” Son 3:6. For this cloud differed so much from all others that ever were seen, that it may justly be reckoned a complication of miracles. It was miraculous, that its form was never changed, when there is nothing more variable than the appearance of the ordinary clouds which sail through the airy regions. It was miraculous, that it should always maintain its station over the tabernacle, when other clouds are carried about with tempests, and driven with fierce winds from the one extremity of heaven to the other. It was miraculous, that it should preserve its consistency forty years; whereas all other clouds are dissipated by the wind, exhaled by the sun, or dissolved in rain and dew, and in a very short time are blotted from the face of the sky. It was miraculous, that this cloud should move in such peculiar directions, as if it had been endued with instinct and intelligence; for it was carried about by the counsels of Jehovah, in a more immediate way than can be said of the other clouds of heaven. But especially it was miraculous, that, contrary to the nature of all other clouds, it should be brighter by night than by day, when it had the appearance of the shining of a flaming fire.

As to the particular meaning of this cloud wherewith the Lord covered his Israel, not in his anger, but in his love, it was without all doubt a visible symbol of a present Deity: God hereby condescending to adapt himself, as in many other things, to the rude taste of that ancient people; and perhaps to signify the dark and cloudy nature of the legal dispensation under which they were. But the principal reason I would suggest is the following: His appearing to Israel in a veil of cloud, might be a prelude to his appearing in a veil of flesh. What if we should say, this pillar of cloud and fire is an emblem of that glorious Person, in whom the brightness of Divinity is joined with the darkness of humanity? For as there were not two pillars, the one of cloud, and the other of fire, but one pillar both of cloud and fire; so there are not two persons of Immanuel, the one God and the other man, but one Person, who is both God and Man. An adorable mystery! strange indeed, and beyond measure surprising! But it is so far from being only a vain speculation, that it is deservedly esteemed a fundamental article of the Christian faith; and truly, without admitting it, the Scriptures themselves would be darker than this cloud ever was to the Egyptians.
John, the beloved apostle, and great New Testament prophet, who saw the visions of God, and who talks in many places in the Old Testament dialect, speaks of a glorious Angel arising out of the East, who certainly was Christ himself: he was clothed with a cloud, and his feet were as pillars of fire; a description which might very probably allude to this same cloud and fire. But if we take a more particular survey of the uses for which it served in the wilderness, we shall see with what admirable propriety they all may be affirmed of Jesus Christ, who, indeed, was the Angel that resided in the cloud, and is that to his church, in every age in their bewildered state, which the cloud was to the twelve tribes till they reached the promised land. For in whom but Jesus Christ can we suppose that great and precious promise made to the universal church to have received its accomplishment, “And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon all her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for, upon all, the lory shall be a defence.” Isa 4:5. What then were those uses for which this cloud served the Israelites?

It was their guide, which went before them in the vast pathless desert, where they wandered in a solitary way. So great was the regard they paid to all its motions, which they continually watched, that when it moved, they struck their camp at any hour of the day or of the night; when it halted, they pitched their tents, and there abode till its next remove, whether the time was short or long. The times and seasons of their marching were not, as in other armies, adjusted by their councils of war, nor left to the regulation even of Moses himself; for God put them wholly in his own power. We doubt not that all its motions were properly timed, and mercifully proportioned to the strength of the weak, and the conveniency of all. Nor did it ever leave them, for all their provocations in the wilderness, till they arrived at the land which flowed with milk and honey. Just such a general, unerring, gentle and perpetual guide is Jesus Christ, by his example, word, and spirit, to all the travellers for the better country through the wilderness of this world; for “it is not in man that walks to direct his steps,” Jer 10:23 by his own wisdom in the way which leads to life. Who can recount the wanderings of miserable sinners, till Jesus Christ was given as a Leader and a Commander to the people? He it is who teaches us to profit, and leads us in the way wherein we should go. Nor is it possible that any should miss eternal glory who walk after him in the wilderness, conforming themselves to the dictates of his holy word, with the same care as the Israelites observed the motions of the miraculous cloud. O ye followers of the Lamb, you shall not err under the conduct of your celestial Guide: you shall be led forth in the way which is right, even where there is no way, till you come to the city of habitation!

It was their guard, which protected them when their Egyptian pursuers were pressing on their rear; for it removed on that occasion from their van, and went behind them, forbidding, by its darkness, the approach of the hostile army all that night on which they travelled through the flood on foot. On this occasion, we are told, the Lord looked through the pillar, and troubled the Egyptian host at the hour of midnight. “The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heavens: the lightnings lightened the world, the earth trembled and shook. Thy way was in the sea, thy path in the mighty waters, and thy footsteps were not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron;” Psa 77:16-20. Such is the protection Jesus affords his militant people, who, being rescued from the bondage of sin, are marching forward to their goodly inheritance. Though Satan, with his infernal host, like the tyrant of Egypt, pursues them, and fondly thinks to reclaim the captives, the glory of the Lord becomes their rearward; Jesus is unto them for walls and bulwarks, forbidding the approach of mortal danger. He is their hiding-place, in whom they are preserved, like Israel in the cloud, being kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

It was their candle, which enlightened their darkness, which smoothed the rugged brow of the night, and served to abate the horrors of the wilderness after the sun was set; for it reserved its shining appearance to the season when the Israelites were most in need of its cheerful aspect. Nor dost thou, O thou true Light, suit thyself to the case of thy people with less condescension. Without thee, this world were a dark place, and, to the eyes of our mind, more dismal than the dreary wilderness would have been in the blackest night to the Israelites, without their kind officious cloud. Blessed be God for the sun, the moon, the stars: but more for Jesus Christ, who delivers from the blackness of darkness for ever; and who, like the cloudy pillar, is always most liberal of his lightsome manifestations when his people are sitting in the darkness of adversity. House of Israel, let us walk in this light of the Lord; while the way of the wicked, like the way of the Egyptians, is as darkness.

It was their umbrella, or screen, to shade them from the sultry beams of the sun in that torrid wilderness. A most grateful service! And, whereas an apostle speaks of our fathers being baptized in the cloud, it would seem, that on some occasions this beneficial cloud refreshed the Israelites, by shedding kindly dews upon their camp. So Jesus Christ is to his people as a refreshing dew upon the grass, and as a cloud of the latter rain. Under his shadow they fit down with great delight, and find cool shelter from the scorching beams both of Divine wrath and worldly tribulation. Happy souls, who have thus the Lord for their Keeper, and for their shade on their right hand. “The sun shall not smite them by day, nor the moon by night;” Psa 121:6. Even that great and terrible day, which shall burn like an oven, will be to these favoured of the Lord as the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.

It was their oracle; for he spake unto them in the cloudy pillar. And it was their ornament; for he spread this cloud for their covering, or cloth of state, making darkness not only his own, but their pavilion. How fitly both these may be applied to Jesus Christ is not difficult to see. Who but Christ is the oracle of his church; in whom God speaks unto his people, both as a promising and prayer-answering God, without whom we should not have heard his voice at any time, but in the language of terror! Who but Christ is their ornament, making them terrible as an army with banners, and comely as Jerusalem? The pillar of cloud and fire was not half so adorning to their camp, as is thy gracious presence to every assembly and every dwelling-place of Mount Sion, O thou glorious Redeemer! Even now thou are the light of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel: but how much more when this imperfect scene shall pass away, and they shall know the import of that most gracious promise, “The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.” Isa 60:19.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 81
THE PILLAR, AND THE CLOUD

Exo 13:21-22. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

IN reading the Holy Scriptures, we cannot but be struck with the suitableness and seasonableness of the divine interpositions. It might be thought indeed that the Israelites at their departure out of Egypt, amounting to six hundred thousand fighting men, without one single invalid amongst them, would be irresistible: but if we consider, that they were without discipline, without arms, without stores either of clothing or provision, and without any knowledge of the way through a great and terrible wilderness, and without any possibility of obtaining even so much as bread or water for their sustenance, we shall see, that they needed only to be left to themselves, and they must all quickly perish in the wilderness. But in the hour of need, God came down in a pillar of a cloud by day and of fire by night to guide them in their way, and never left them till they arrived at the promised land. This mercy, and the continuance of it, are the two points to which at present we would call your attention.

I.

The mercy vouchsafed to them

This was,

1.

Most signal

[Never was there any thing like it from the foundation of the world. God had revealed himself to several in dreams and visions, and under the appearances of men and angels: but never in a visible stationary form, like that before us. By this cloud he guided them in the way. Without such a direction they could not have found their way through that trackless desert: but by it they proceeded without fear of erring: and all their motions were regulated by it, whether by day or night [Note: Num 9:15-23.].

By this cloud also they were protected. Though this use of the cloud is not noticed in the text, it is in other passages [Note: Num 10:34; Num 14:14 and especially Psa 105:39.]. In that hot sandy desert, it would have been impossible for them to prosecute their journey under the rays of the meridian sun: indeed even without journeying, they could scarcely have endured the intense heat to which they would have been exposed. God therefore graciously protected them by the refreshing shadow of that cloud. And to this the prophet evidently alludes, when describing the superior privileges of the Christian Church [Note: Isa 4:5-6.] ]

2.

Most significant

[This cloud was, in the first place, a symbol of Gods presence. After the Israelites had offended God in worshipping the molten calf, God threatened to leave them, and to commit the care of them to an angel: and on that occasion the cloud removed from the camp, in token that he was about to depart from them [Note: Exo 33:2-3; Exo 33:7; Exo 33:9.]. And afterwards, when, in the same spirit of rebellion, they were going up against the Canaanites without the pillar and the cloud, Moses said to them, Go not up, for the Lord is not among you [Note: Num 14:42.].

This cloud was also a seal of his covenant. Though the covenant, afterwards made on Horeb, was not yet formally declared, yet it was considered as existing, not only because God had actually now taken the Israelites under his protection, but because he had, four hundred years before, engaged to Abraham, that his posterity should be parties in the covenant already made with him. It is true, that circumcision was the rite, by which all the descendants of Abraham were to be initiated into the bond of that covenant; but still this was a (temporary) seal of that relationship, which now existed between God and them: and therefore the Apostle compares it with baptism, by which we are admitted into the Christian covenant; and declares that they were baptized unto Moses in that cloud, as we are baptized by water unto Christ [Note: If we suppose that the cloud occasionally distilled, as it were, a dew upon them, it would be a striking illustration of the sprinkling of water in the rite of baptism. But on this we lay no stress.].

It was, moreover, an emblem of yet richer mercies. We cannot suppose that, under that typical dispensation, so important a circumstance as this was destitute of any spiritual meaning. Indeed it is manifest from a fore-cited passage [Note: Isa 4:5-6.], that it was expressly designed to typify the guidance and protection which the Church of Christ should enjoy even to the remotest ages, through the influences of the Holy Spirit.]

We cannot fail of observing, that Moses, in recording this mercy, lays great stress on,

II.

The continuance of it

The cloud abode with them during the whole time of their sojourning in the wilderness. What a glorious view does this give us of our God! and how are we constrained to admire,

1.

His inexhaustible patience

[Truly the Israelites were a rebellious and stiff-necked people. Nor could either mercies or judgments ever produce on them any thing more than a mere transient effect. Every fresh trial called forth the same murmuring discontented spirit. On some occasions they seemed almost to have exhausted the patience of God himself. But God is slow to anger, though provoked every day: and if they had been less deserving of his wrath, we should never have known (unless perhaps by our own experience) how far the patience of God could extend. If it had not been ascertained by such an undeniable fact, we could not have conceived it possible for God himself to have borne their manners in the wilderness during the long space of forty years [Note: See this expatiated upon in a most feeling manner, Neh 9:16-19.].]

2.

His unbounded kindness

[In reading this history, one is astonished to find, that God attended to that people, as if there had been no other creatures in the universe. He was incessantly occupied (if we may so speak) about their matters. He carried them through the wilderness, as a man would carry his infant son [Note: Deu 1:31.]. His conduct towards them is beautifully compared with that of the eagle, teaching its young to fly, and darting under them, when filling, to bear them up again to their nest on her expanded wings [Note: Deu 32:11-12.]. But it is thus that God yet watches over his redeemed people [Note: Isa 46:3-4; Isa 27:4.]. Lo, I am with you alway, says he, even to the end of the world [Note: Mat 28:20.].]

3.

His inviolable fidelity

[It was from a regard to the promise which he had made to Abraham, and from a concern for his own honour, that God would not cast them off. He did indeed punish them oftentimes: but yet he continued to the last to acknowledge them as his people: Thou wast a God that forgavest them, says the Psalmist, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions [Note: Psa 99:8.]. What a striking proof does this give us, that God hateth putting away, and that he will not cast off his people, because it hath pleased him to make us his people. Faithful is He that hath called us, who also will do it, that is, will finish in us the work he has begun, and perfect that which concerneth us.]

We may learn from hence,
1.

What reason we have for gratitude

[Let any one who has been brought out of spiritual bondage, and led forward towards the heavenly Canaan, examine attentively his own experience: let him see by what particular means he has been brought to enjoy the guidance and protection of God, and to advance in safety through this dreary wilderness; and he shall see as plain marks of a superintending and all-directing Providence, as are to be found in the history before us: yea, he may see too as wonderful exhibitions of Gods patience, kindness, and faithfulness. Let every such person then adore and magnify his God. We all feel how suitable such a frame of mind was for the cloud-directed Israelites: let us all seek to feel and manifest it in our own case.]

2.

What grounds we have for faith

[Has Jesus Christ come into the world to lessen the privileges of his people? Has he not rather extended and enlarged them? In the external manifestations of Gods presence we are inferior to the Jews; but we have, what more than counterbalances that loss, the internal and spiritual communications of his grace. Yes, our God will, by his Spirit, guide us into all truth, and lead us in the way wherein we should go. By the same Spirit also will he protect us from the burning heat of persecution and temptation, and from the assaults of all our spiritual enemies. Of this we may be assured: for he has said, that he will keep his sheep, and give unto them eternal life; and that none shall ever pluck them out of his hands.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

Ver. 21. And the Lord, &c. ] See Psa 105:39 Isa 4:5-6 . God protects, directs, and every way suits the necessities of his people.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the LORD went before them. Compare Exo 14:19 with Exo 32:34, the Angel of Jehovah.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

We are going to read once more the familiar story of how the Lord relieved his people from the power of Egypt after he had brought them out of the house of bondage.

Exo 13:21-22. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way: and by night in pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

This exposition consisted of readings from Exo 13:21-22; Exodus 14.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Exo 14:19-24, Exo 40:34-38, Num 9:15-23, Num 10:34, Num 14:14, Deu 1:33, Neh 9:12, Neh 9:19, Psa 78:14, Psa 99:7, Psa 105:39, Isa 4:5, Isa 4:6, 1Co 10:1, 1Co 10:2

Reciprocal: Exo 10:10 – be so Exo 16:10 – appeared Exo 32:1 – which shall Exo 33:9 – cloudy Exo 33:14 – My presence Exo 40:36 – when Exo 40:38 – the cloud Num 9:16 – General Num 23:21 – the Lord Deu 31:8 – he it is that Jos 3:3 – ye shall remove 1Ki 8:9 – when Psa 68:7 – O God Psa 77:20 – General Psa 121:5 – thy shade Son 3:6 – like Isa 52:12 – for Hab 3:4 – brightness

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Exo 13:21. And the Lord went before them in a pillar In the first two stages, it was enough that God directed Moses whither to march; he knew the country, and the road; but now they are come to the edge of the wilderness, they would have occasion for a guide, and a very good guide they had, infinitely wise, kind, and faithful, the Lord went up before them; the shechinah, or appearance of the Divine Majesty, which was a previous manifestation of the eternal Word, who, in the fulness of time, was to be made flesh, and dwell among us. Christ was with the church in the wilderness, 1Co 10:9. What a satisfaction to Moses and the pious Israelites, to be sure that they were under a divine conduct! They need not fear missing their way who were thus led, nor being lost who were thus directed; they need not fear being benighted who were thus illuminated, nor being robbed who were thus protected. And they who make the glory of God their end, and the word of God their rule, the Spirit of God the guide of their affections, and the providence of God the guide of their affairs, may be confident that the Lord goes before them, as truly as he went before Israel in the wilderness, though not so sensibly. They had sensible effects of Gods going before them in this pillar. For, it led them the way in that vast howling wilderness, in which there was no road, no track, no way-marks, through which they had no guides. When they marched, this pillar went before them, at the rate that they could follow, and appointed the place of their encampment, as infinite Wisdom saw fit; which eased them from care, and secured them from danger, both in moving, and in resting. It sheltered them from the heat by day, which at some times of the year was extreme, and it gave them light by night when they had occasion for it.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Exo 13:21 f. J. The Guiding Pillar.Faith in the Divine guidance (cf. Exo 13:17* E) is by J expressed in symbolic form. On a wilderness journey everyone needs a guide. By night and day the unsleeping keeper of Israel leads them with His pillar of fiery cloud. E, who connects guidance with the angel of God (Exo 14:19 a), also tells of a pillar of cloud (Exo 33:9 f., etc.) which descends to the door of the sacred tent, as the sacramental sign and pledge of Yahwehs approach to speak with Moses. In P the fiery cloud that had shrouded Sinai, the mount of vision (Exo 24:15-18 a), rests on the completed Tabernacle (Exo 40:34-38), and its rising is the signal for resuming the march. That Gods people should achieve faith in Gods presence with them as Guide, Revealer, and Protector was the essential thing. Under what specific aspect and through what particular symbol they expressed their faith at different times it is less important to know. Possibly some practice, like the carrying of a brazier with its smoke and flame at the head of a Greek or Persian army or Arab caravan, was the outward and visible source of the symbolic expressions. Gressmann picturesquely compares the appearance of Vesuvius in eruption in 1905, furnishing a landmark by day and night with its smoke and fire. Presumably he believes Mt. Sinai to have been an active volcano on the horizon (cf. next paragraph).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a {l} cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

(l) To defend them from the heat of the sun.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes