Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire

(20) They set out from Succoth, and encamped at Etham, at the edge of the wilderness. (21) God went before them in a pillar of cloud by day, to guide them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, that they might travel day and night. (22) The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

[(Ibid. 21) "And the Lord went before them by day with a pillar of cloud": We find there to have been seven clouds: here, (Numbers 14:14) twice, (Ibid. 9:19), (Exodus 40:36), (Ibid. 37), (Ibid. 38) — Seven clouds: four on four sides, one above, one below, and one going before them, lifting what was low, and lowering what was high, as it is written (Isaiah 40:4) "Let every valley be raised, and every mountain and hill be lowered. Let the rugged ground become level and the ridges become a plain." And it would kill the snakes and scorpions before them and sweep and sprinkle before them. Rabbi Yoshiyah says: There were four (clouds): one before, one behind, one above, and one below. Rebbi says: Two (one before them and one over the mishkan).]

How, then, am I to understand "And the Lord went before them by day"? Rebbi said: An analogy: The emperor Antoninus was presiding at the dais when it got dark, his sons remaining there. After he was finished, he took the lantern and lit (the way) for his sons — whereupon the nobles close to him said: Let us take the lantern and light (the way) for your sons. At this, he said: It is not that I have no one to take the lantern and light (the way) for my sons; but I want to impress upon you my love for my sons, that you treat them honorably. And thus did the Holy Blessed One impress upon the nations of the world God's love of Israel — God God's Self walking before them, so that they (learn to) treat them honorably.

The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart (from before the people). Scripture tells that when the pillar of cloud was there, the pillar of fire grew brighter, and when the pillar of fire was there, the pillar of cloud shined.

Another interpretation: The pillar of cloud by day... did not depart. The light of the sun did not interfere with it. And the pillar of fire by night. The light of the moon did not interfere with it.

Another interpretation: did not depart. Even though the Israelites aggrieved, and angered, and insulted.

(1) וה' הולך לפניהם יומם, “and G’d would walk in front of them by day, etc.” Seeing that the term “walking” cannot truly be applied to G’d, the plain meaning of this verse is that the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night which had taken up position in front of the Jewish people to show them the way, served as a sign for them that G’d... was accompanying them every step of the way.

These two pillars acted as their eyes in the desert and as protection against the dangers lurking in the desert. When the Torah quotes G’d (Exodus 19,4) saying: “I carried you on the wings of eagles,” the reference is to these pillars of cloud and fire mentioned in our verse. Seeing that these pillars were designed to save the Israelites, they became the instruments by means of which the Egyptians were judged, as we read in 14,24: “God looked down upon the camp of Egypt through a pillar of fire and cloud and God confounded the camp of Egypt.”

(21) And the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord went before them by day in the column of the Cloud to lead them in the way, and at night the column of the Cloud removed behind them to darken on their pursuers behind them ; but to be a column of fire to enlighten them before, that they might go forward by day and by night.

(1) AND THE ETERNAL WENT BEFORE THEM. The Sages have already said, “Wherever the phrase And the Eternal is mentioned, it means God and God's Celestial Court.” The Holy Blessed One, went before them by day, and God's Celestial Court by night. If so, the explanation of the verse is that G-d abode in the midst of the cloud, and God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud. By night, God's Celestial Court abode in a pillar of fire to give them light.

(1) לנחתם הדרך TO GUIDE THEM IN THE WAY — It (the ל of לנחתם) is punctuated with Patach, because it (the word) is like לְהַנְחוֹתָם (being a contracted form of this); similar is, (Deuteronomy 1:33) “לַרְאֹתְכֶם the way in which ye shall go”, which is the same as לְהַרְאֹתְכֶם to show you. Thus, too, here: לנחתם means as much as להנחותם to make them be guided i. e. by means of an agent. And who was this agent? The pillar of cloud — and the Holy Blessed One, in God's glory (God's Self) led it before them. Nevertheless God God's Self did not act as their immediate guide, but God provided the pillar of cloud that they might be guided by means of it, for, as a matter of fact, as the Scriptural account shows, it was by means of the pillar of cloud that they set forth on their journeys. The pillar of cloud was not for giving light to them but to show them the way.

יומם [THAT THEY MIGHT TRAVEL] DAY AND NIGHT: So that when Pharaoh would hear he would say that they were trying to run away and then the Egyptians would chase after them.

(1) AND THE LORD WENT BEFORE THEM BY DAY. We know that the Lord inhabiteth eternity and God's name is Holy (Is. 57:15), and that God is enthroned of old. Selah (Ps. 55:20). Scripture speaks in the language of people. It reads so because God’s power went with Israel, as in That caused God's glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses (Is. 63:12).

(2) להאיר להם, “in order to provide light for them.” By way of these two clouds, they were separated from day and night, because the clouds surrounded them, and they couldn't tell if it was day or night, except by means of the pillar of fire, by which they would know it was nighttime.

(3) ללכת יומם ולילה, “to travel by day and by night.” According to the plain meaning of the text the verse tells us that the Israelites were so eager to arrive at the destination where they would receive the Torah on the fiftieth day that they traveled both by day and by night. This was in contrast with other travelers who are tired by nightfall so that they interrupt their journey even when they are in inhospitable surroundings. (4) A Midrashic approach: They traveled by day and by night as the Torah they were to receive was something that applied and was to be studied both by day and by night (compare Joshua 1,8).