PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE. The Old Testament relates that after the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, Jehovah went before the people in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night (Exodus xiii. 21 f.). On one occasion the pillar of cloud moved to the rear of the people to prevent the Egyptians from overtaking them (Exodus xiv. 19b, 20b.). This is the representation of the Jehovist (J). The Pillar. of Cloud, as the Elohist (E) knows it, is a cloud which descends from time to time in front of the " Tent of Meeting " (q.v.) to indicate the divine presence (Exodus xxxiii. 7-11; Numbers xii. 5; Deuteronomy xxxi. 15). The Priestly Writer (P) thinks of the cloud as being present over the Tabernacle from its completion until the end of the wanderings of the children of Israel (Exodus xl. 38; Numbers ix. 16). By night there was fire in the cloud. A rationalistic explanation of the cloud would be that in front of the caravan was carried a fire which indicated the line of march by its smoke in the daytime and by its flames at night. It was the practice of the ancient
Babylonians, Persians, and others to carry such a fire in a brazier. It is not impossible, however, that the con ception of the pillar of cloud and fire originated in a spiritual experience (cp. BURNING BUSH). Moses, having once in an inspired and ecstatic state seen a burn ing light, would always associate the divine presence with fire and smoke. So when the children of Israel journeyed from Egypt Moses felt that Jehovah was leading them, and in front of them he saw, or believed he saw, some physical manifestation of the divine presence. G. B. Gray points out that the word used for cloud in this con nection, `Cdin, may mean a cloud of smoke as well as an atmospheric cloud. See Encycl. Bibl.