3. (20-22) Israel led by the cloud by day and the fire by night.

a. The Hebrew for pillar literally means "something standing"; it was probably more of what we would think of as a "column" than a pillar.

b. The Lord went before them: what more can we ask for than this? God showed His presence to Israel in a dramatic way, by giving them "24-hour-a-day" assurance, with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

i. The pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night was also there as a sun and a shield: He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night (Psalms 105:39); or as it says in Psalm 84:11: For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.

c. We often think that such miraculous assurance would make us never doubt the Lord again, but Israel certainly did - and so would we.