Exodus 13:21, commentary and pictures

The Lord himself went before Israel by day in a pillar of cloud to show the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give light so they could travel by day and night, and that pillar was never taken away from before the people. The Leader hidden in that cloud by day and fire by night was Christ himself, personally conducting and ruling the host through the wilderness. By day the cloud spread over them as a canopy for shade and refreshment, and by night it lit the whole camp and the path ahead, while also directing when to camp and when to move and shielding them from enemies and perils of the way. From that pillar He instructed and disciplined them, giving laws, the Sabbath, and even the gospel in types pointing to redemption, to separate them from Egypt and mold them into His holy people. The same Jesus still leads His people today, giving light in darkness to those who obey and go forward in trust, while to those who refuse and murmur He is a cloud of darkness.

Route Out of Egypt

The Lord himself went before Israel by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give light, so that they could go by day and night, and that pillar was never taken away from before the people. His guiding presence by cloud in the daytime and fire at night continued through the wilderness as an expression of compassionate care, protecting them and conducting them safely out of Egypt and through the Red Sea while the Egyptians who tried to follow were drowned. Christ himself was Israel's leader throughout those travels.

After Succoth and Etham on the edge of the wilderness, the pillar led them not by the near direct way through the land of the Philistines but by the way around through the wilderness of the Red Sea toward the south. God chose that longer way because unprepared Israel would have faced opposition and war from the Philistines, who would have regarded them as fugitives escaping their masters, and at the sight of war they would have turned back to Egypt. In so leading them He showed Himself compassionate as well as a God of judgment, sparing a people unprepared for war and directing Moses to turn aside and encamp before the sea where Pharaoh would pursue them so that He would be honored before Pharaoh and all his host in their deliverance. The people followed the cloud even when the desert route wearied them and they feared Egyptian pursuit, and its guidance brought them to that appointed place by the sea.

The cloud marked each stage of the march, leading from Sinai into the wilderness and south from Mount Hor through a hot, sandy valley destitute of shade or vegetation where the way seemed long and difficult and they grew thirsty and weary. At Rephidim the Lord enshrouded in the pillar knowingly brought them to a place without water to test their faith, and their hardship did not mean He had abandoned or misled them. When the pillar moved forward the people followed it onward to Edrei, and at last to the very border of Canaan where only the Jordan separated them from the promised land. There, made confident by victory over the Amorites and Bashan and eager to enter their inheritance, they kept their eyes fixed on the pillar in eager expectation for it to move and lead them on, but it gave no sign of moving and hovered still above the tops of the mountains overshadowing the tabernacle while they waited.

After nearly four hundred years as slaves under grievous oppression in a land of superstition, the people had become ignorant and superstitious, so in the beginning of the march they looked upon the cloud with wonder, some with fear and others declaring it a favorable omen. They knew Moses was not choosing the course himself but was only following where the pillar led, yet those in the uttermost parts of the camp murmured at the course of the march and at being led that way and marching so long in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was a manifestation of divine power to guide and protect in deliverance from an idolatrous nation that did not acknowledge God and refused to hearken to His voice. That same delivering power parted the waters to make a plain path and destroyed the pursuing Egyptian army when it sought to overtake Israel and enslave them again, revealing to the Egyptians the Ruler of the universe greater than all heathen deities, with the mighty powers of heaven fighting for Israel. That leading should have given faith to overcome walled cities in Canaan, so for the spies to compare Israel as grasshoppers to the Canaanites leavened the congregation with unbelief.

God guided Israel toward the promised land by the pillar of cloud, and Israel followed that divine guidance in faith toward the promised land just as the wise men and magi trusted the signs and inner prompting and followed the star in search of the promised Saviour.

Cloud and Fire Provided

By day the cloud spread over the people as a canopy, giving shade and coolness and refreshment and shelter from the fierce sun, and by night it became fire that lighted the whole camp and the path ahead with brightness like day. That light by night gave peace and safety and the assurance of divine companionship over mountains and deserts and hard paths, moving grandly before them unaffected by sunshine or storm. To Israel the pillar was a great flood of light shedding brightness upon the way, while to Pharaoh's hosts the same pillar was a wall of clouds making blacker the darkness of night. The lighted cloud means Christ, the Light of the world, was their courage and teacher and leader, as truly the way, the truth, and the life as in the New Testament, and He is the same today. Keeping the eye fixed upon it strengthens the soul with courage and assurance that the mighty God who delivered before is God still, who will deliver in every emergency and open the passage where He bids go to those who march forward obedient with ready mind and cheerful heart.

The pillar directed movement by settling where they should pitch their tents and lifting when they should go forward, and its movement was God's signal to go. The march was to be ordered and reverent, with the people ready to follow when it moved, and the lesson is both to advance in faith and to wait when no call to go is given. The pillar still rested over the tabernacle after Moses died and Israel had mourned him thirty days, assuring them God remained with them and would still be with them if they would be true and walk in the way of His commandments. Its continued presence at the tabernacle reminded them of the living God near to go with them, and helped Moses lead them and urge them toward right actions.

The same pillar protected Israel, for at the Red Sea the cloudy column rose majestically, passed over the Israelites, and went down between them and the Egyptian army. There it stood as a wall of darkness that hid the camp of the Hebrews so the Egyptians could no longer discern them and were forced to halt, while as night deepened it became a great light to the Hebrews that lit the whole camp and brought hope of deliverance. Through the journey His restraining power guarded them from the beasts of the wilderness and from poisonous serpents and kept them from untold dangers, and His presence made holy the ground where He stood. Its continuance, with manna still falling morning and evening to feed them by a divine hand while Moses was absent in the mount pleading for them above, proved the divine presence did not depend on the presence of Moses and that God was still near.

The guidance by cloud and fire was joined with other marvels of preserving care, dividing the Red Sea, giving pure water from the rock when thirsty, and giving bread from heaven, manna, angels' food, when hungry and longing for the flesh-pots of Egypt. This leading proves God did not mean Israel harm and was not restricting liberty with denials and severities, and that He is not pleased to see His children suffer, for all heaven is interested in the happiness of man. It proves that in God there is power and strength to keep His word, and that He who kept His people by His power in the past will work wonderfully again for those who cast their helpless souls upon Him. It was part of His purpose to make them a separate people and reform their habits of eating, a lesson and encouragement for those in the last days who separate from idolatry to free themselves from every hindrance that confuses mind and conscience and leads into sin. The pillar of cloud represents God's abiding presence and blessing, invoked as a sign of divine favor to light the way over His instruments for gathering souls.

Christ Led Israel

The invisible Leader enshrouded in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night to lead and guide Israel was Christ Himself, the Son of God, personally conducting, governing and ruling the hosts through the wilderness. He did not give general directions and then leave them to guess the way amid by-paths and dangerous passes, but led them in a straight, plain, marked-out path where every step was ordered, constantly manifesting toward them the riches of His love and patience. Jesus led ancient Israel through the cloud though it concealed Him from their sight, and as He manifestly led then so He manifestly leads His people in this important period of the world's history, that they need not live in doubt or grope without a guide. Moses led only visibly and received his instructions from Christ the Angel, and Christ spoke to His people through Moses.

He who led was equal with the Father, with His sight extending over past, present and future, sovereign over all creation and worthy to be recognized, honored and obeyed, His commandments to govern the lives of His people. He is the Angel of the covenant, the Captain of the Lord's host, the mighty General of armies and Commander in heaven, present as Leader and Teacher of Israel in the wilderness for forty years in the pillar of cloud to lead them and give them truth. His presence made holy the places where He appeared, as the ground at the burning bush was holy and the place where He appeared to Joshua was holy. When He afterward came in human form He taught the same truths He had given from the cloud, yet the very people He had led and taught did not recognize Him as the heaven-sent Teacher, and though He watched their encampment, corrected their evil ways and encouraged trust to lead them safely to the promised land, they murmured against Moses their appointed visible leader.

His glory and majesty were veiled so weak finite vision could behold and live, the brightness of the divine presence enshrouded in the darkness of the cloud He made His pavilion over the tabernacle, God's dwelling place on earth, so the people could endure to look upon the cloud as seeing Him who is invisible. Through this visible sign God revealed His will and imparted His grace, talking with Moses from the midst of the glory as He had talked with him from the burning bush. The glory hidden inside the pillar was the Son of the infinite God, one with the Father in suffering, self-denial and self-sacrifice to save fallen man, to whom the sacrificial offerings pointed. This veiling was a type and symbol shadowing forth the incarnation in which His divinity would be veiled with humanity in the likeness of men, and Moses learned its meaning in answer to his prayer to be shown the way when the future was opened to the death of Christ where mercy and justice blend; Israel was saved through Christ as fully as people are today, with Christ as Mediator having guardianship of His people and giving exactly the protection their needs required. Though invisible to human eyes He went before them from before they left Egypt to teach them He was their God, Deliverer and Protector, desiring to keep under His sheltering wing of preservation all who would do His will against Satan's temptations and to preserve a people who would keep God in remembrance.

He led the whole forty years from Egyptian bondage toward Canaan, enshrouded in the pillar, overseeing every phase of their experience to educate and discipline them and often testing their faith. He kept them separate from idolatrous nations to shut out evil influence, directed their march by the cloud settling where they were to pitch their tents and lifting when they were to move forward, taught them at the mount by proclaiming His law to make them a peculiar people, and worked marvelously for them over and over in difficulties and trials to fit them to possess the promised land and to carry out His purposes in their individual lives. His leading preserved them from the perils of the wilderness and brought them into the land of promise, establishing Israel in sight of nations that did not acknowledge God as His own chosen possession, the Lord's vineyard transplanted by His own power from Egypt. This was a manifestation of power and mercy not for Israel alone but as an object-lesson to surrounding nations, revealing Him as God above all human authority and greatness and showing His power over nature and over the greatest of those who worshiped nature. He had pledged to lead Israel safely to the promised land if they followed His guidance, so deliverance and guidance were evidence of His care while unbelief and rebellion brought punishment, and even under that leading they became lax in the commandments that would be their life, disregarding the Sabbath and breaking other commandments till God was greatly displeased and permitted punishment upon that generation.

Moses was the appointed visible leader who served with Aaron as visible leader, receiving instructions from Christ and leading only by following where the pillar led, and the cloud veiled Christ's presence from which Moses received directions. The people knew Moses was not choosing the course himself but was following the cloud that marked the way on the march from Sinai into the wilderness, yet those in the uttermost parts of the camp murmured about the course and about marching so long in the wilderness. The directions that came from Christ hidden in the pillar by day and fire by night were sacred and important to Joshua, who studied the words and instructions given to Moses so he would know and do God's will.

Teaching From the Pillar

Enshrouded in cloud by day and fire by night, Christ himself came to Israel as invisible Leader to lead the way and to educate that vast multitude through the wilderness wandering. That leading separated them from Egypt and its evil influence and taught them to know God and obey Him, giving them just the experience they needed. No human agency was entrusted with their education, for no other power could deal with them as He did through that long journey, since He is infinite in wisdom. Their character was molded according to God's plan until they individually became an educating power, making them daily learners of what He requires His church on earth to be, instruction every soul living today still needs. The same leading educates those who warn the inhabitants of great cities and win souls, molding them forward until they too become an educating power. Through forty years after deliverance from bondage the pillar gave unmistakable evidence of divine leading and protection, joined with water from the rock when thirsty and manna, angels' food, when they longed for Egypt, to make them a separate people, reform habits of eating, and encourage those in the last days who separate from idolatry to be freed from every hindrance that confuses mind and conscience and leads into sin.

From the cloud He gave statutes and laws, that by obedience they might be His denominated peculiar people, bestowing heaven's bounties while expecting them to share blessings with the less favored, as He still deals with His chosen today. From that cloud He continually presented God's requirements, including the command to keep the seventh day holy. The directions spoken from the pillar include the command to love the Lord with all heart and soul and might and mind, and to love neighbor as self, to be kept in the heart and taught diligently by parents to children at home, by the way, night and morning. God's plan in that deliverance, wilderness leading, and laws contains important truths of the Jewish economy and temple service as yet only half understood, to be seen more clearly as the divine rays shining from the gospel are gathered up by daily study of the Word, while worldly understanding hinders the work, and the future life will unfold their meaning.

From the pillar He gave His gospel as truly as from the mount of beatitudes, manifesting glory that reveals His prerogatives, high authority, character, and example of truth and purity. He gave the ceremonial law whose sacred and glorious ceremonies were prophetic types pointing to mysteries in the plan of redemption and to Christ's work, though later to cease, and the cloud's guidance belonged to His work as Originator and foundation of the Jewish economy, which was compacted prophecy of the gospel and not a time of great darkness without His grace. The same Saviour who led in the cloud gave at Sinai the principles and rules for holy living, purity of life, and right character, and later with divinity veiled in humanity gave the same practical gospel principles on the mount to affect daily life, mold character, explain the broad principles of God's law, and prepare disciples with wisdom and energy to preach to the world, including that every youth learn a trade to earn bread and use means wisely, showing useful labor is part of the gospel. Truth given from the time of the pillar through prophets and people was later mingled with error and needed separation from heresy and evil and restoration within the gospel framework to shine in original clarity and bring light to the world. The teachings given from the cloud He carried into His earthly life of self-denial and self-sacrifice, remaining the pattern every teacher of truth must practice, made effectual only when pastors and managers cease seeking their own interests and advantage and instead carry kindness, truth, and righteousness into life and sustain workers in hard fields, for the Lord marks selfishness and neglect, hears praying workers, works in their behalf, and will not encourage indifference and hardness of heart. Obeying those teachings would have enabled the nation to glorify God above all nations so Jerusalem need not have been destroyed, but they disregarded the commandments while professing to honor them.

The counsel and light given enshrouded in the cloud must be unwaveringly followed by those who would engage in His service, and depending on it unites mind and judgment, as when knowledge was given to Daniel and his three companions. The grace of God through Christ is ever to be cherished as the only way of approaching God, and faith in the words spoken from the pillar, walking forward by faith and pressing on without being governed by circumstances, is hard to learn yet a positive necessity for every child of God. Loyalty and obedience to all those words would have made Israel triumphant over all enemies, preserving the commandment-keeping people because the Prince of life who saves all who receive Him was to come from them. But they heard His voice without consecrated ears and did not believe, so the word did not profit them, and selfishness and pride, murmuring and unbelief kept them from receiving it with faith and practicing it, which increased their guilt, the same danger facing those who hear the glad tidings of truth and righteousness in the last days. Failure to pass on and follow the instruction to teach the commands diligently to children led them away until they valued human traditions above the commandments and rejected Jesus the great Teacher.

While enshrouded in the pillar He was guide and protector and the same great Physician who healed the sick in Palestine, and as invisible leader He commanded Israel as His holy special people chosen in love and redeemed from Egyptian bondage to keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments. He commanded them to smite and utterly destroy the nations in Canaan, make no covenant with them, show no mercy, and make no marriages with them lest they turn Israel to other gods. He commanded them to destroy their altars, images, groves, and graven images with fire.

Light Symbolism and Types

The pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was a representation of light pointing to Christ as the true Light, the source of spiritual light shining upon Israel through symbols, types, and prophecy. That leading in light was commemorated by the lamps lit during the Feast of Tabernacles, which recalled how God guided Israel through the wilderness. Christ in the pillar was not only a sign pointing to a future Savior but their present Savior, giving commands and serving as the only channel of blessing. The cloud of glory seen at the transfiguration was brighter than the cloud that went before Israel in the wilderness.

The commandments of God are like that pillar of fire, lighting and guiding the way to eternal salvation for those who obey and walk in the light. To the hosts of Pharaoh the same pillar was a wall of clouds making blacker the darkness of night, and so to those who disregard the commandments they are as clouds of night, bringing wrath and terror rather than mercy and deliverance. Light refused becomes darkness, and the darkness is in proportion to the light rejected. The outward tokens of cloud and fire do not prove God's favor is truly present when works deny Him, for the light has not diminished but spiritual darkness comes when people fail to live by it and are not sanctified through obeying truth. Those who hear and see truth without conforming life to it rest unconcerned as though those tokens still went before them, professing to know God and reckoning themselves His chosen peculiar people while in works denying Him and remaining in great darkness they do not know.

The Bible serves the same guiding purpose as the pillars, leading the way and giving light day and night. It is heaven's directory, a light to the feet and a lamp to the path shining in a dark place, God's will expressed as the only perfect standard of character marking out duty in every circumstance of life. When studied, prized, and obeyed with humble hearts it guides in duties, conduct, business, and daily overcoming, urging upward and forward, demanding perfect purity in word, thought, and action and plainly showing every kind of immorality and its results so no one need err. When ignored and disobeyed it stands as a witness against people at the judgment by whose word every person will be judged, in contrast to having no guide besides the opinions of finite men, prejudice, passion, or changeable feelings, which leaves the mind irritated, uncertain, and fevered.

All the fathers were under that cloud and with passing through the sea were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual meat and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness through lust, idolatry, fornication, tempting Christ, and murmuring. These things happened and are written as examples and admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come, to the intent that later believers should not lust after evil things as they lusted, so that whoever thinks he stands takes heed lest he fall.

The Lord still goes before His people in the cloudy pillar as He did for ancient Israel, both leading them and concealing Himself from them. The cloudy pillar is the darkest part of the path of duty, when trials and difficulties seem like a heavy cloud hiding every ray of God's sunshine, yet those who press on in duty through that darkness will look back with joy and thankfulness upon it. God's ways in the cloud are past finding out, yet all He makes known of Himself only convinces even the most elevated mind of an infinity beyond of wisdom, purity, and love. He shades travelers in their desert journey with varied mercies, where bitter and sweet and grief and joy lie close together, turning bitter into sweet, giving pleasant watersprings and palm-shade rest through Marah and Elim alike until desert wells and palms are done and desert wanderings end in the City of God, holy Paradise with everlasting springs.

Mercy Met With Unbelief

The leading by cloud and fire constantly manifested riches of love, patience, mercy and preserving care, appealing to the heart to recognize that love and to accept righteousness in place of evil. God did not mean harm, restrict liberty, or delight in suffering, and He did not desert His people even when mistakes multiplied and they turned back. Even after they reached the border of Canaan and had to turn back into the wilderness, He still went before them every day in the cloud of His presence, still blessing, feeding, giving water from the Rock, and defending against Pharaoh's army. He remains a source of courage, help, blessing and faith in fearful times to those who fear Him and do what is right and who love and obey the truth. He led on the way to the promised Canaan even though murmurers and the envious and jealous were among the tribes, for He has a church and leads it, revealing His power and glory in it by the blessings of His grace and the mysteries of His will, and the presence of imperfections — tares among wheat, foolish virgins with the wise, Judases in every stage of history — does not do away with that leading, while defective characters who in presumption and self-sufficiency see imperfections and draw off on some tangent will be left behind as the church moves on without them, every member being bound by solemn vows to advance its interests and labor unselfishly for its success.

Israel often failed to appreciate that the One guiding and protecting them in that constant canopy was the Son of God, equal with God, who had done wonderful things for them throughout the journey despite their perversity, murmuring and rebellion. They became accustomed to the covering by day and the fire by night and looked on it as common, murmured about the march, and complained despite peace, safety and daily provision until protection was risked. While the guiding pillar still remained before them they turned in heart to idolatry, demanding other gods to go before them, which was cruelly unbelieving and basely ungrateful, a shameful transgression of the law so recently given. Its continuance with them, with manna still falling by a divine hand morning and evening while Moses was absent in the mount pleading for them above, stood as a living memorial that they were not forsaken and proved God was still near, for the divine presence did not depend on the presence of Moses. Yet when that same cloud that had hitherto led them rested upon the mount instead of going before them, they took it to mean it would no longer direct them, and seeing Moses enter the cloud with the summit in flames and not return as soon as expected, they concluded he had been slain by the burning flame and were left without leader and without guidance, so in fear they wanted something they could look upon to resemble God after the gods of Egypt, and planned to carry such an image before them as their god and return to Egypt under it.

Their lack of faith in the voice spoken from the pillar gave them a very checkered history, for to have faith in the promises, to walk forward by faith pressing on without being governed by circumstances, is a lesson hard to learn yet a positive necessity for every child of God, and faith would have enabled them to leave a record of a very different character. They heard His voice but did not hear with consecrated ears and did not believe, so the word did not profit them, for selfishness and pride, murmuring and unbelief surrounded them and kept them from receiving the word with faith and practicing it, which increased their guilt, the same danger facing those who hear the glad tidings of truth and righteousness in the last days. Even under that forty-year leading, when He kept them separate from idolatrous nations to shut out evil influence, directed the march by the cloud settling where they were to pitch tents and lifting when they were to move forward, proclaimed His law at the mount to make them a peculiar people, and worked marvelously for them over and over in difficulties and trials to fit them to possess the promised land and carry out His purposes in their individual lives, they became lax in the commandments that would be their life, disregarding the Sabbath and breaking other commandments, so God was greatly displeased and permitted punishment to come upon that generation. When tempted they believed Satan's suggestions against Moses and Aaron and against Joshua and Caleb, though through Christ God had communicated His will, given great light and precious opportunities to know it, defended them against Pharaoh's vast army, fed them when hungry, quieted murmurings with cool water from the Rock, and manifested His glory, and God's anger was awakened against rebellion passing the boundary of His forbearance and patience. They disregarded God's commandments despite professing to honor them, though obeying those teachings would have enabled the Jewish nation to glorify God above all other nations and Jerusalem need not have been destroyed.

The tokens of cloud and fire must not be claimed as proof of acceptance while living like the world and lacking saving power. To rest unconcerned as if those signs of God's presence and guidance rested upon the sanctuary, while His presence to save from Satan's snares and from spiritual danger is seldom manifest, is to mistake complacency for divine favor. To live satisfied without that evidence, while acting as if the pillar rested upon the sanctuary, counting themselves His chosen people yet in life and character denying Him, is blind self-deception in leaders and people.

Guidance for Today

The same Jesus who led Israel hidden in cloud by day and fire by night leads his people now just as plainly, not leaving them to guess their way among side paths and dangerous passes but ordering every step in a straight, marked path where feet need not slip. That guidance still moves before Christians today as it moved before ancient Israel, giving light in dense darkness with blessings greater than in any earlier age. Christians, parents, city workers and missionaries share the privilege of following toward the promised land and bringing their children with them as God's people did of old.

Those who follow his commandments and the truths given through Moses stand under divine guidance in perfect safety, with distinguished marks of favor and rich blessings learned daily as they diligently advance the work. Suggesting human plans and refusing God's plans always brings failure and defeat, as Israel's refusals did, while Christ leads away from influences that would hinder his purposes. Keeping the eye fixed on the Guiding Hand gives courage that the mighty God who delivered Israel is God still, obedient to whose voice he will guide, deliver in every emergency, open the passage where he bids go, and remove feared trials and hindrances as his people march forward with firm step, ready mind and cheerful heart.

His word is go forward and do present duty now at any cost in obedient humble trust, without doubt, unbelief, hesitancy or discouragement, for the sea of trouble that threatens to overwhelm will open and formidable trials and difficulties will vanish as his people advance boldly. Every step is to be faith, love and consecration, for Christ offers to walk the whole journey of life to cheer the way by his presence, and groping in darkness comes only from refusing the One who makes the way bright and joyful. To the meek, humble, thankful, obedient and ready he is light, but to the selfish, proud, impatient and murmuring he is a cloud of darkness. Following the directions given through that divine presence also means refusing voice or influence to policies that enrich a few while oppressing the poor.

His leadership is the pattern for directing his work, educating children and youth to regard God's commandments, and training those who would engage in his service to follow his counsel and light unwaveringly for knowledge and unity of mind and judgment. He bestowed heaven's bounties on his chosen and expects them to share blessings with the less favored, dealing with his people today in the same way. His teachings and example remain the pattern every teacher of truth must practice, made effectual only when pastors and managers cease seeking their own interests and best advantages and instead carry kindness, truth and righteousness into life to represent Christ in self-denial and self-sacrifice. Left to themselves people would lose the way and constantly need his presence, and the Lord marks selfishness and neglect to sustain workers in hard fields, hears their prayers, works in their behalf, and will not encourage indifference and hardness of heart.

Rational accountable beings are required to appreciate the light and walk in its guiding rays in wisdom, humility and holiness, and if the light is refused it becomes darkness in proportion to the light rejected. His commandments are to govern life and to be reverenced, cherished and obeyed as the controlling power, for he who led is sovereign over creation with sight over past, present and future and worthy of recognition and honor. From the pillar of fire he gave solemn instruction containing principles of right, justice and virtue from which there is to be no departure, to be studied and obeyed by the church in these last days and by every institution among his professed people free from every vestige of self-serving if it would bless humanity. To walk forward by faith pressing on without being governed by circumstances is a hard but necessary lesson for every child of God, whose lack of faith gave Israel its checkered history.

The church in the wilderness was governed not by human authority but by Christ, and the same is true now, so no man has right to exercise domination over his called and chosen ministers and medical missionary workers purchased to glorify God alone. He who veiled himself in the cloudy pillar gave wise, righteous and good laws and speaks to his people today as truly as then. His right arm that brought Israel victory in warfare is just as willing to help in present warfare, so that in his strength believers can reach the perfect ideal and do all things. In cloud he shaded them by day from fierce sun and in fire he led by night, proving he is with his people just as surely when he permits trials to test and prove them.