Hebrew ammud anan (cloud) / ammud esh (fire). The visible manifestation of God's presence that guided Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness. "The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night" (Exodus 13:21). The same pillar stood between the Israelites and the pursuing Egyptians at the Red Sea, giving light to one and darkness to the other (Exodus 14:19-20). When Israel camped, the pillar settled over the tabernacle and filled the Most Holy Place with the Shekinah glory (Exodus 40:34-38).
The pillar of cloud and fire is one of Scripture's most vivid pictures of God's leadership. Four observations. (1) Continuous presence. The pillar never left. Day and night, for forty years through the wilderness, Israel could see where God was. Modern believers live with the Spirit's indwelling presence — invisible but equally continuous (Matthew 28:20 — "I am with you always, to the end of the age"). (2) Direction and protection. The pillar led where to go and shielded from pursuit. Scripture and the Spirit's inward leading do the same for the believer: directing the path forward and protecting from enemies the believer may not even know are chasing. (3) Shekinah glory. When the tabernacle was completed, "the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle" (Exodus 40:34). The pillar was the outward form of the same glory that indwelt the Holy of Holies. The glory of the LORD moving with the people is the storyline of the whole Bible; ultimately it dwells in every believer (John 14:23) and finally in the new Jerusalem where the glory of God will replace the sun (Revelation 21:23). (4) Christ the pillar. In the wilderness, the pillar moved when God moved; it stayed when He stayed; it was both cloud (sheltering) and fire (illuminating, refining). Christ fulfills every function. The disciple learns to walk with Christ as Israel walked with the pillar — go when He goes, rest when He rests, stay close to the glory.