Matthew Poole and continuators on Exodus 13:21

21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way , and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to go by day and night.

The Son of God, whose presence and conduct the Israelites had in the Wilderness, as appears from 1 Cor. 10. 4, 9. Compare Heb. 11. 26. who is sometimes called the Angel of the Lord, chap. 14. 19. because he was and was to be his Fathers Angel or Messenger sent by God unto men to ratifie his Covenant with them, whence he is called the Angel of the Covenant, Mal. 3. 1. as he is upon another account called the Angel of his presence, Isa. 63. 9.

Not by local motion, but by his gracious and powerful operations for and about them.

It was but one pillar, Numb. 9. 15, 16. having two different appearances and uses, of a Cloud by day to defend them from the heat, Psal. 105. 39. which in those parts was excessive, and of a fire by Night to illuminate them. It was a Cloud erected towards Heaven like a pillar upwards, but downwards flat and broad, spread over the body of the people, and afterwards more eminently over the Tabernacle.

Which was altogether necessary in those vast and pathless Deserts, Numb. 10. 33. Deut. 1. 33.

Marginal references: chap. 40. 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. Numb. 14. 14. Deut. 1. 33. Psal. 78. 14. and 99. 7. 1 Cor. 10. 1.