The Lord, the Son of God, whose presence and conduct the Israelites had in the wilderness, as appears from 1 Corinthians 10:4,9; compare Hebrews 11:26; who is sometimes called the Angel of the Lord, Exodus 14:19, because he was and was to be his Father's Angel or Messenger, sent by God unto men to ratify his covenant with them; whence he is called the Angel of the covenant, Zechariah 3:1, as he is upon another account called the Angel of his presence, Isaiah 63:9. Went before them, not by local motion, but by his gracious and powerful operations for and about them. The pillar was but one, Numbers 9:15,16, having two different appearances and uses, of a cloud by day, to defend them from the heat, Psalms 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. To lead them the way, which was altogether necessary in those vast and pathless deserts, Numbers 10:33 Deuteronomy 1:33.
Related Commentaries of Exodus 13:21
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: