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Fire, Pillar of

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Firkovich, Abraham B. Samuel (Aben Reshef)

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Dictionaries
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Pillar of Cloud and Fire
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Pillar of Fire
• Fire, Pillar of
Wilson's Bible Types
• Fire (Pillars)
Encyclopedias
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Fire, Pillar of
• Pillar of Cloud and Fire
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Fire, Pillar of
• Pillar of Fire

The Israelites during their wanderings through the desert were guided in the night-time by a pillar of fire to give them light (Exodus 13:21; Numbers 14:14; Nehemiah 9:12,19). The pillar of fire never departed from them during the night (Exodus 13:22); according to Shab. 33b, it appeared in the evening before the pillar of cloud had disappeared, so that the Israelites were never without a guide. God troubled the Egyptian hosts through a pillar of fire and of cloud (Exodus 14:24). There is a legend that Onḳelos, by narrating to the messengers sent by the emperor to seize him that God Himself was the torch-bearer of the Israelites, converted them to Judaism ('Ab. Zarah 11a).