Commentaria in Numeros
This fire, then, was nothing else than light, and a wonderful splendour given to the pillar by night, which lit up the whole camp like the moon or sun; whence also it is called a sun in Wisdom 18:3. Where note that the light of this pillar was reddish, like flame, as Philo says. Hence it is called fire, and hence in Wisdom 18:3 this pillar is called burning, that is flaming, not from heat but from colour.
This was therefore one pillar, but it had a double office, and therefore a double appearance, or figure. For by day it shaded the camp like a cloud; by night the same lit it like a torch of fire.
So, allegorically, Christ and the Holy Spirit protect us like a cloud, and kindle us like fire. “The Spirit of Jesus,” says St. Bernard, “the good Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the right Spirit, the sweet Spirit, the strong Spirit, strengthening the weak, making rough places smooth, purifying hearts, makes light whatever in this world seems wicked, hard and narrow: he judges a reproach brought upon us a joy, and persuades us that contempt is exaltation.”
Under this leader we ascend to the promised land, because, as the Venerable Bede says: “The saints through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit find the entrance of the heavenly life: through the fear of God humble, through zeal of piety merciful, through knowledge discerning, through fortitude of mind free, through counsel cautious, through understanding provident, through wisdom mature.” Rightly therefore St. Augustine invokes the Holy Spirit, saying: “Holy always…”
Tropologically, the pillars of light are the strong and illustrious saints. Abbot Hilarion once came to Abbot Anthony, and Abbot Anthony said to him:
“Well hast thou come, day-star, who risest in the morning.” And Abbot Hilarion answered: “Peace to thee, pillar of light, who upholdest the globe of the earth.” As is had in the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, tract 17, number 4.
Such a pillar of light was also Simeon Stylites, who, to draw all from the earth to heaven, stood on a pillar for eighty years, scarcely eating or sleeping, and always either praying or giving to those who came counsels of salvation. So Peter, James and John seemed in the Church to be pillars, says Paul, Galatians 2:9.
For this reason Christ, Apocalypse 3:12, promises to the Angel, that is Bishop, of Philadelphia: “He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God,” as if to say: I will make him firm, great and glorious both in the Church and in heaven. He alludes to the two pillars of the temple, Booz and Jachin, 3 Kings 7, as Viegas shows at length there, section 6. Hence Richard of St. Victor first expounds it thus: “I will cause that he who shall overcome persecutions and temptations be like a pillar, firm in himself by faith, upright by equity, erect by intention, sublime by contemplation, upholding others by the word of consolation, the aid of prayer, the example of virtue: as in a building the pillars befit and adorn the structure, so also the rulers of the world in the Church stand eminent by the office of dignity, and bear others by the duty of charity.”
Secondly Ambrose: “I will make him a pillar,” that is, a preacher in the Church; as Paul, Galatians 2, called Peter, James and John pillars. But because Origen, Tertullian and others, who were as it were pillars, fell, it is better, says Ambrose, “I will make him a pillar,” that is, exalted in heaven, from which he shall go out no more.
Thirdly, Abbot Joachim: “I will make him a pillar,” that is a Prelate. For he, first, touches the earth with his body, heaven with his mind; secondly, by the active life clings to inferior things, and yet by the contemplative looks upward; thirdly, is polished by many blows; fourthly, amid the stormy whirlwinds of the winds, bears unwearied the mass laid upon him by his charge; fifthly, is tranquil and immovable as a pillar.
Pereira notes in the same place that in a pillar eight things are regarded and praised: namely straightness, height, thickness, firmness, roundness, smoothness, colour and material, which are easily applied to the preacher, the Prelate and any eminent Saint in the Church, and most of all in heaven, where these Saints, like pillars subject to no change, shall stand exalted and glorious for ever.
Hence St. Ephrem, praying God to reveal to him what kind of man the Great Basil was, “saw in ecstasy a pillar of fire, whose head reached to heaven, and a voice from above saying: Ephrem, Ephrem, as thou hast seen this pillar of fire, such is the Great Basil,” says Amphilochius in his Life.
Rightly therefore St. Gregory, Morals 17:14: “Whoever,” he says, “is established in the work of God by a right intention is raised as a pillar in the structure of the spiritual building; that, placed in this temple, which is the Church, he may be both for use and for ornament.”
Verse 18. AT THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD THEY SET FORWARD.—“Of the Lord,” namely moving by an angel the pillar of cloud, which was the leader of the journey, and by this admonishing and commanding the camp to be moved and to set forward.
Verse 19. AND IF IT SO HAPPENED THAT (the cloud) CONTINUED LONG OVER IT (the tabernacle), THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL KEPT THE WATCHES OF THE LORD—that is, they stood as if keeping watch, and watching for the motion of the cloud, when God should move the cloud, and by this bid them move the camp.
Note: This pillar of cloud rested twice daily, even in the march of the camp, namely at breakfast, and dinner, and at supper: for then they had to cook food and refresh themselves with it, both men and animals. Add that in the evening and by night it always rested: for then men and animals had to take sleep. Hence we nowhere read that they moved the camp by night; but when it rested longer, they pitched tents there, and such a rest is called a mansion or station, of which the Hebrews had forty-two in the desert, as is plain from chapter 33. You will ask how the Hebrews knew that this rest would be longer, and that camp had to be pitched there? I answer, from this: If after noon, dinner being over, the pillar rested, it was a sign that camp was to be pitched there; likewise if after the night’s rest in the morning the pillar still rested, it was a sign that they were to stay there at least until dinner.
Verse 20. AT THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD THEY PITCHED THEIR TENTS.—properly a reckoning of days, by as many as can be numbered, that is for a few days.
Note: As often as the pillar was moved and went before the camp, the priests lifted and carried the ark of the Lord; and Moses called upon God, saying: “Arise, O Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee from before thy face,” as if to say: Arise, and go forward with us, O Lord, and go before the camp, and put to flight and scatter our enemies, who are yours also, that they dare not attack us. But when the pillar rested again, the priests set down the ark, and Moses, inviting the Lord, as it were sitting on the ark, to remain there with the Hebrews, thus prayed to him: “Return, O Lord, to the multitude of the host of Israel.”
The Hebrews think that the pillar of fire and of cloud failed immediately after the death of Aaron, which happened in the fifth month of the 40th year, some months before the death of Moses and the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan. But they err; for Deuteronomy 31:15, a little before the death of Moses, this pillar is said to have appeared to Moses and Josue. This pillar therefore lasted down to the leadership of Josue, and led him and the Hebrews into Canaan itself, and there, like the manna, ceased and disappeared.
Verse 21. THEY TOOK DOWN (that is, put away) THEIR TENTS—and packed all their things.
Verse 23. BY THE WORD OF THE LORD THEY PITCHED THEIR TENTS—as if to say: By the command of the Lord given to Moses, namely that when the pillar of cloud was moved they should move the camp; when it stood still, they should pitch the camp, the Hebrews moved or pitched camp. So, tropologically, Religious following the guidance of obedience, and pious men following their holy inspirations, act under the guidance and command of the Lord; hence it behoves them to be in the watches of the Lord, and to say: I will hear what the Lord will speak in me.
AND THEY KEPT THE WATCHES OF THE LORD—watching for the motion of the pillar, and consequently of the camp, as I said on verse 19.