We may yearn for the inspiration that allows us to feel the full impact of the original message in Bible stories and to apply the lessons learned to our own daily living. If we do, it is often helpful to consider the effect of environmental conditions on Biblical imagery. If you live in a lush, green, rainy part of the world, as I do, it may take an active imagination, along with some good reference books, to appreciate fully the significance of the desert environment in such stories as the forty-year sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness after their Exodus from Egypt.
We are told that through this wilderness God guided the Israelites with a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.
See Ex. 13:21,22. Now, in my part of the world, wilderness is a term applied to vast expanses of evergreen forests and snowcapped mountains etched with streams of clear water. A cloud would be particularly ineffective at commanding the attention of a traveler in this region where the sky is so frequently overcast.
But on the Sinai Peninsula where Moses led the Israelites from Egypt, the wilderness was a barren wasteland. In such a place a pillar of cloud (particularly a thick cloud of fog or mist, which is the meaning of the Hebrew word anan) would command attention. It would have stood out in marked contrast in this arid land.
