19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:

20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

The Lord had been leading Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. That pillar was still present when Pharaoh and his army arrived, and it moved to stand between the Israelites and the Egyptians. In later years, Isaiah would assure the Israelites that “the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward” (Isaiah 52:12). Here we see that these words were not only figurative, for in this moment God had literally been both a guide ahead of Israel and a guard behind. Every promise of the Lord is fulfilled in many figurative ways, but I believe that there is always a literal realization of them as well.

Note, also, that the pillar now shifted to take on two distinct faces at the same time. It was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians, which obscured their way forward and forced them to hold until the new day. Meanwhile, to the Israelites it was a burning fire, illuminating the way ahead as Moses worked God’s miracle upon the Red Sea and the Israelites made their escape.

Thus, once again, God was able to make a division, showing one wonder to the Egyptians and another to the Israelites. One wonder of darkness, one of light. One to hinder, one to push forward. The same God will judge, divide, and separate, like a sword cleaving good from evil.