Deuteronomy 31:15

15 The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; the cloud pillar stood at the tent's entrance.

Deuteronomy 31:15 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 31:15

And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud,
&c.] As he was wont to do, see ( Exodus 33:9 ) ; in which cloud there was a lustre, a brightness, a glory visible, which showed that he was there:

and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle;
it seems to have appeared first in the tabernacle, and then it came out of it, and stood over the door of it, near to which Moses and Joshua were: the Targum of Jonathan adds,

``Moses and Joshua stood without;''

though the former clause, according to Noldius ^F2, should be "over the tabernacle", or above where the cloud was wont to be.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Concord. Ebr. Part. p. 164. No. 737.

Deuteronomy 31:15 In-Context

13 and so that their children, who don't yet know the Instruction, may hear it and learn to revere the LORD your God for as long as you live on the ground you are crossing the Jordan River to possess.

14 Then the LORD said to Moses: "It's almost time for you to die. Summon Joshua. The two of you must present yourselves at the meeting tent so I can command him." So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the meeting tent.

15 The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; the cloud pillar stood at the tent's entrance.

16 The LORD then said to Moses: "Soon you will rest with your ancestors, and the people will rise up and act unfaithfully, going after strange gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon me, breaking my covenant that I made with them.

17 At that point my anger will burn against them, and I'll be the one who abandons them! I'll hide my face from them. They will become nothing but food for their enemies, and all sorts of bad things and misfortunes will happen to them. Then they will say: ‘Haven't these terrible things happened to us because our God is no longer with us?'