The Old Testament says that when Moses, the great Messenger of God, led his nation from the land of slavery, a great pillar of fire went before them, showing the way. What that pillar of fire might symbolize, could be interpreted in different ways, but there is no doubt but that Moses himself was for his nation such a pillar of fire, by which, as time passed, all that was dark and unseemly left from the slavish period, burned away, and by its dazzling light it showed to the children of Israel the new way, the way to the land promised to them by God.
Every prophet is such a dazzling pillar of fire.
Each one casts a light on the way of mankind, and each rediscovers the way for those who had lost it. But the time comes when the eyes of men turn from the blinding purity of this light, when this light, though inwardly resplendent as before, seems to become paler in their eyes, and little by little they turn away from it. They kindle lamps made by themselves, and by their flickering lights they look for their way. But those lamps of guidance, made by man, often lead to errors, if a spark of the divine flame does not fall into them. Only the light of Him, Who created them all and knows all the ways, shows the direction without error.