“And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?… 17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:” Gen. 15:8, 17-18
Could it be that Abram saw the smoking furnace as a cloud and the burning lamp as a pillar of fire? I think so. This was God’s sign to Abram that he would inherit the land. 400 years later the cloud and fire showed again up in the wilderness telling the Israelites that the promise is still good and they will yet inherit the land.