Dr.

Durrell Questions
Questions: I was pondering the various forms of unusual “light” that are described in the Bible (KJV)

1- Moses burning bush not being consumed 

2- Moses face shining bright white upon his descent from Mt Sinai

3- the guiding light of YHWH in night sky above the Israelite camp in Exodus 

4- transfiguration bright white light of Jesus on Mt Tabor 

5- the Damascus moment for Saul/Paul

6- ??? The light of Bethlehem of course could be another example of  Shekhinah light (?plasma
light) or as you have postulated a astronomical conjunction 

7- the supracranial flickering light upon the heads of those at the first post-crucifixion Pentecost

These biblical lights are often described as blinding and bright white which do not burn or consume
and no smell or smoke is noted.

Could these lights possibly be further examples of forms of “plasma” light ?

Answers: Hi Dr. Durrell! Thanks for the questions; they are appreciated. Before we look at them in detail, we
need to be careful to distinguish between different phenomena. Thus questions (1), (3), (6) and (7) are related;
so are (4) and (5) , while (2) is indirectly related to (4) & (5). So we are apparently dealing with at least two
separate effects and perhaps a third. Lets us look at this.
First, the Shekinah. This is the term the Rabbis used to describe the “pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire
by night,” (Exodus 13:21, 22) which guided the Israelites through the Wilderness for 40 years. It is apparent
from Exodus 14:24 that Jehovah actually dwelt in or inhabited this Cloud of Glory. This is even more apparent
in Ezekiel 1 where the prophet saw the Shekinah at night time as a whirlwind of fire enfolding itself, with
Jehovah (that is YAHWEH) being the Divine Resident of the Shekinah. This picture is hinted at briefly in Psalm
50:3 where it says that, when the Lord comes, the “fire will be very tempestuous round about Him.”
It was also seen by Job and his companions. In Job 38 we are told that God answered him out of the whirlwind,
but that is just the culmination of comments in the previous two chapters when the bright and shining white
Shekinah cloud is seen approaching the group (36:29-30a and 32, then 37:1-5, 11-12, 15-16, 21-22). Finally, in
38:1 in the LXX it states that the “Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind of cloud.”
Abraham saw the Shekinah at sunset as “a burning lamp and smoking furnace” which “walked between the
[sacrificial] pieces [of animals]” that Abraham had prepared and separated (Genesis 15:17). This was the
traditional way a covenant was made in those times – a sacrificial animal was cut in two and the parties
involved in the covenant walked between the pieces. Another example is in Daniel 7:13 when the “Son of Man
came with the Cloud of Heaven to the Ancient of Days…” and was “given an everlasting dominion” (7:14).
Interestingly, as we come into the New Testament, we find Christ before the Sanhedrin in the early morning
before the Crucifixion. He is asked by the High Priest if he is Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus replied, “You said
it. Hereafter you will see the Son of Man (His own title for Himself) … coming in the Cloud of Heaven.” He had
just claimed to be the Divine Resident of the Shekinah, that is Jehovah, and that is why they delivered Him to
Pilate to crucify (Matthew 26:64). Well, was He the Resident of the Shekinah? When you get to Acts 1, you find
Jesus making His final comments to His disciples, and then “He ascended and the Cloud received Him out of
their sight” (Acts 1:9). Immediately following, the disciples are told by the Heavenly messengers that Jesus will
return in the same Cloud of Glory (Acts 1:11 compared with Revelation 1:7).
So, Jesus is Jehovah; also the Father is Jehovah and the Spirit is Jehovah; which is why in the literal Hebrew,
Deuteronomy 6:4 states “Jehovah our Gods (plural) is one Jehovah.” The word for “one” is ECHAD which
means unity in plurality as in when all the Children of Israel spoke with one (Echad) voice (Exodus 24:3). If an
isolated singular person was in view the word used would have been YACHID. But that is another trail….
It is therefore in this context that Moses saw the burning bush. The flaming shekinah was enveloping the bush.
The LXX reads that “the Lord appeared to him in flaming fire and the bush burned with the fire but the bush
was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2). The reason is that the fire of the Shekinah does not need something to
“burn” to produce the “flames.” It is entirely self-contained as a tempestuous “whirlwind within a whirlwind”
(rather than a ‘wheel within a wheel’). Obviously at times lightning is involved with it as in the Job and Ezekiel
passages and in Exodus 19:16 etc.
The phenomenon may be explicable in terms of plasma, but my feeling is that it is something unique to the
Godhead itself. My reasoning goes something like this: If it were plasma, then just as lightning (a plasma)
burns up that which it strikes, so too would the bush have been consumed. It might be argued that an aurora
(glow mode plasma) does not ‘burn,’ but strong electric currents (up to a million amps) are involved. So that
everything the current touches becomes either luminous like the atmospheric gases or is electrically darkened.
Therefore, my feeling is that the Shekinah is something different from plasma; otherwise the objects that the
Shekinah is involved with would be marked or changed or scarred or marred in some way by the electric
current involved. Since the Shekinah came upon the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and also on the Temple in
the days of Solomon, and there were no visible effects on the structures involved, then we must conclude that
it was not plasma as it is usually understood. We might add that the House in Bethlehem, where the Shekinah
stood over the young Messiah’s abode, was not damaged either.
This implies that the effect comes entirely from the energy involved with the Person whom it surrounds. Thus
it can be an entirely “cool” flame such as that which sat on the heads of the believers at Pentecost, where
some of the Shekinah Glory was shared with each individual believer in the room as a symbol that Messiah has
shed forth His Spirit upon them just as He had promised. In this context, note also that during the Millennium,
when Messiah is reigning from Jerusalem, the whole area of the city and suburbs will be covered by the
Shekinah in its fullness (Isaiah 4:5-6). Far from damaging the buildings and occupants, it is called a protection.
NOTE: In many cases, the Shekinah is referred to as the cloud singular, such as in Revelation 13:14-16 where
the definite article is also employed. In the parallel passage in Daniel 7:13, the definite article is again used,
but the Masoretic Hebrew has it as “clouds”, plural. However, looking at the ancient LXX text, the Greek has
cloud singular. So, from cross-referencing all the passages involved with the Greek and Hebrew, Old and New
Testaments, it is a very specific cloud that being referred to, namely the Shekinah, and that is the reason the
definite article is usually used. Furthermore, the use of “clouds” plural is a poor translation that gives the
incorrect impression of the ordinary clouds of our atmosphere, instead of a specific entity, the Shekinah.
Second, the face of the glorified Messiah. The initial glimpse that Peter, James and John had of what Jesus in
His Glory looked like was on the Mount of Transfiguration. There, we are told that the shape of His face
altered and His face shone like the Sun, while his clothes radiated his light (Matthew 17:2; Luke 9:29). This is
the Glory that Jesus had with the Father before the world was (John 17:5), for remember that Psalm 104:2
states that the Lord “covers himself with light as with a garment.” This light radiating from the Lord’s “skin” is
one thing that was missing while Jesus was on earth (except for what happened at the Transfiguration). John
tells us exactly when that glory was restored to Messiah after the resurrection, namely just before the Holy
Spirit was sent at Pentecost. John said that the Spirit was not yet given to indwell believers (which started at
Pentecost) because Christ was not yet glorified – in Heaven (John 7:39). The picture we have of the glorified
Christ is in Revelation 1;14-16 where again we are reminded that His face was like the Sun shining in its
strength. In these pictures, we are seeing the intrinsic glory of the Being who is God. This is something
separate from the Shekinah which surrounds Him and shields the view of Him on many occasions. This is the
“Likeness of the glory of God” as Ezekiel 1:27-28 describes it and the Being is certainly within the Shekinah but
separate from it. It was this Being, who was nonetheless Jesus, who appeared to Saul/Paul on the Damascus
road as being brighter than the noonday sun (Acts 26:13 ff); the Glorified Christ. This is not due to plasma, but
rather the self-energy of the Supreme Being. This energy lights the New Jerusalem and comes from Jesus (Rev.
21:23).
Man in God’s Likeness: This brings us to the passage in Genesis 1:26 when Triune God decided to make man
“in His (own) likeness.” This likeness would include the light of glory radiating from the skin of Adam and Eve
just as in the same way the light of Glory radiated from God’s being. That is why Adam and Eve knew they
were naked when they took the forbidden fruit – the light of glory from their skin departed. All that was left
was not glorious flesh, but “sinful flesh,” which is why we are told that Christ came “in the likeness of sinful
flesh” (Romans 8:3). We are assured that when the Lord comes at the Rapture “we will be like Him” (1 John
3:2) and the light will be restored to our changed bodies. We know this as Daniel also states that those who
turn others to righteousness will “shine like the brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever” (Daniel
12:3).
It is in this context that we see that Moses, after 40 days of being in the Lord’s Presence, had the light of glory
temporarily given back so that the “skin of his face shone”, so much so that Aaron and the others were fearful
(Exodus 34:29-30 etc). This must have been how Adam and Eve’s bodies looked as they walked and talked
with the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Eden.
I think that this has given you a reasonable outline of my thinking on the issues that you raised. In summary,
while the material universe was initially plasma, God was separate from the material of which He made the
cosmos. Since he is God, there is a spiritual dimension to what we see of Him. For example, since both the
Father and the Son intrinsically are Life (they have ‘life in themselves’ – John 5:26) then we are dealing with
something beyond the merely physical-material world when we discuss the light that radiates from God and
the Life which He alone can impart.
I must leave it at that. If you have further questions, please get back to me.
Blessings on you,
Barry & Penny.