Candlestick

The candlestick of Israel's worship is a lampstand of beaten gold, made after a pattern shown to Moses on the mount, set inside the tent of meeting and later before the oracle of the temple, kept burning by Aaron and his sons, carried by the Kohathites, plundered to Babylon, rebuilt under the Hasmoneans, seen as a vision by Zechariah, and seen again by John of Patmos as the seven lampstands among which the Son of Man stands.

The Sinai Pattern

The first instruction is given to Moses on the mount. The lampstand is to be made "of pure gold: of beaten work," its base, shaft, cups, knops, and flowers all of one piece (Ex 25:31). Six branches are to go out of its sides, three on each side, each branch carrying three cups "made like almond-blossoms" with their knops and flowers (Ex 25:32-33). The central shaft itself bears four such cups, with knops set under each pair of branches (Ex 25:34-35). The whole is to be "one beaten work of pure gold" (Ex 25:36). Seven lamps are to be set up on it, "and it will give light in front of it" (Ex 25:37). Its snuffers and snuffdishes "will be of pure gold" (Ex 25:38). It is to be made of a talent of pure gold, and Moses is told, "see that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you in the mount" (Ex 25:39-40).

In the construction narrative, Bezalel executes the instruction word for word. He makes the lampstand "of pure gold: of beaten work," with six branches going out of its sides, three on each side, almond-blossom cups with their knops and flowers, four cups in the central shaft, knops set under each pair of branches, "one beaten work of pure gold" (Ex 37:17-22). He makes "its lamps, seven, and its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, of pure gold" (Ex 37:23). The whole is made "of a talent of pure gold" (Ex 37:24). Numbers reaffirms the same: "this was the work of the lampstand, [a] beaten work of gold; to its base, up to its flower, it was [a] beaten work: according to the pattern which Yahweh had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand" (Num 8:4).

Place in the Tent of Meeting

The lampstand is set across from the table of showbread, on the south side of the tabernacle. The Sinai instruction places "the lampstand across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south," with the table on the north (Ex 26:35). When the tabernacle is finally raised, "he put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, across from the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lit the lamps before Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses" (Ex 40:24-25). The Hebrews letter, recapping the same arrangement, identifies the lampstand among the furniture of the first compartment: "there was a tabernacle prepared, the first, in which [were] the lampstand, and the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy place" (Heb 9:2).

Vessels and Carriage

The lampstand has its own set of accompanying vessels. The Sinai instruction names "its snuffers, and its snuffdishes," all to be "of pure gold" (Ex 25:38), and Bezalel makes them so (Ex 37:23). Numbers prescribes how the whole array travels. When the camp is to set forward, the priests "will take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels of it, with which they minister to it" (Num 4:9). They then enclose the covered lampstand and its vessels "inside a covering of sealskin," and put it "on the frame" (Num 4:10).

Carriage belongs to the sons of Kohath. Their service in the tent of meeting is "[about] the most holy things" (Num 4:4). After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all its furniture, "the sons of Kohath will come to bear it: but they will not touch the sanctuary, or they will die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting" (Num 4:15).

The Aaronic Charge

The lamp is to burn continually, and the charge is laid on Aaron and his sons. Israel is commanded to bring "pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually" (Ex 27:20). The standing arrangement is given immediately after: "In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons will keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh: it will be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the sons of Israel" (Ex 27:21). The morning attendance is paired with the daily incense: "Aaron will burn on it incense of sweet spices: every morning, when he dresses the lamps, he will burn it" (Ex 30:7). The lighting itself is directed toward the front of the lampstand: "Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When you light the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in front of the lampstand" (Num 8:2).

In the Shiloh narrative, the same continual lamp gives the time of Samuel's call. Before Yahweh speaks to the boy, "the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was laying down [to sleep], in the temple of Yahweh, where the ark of God was" (1Sa 3:3).

Solomon's Ten Lampstands

In the temple, the single tabernacle lampstand is succeeded by ten. Solomon's furnishing list places "the lampstands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold" (1Ki 7:49), with the cups, snuffers, basins, spoons, and firepans also of pure gold (1Ki 7:50). The Chronicler's account of David's pattern weighs out gold "for the lampstands of gold, and for their lamps, of gold, by weight for every lampstand and for its lamps; and for the lampstands of silver, [silver] by weight for [every] lampstand and for its lamps, according to the use of every lampstand" (1Ch 28:15). At the dedication, the temple holds "the lampstands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold" (2Ch 4:20).

Carried Off and Brought Back

The lampstands of the temple share the fate of its other gold and silver vessels. When Nebuzaradan plunders Jerusalem, "the cups, and the firepans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls--that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver,--the captain of the guard took away" (Jer 52:19).

In the post-exilic temple, the lampstand is removed again. When Antiochus enters the sanctuary, he "proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the lampstand of light, and all the vessels of it, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns, and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them all in pieces" (1Ma 1:22). The reconstruction comes under Judas. "They made new holy vessels, and brought in the lampstand, and the altar of incense, and the table into the temple" (1Ma 4:49). When the rite is restored, "they put incense on the altar, and lit up the lamps that were on the lampstand, and they gave light in the temple" (1Ma 4:50).

Zechariah's Vision

In Zechariah's night-visions, the lampstand of pure gold reappears with a feature not described at Sinai: a bowl on its top. The prophet sees "a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it" (Zec 4:2). At its sides stand two olive trees, and Zechariah asks the angel about them: "What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?" (Zec 4:11).

The Seven Lampstands of the Apocalypse

In the opening vision of Revelation, the lampstand is again sevenfold and again of gold. John turns "to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands" (Re 1:12). Among them stands "one like a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded about at the breasts with a golden belt" (Re 1:13). The mystery is named: "the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven lampstands are seven churches" (Re 1:20).

Where the tabernacle lampstand had to be kept in order from evening to morning, the lampstands of the seven churches can be moved out of place. To Ephesus the warning is: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to you, and will move your lampstand out of its place, except you repent" (Re 2:5). Later, the two witnesses are named in Zechariah's idiom: "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, who stand before the Lord of the earth" (Re 11:4).