Candle-Stick

Candle-Stick

Candle-stick.

1. The candlestick, which Moses was commanded to make for the Tabernacle, is described in  Exodus 25:31-37;  Exodus 37:17-24. It was not strictly a "candlestick," as it held seven richly-adorned lamps. With its various appurtenances, it required a talent of "pure gold;" and it was not moulded, but "of beaten work," and has been estimated to have been worth, in our money, over $25,000.

From the Arch of Titus, where they sculptured the spoils taken from Jerusalem, we learn that it consisted of a central stem, with six branches, three on each side. It was about five feet high. See Arch Of Titus . The candlestick was placed on the south side of the first apartment of the Tabernacle, opposite the Table of Shew Bread,  Exodus 25:37, and was lighted every evening and dressed every morning.  Exodus 27:20-21;  Exodus 30:8. Compare  1 Samuel 3:2.

Each lamp was supplied with cotton and about two wineglasses of the purest olive oil, which was sufficient to keep it burning during a long night. In Solomon's Temple, instead of or in addition to this candlestick, there were ten Golden Candlesticks similarly embossed, five in the right and five on the left.  1 Kings 7:49;  2 Chronicles 4:7. They were taken to Babylon.  Jeremiah 52:19. In the Temple of Zerubbabel, there was again a single candlestick.  1 Maccabees 1:21;  1 Maccabees 4:49.

2. The candlestick in  Matthew 5:15;  Mark 4:21, is merely a lamp-stand, made in various forms, to hold up the simple Oriental hand-lamps.