Numbers 8:1-4 - The Sacred Lamps

I. THAT THE REPETITION HERE OF WHAT HAD BEEN SUFFICIENTLY DECLARED BEFORE SHOWS THE DIVINE CONCERN ON THE SUBJECT . Even so there is nothing which more concerns God than that the light of his revelation in Christ should be made to shine abroad strong and clear.

II. THAT THE LAMPS WERE TO BE SO ARRANGED AS THAT THEIR LIGHT SHOULD BE THROWN RIGHT ACROSS THE HOLY PLACE , AND FALL UPON THE TABLE WITH ITS LOAVES . Even so the light of the gospel—without which the Church were in total darkness, as the holy place without the candelabrum—is to be so shed abroad as that it illumine the whole breadth of the Church, and fall especially upon the faithful, represented by the loaves of remembrance ( John 8:12 ; Acts 13:47 ; Ephesians 5:14 ; 2 Peter 1:19 ).

III. THAT AARON DID SO , AS COMMANDED , AND THE LAMPS DID SO SHINE . Even so the light of revelation has never ceased to shine out in the Church, and to illumine the faithful—even if not always very brightly—amidst all the changes of time, and the commotions of the world.

IV. THAT IT IS REPEATED HERE ( AS IF VERY IMPORTANT ) THAT THE CANDELABRUM WAS WHOLLY OF BEATEN WORK , AND WAS MADE AFTER THE PATTERN IN THE MOUNT . As made of beaten work, it was of human art and much labour; as made after the pattern in the Mount, it was Divine in conception, and that even in detail. Exactly so is the Divine revelation which is the light of the Church on earth: in its outward presentation to the senses and the understanding of men it is beholden to human labour and elaboration; but in its essence, its "idea," it is Divine, proceeding from the mind of God.

V. THAT IT IS SPECIALLY RECORDED THAT IT WAS ALL OF GOLD FROM THE CENTRAL SHAFT TO THE ORNAMENTAL FLOWERS . Even so the revelation of God, which giveth light ( Psalms 119:105 ), is altogether pure and precious from the main stem of sacred history even to the lightest flowers of sacred poetry.