Exodus 25:37

37. Seven lamps One for each of the side stems or branches, and one for the central shaft .

They shall light the lamps Or, cause the lamps to go up, that is, they shall elevate or place the lamps (the lighted, shining lamps) in their position, that they may give light over against it, that is, opposite the place where it stood, the opposite side of the room.

The above description of the golden candlestick is somewhat obscure. The exact form of the shafts, or branches, and the knops and flowers is left to conjecture, nor can we determine from what is here written whether the central shaft and the six branches were all carried up to the same height, and whether the branches proceeded out of the shaft at right angles or formed a curve in their upward turn. No dimensions are given, and we can judge of its size only by supposing that its height would have been as high, and probably somewhat higher, than the table, and its breadth between the two outer lamps at least two feet. Josephus ( Ant., 3: 6, 7) describes it as having a shaft rising from a single base and spreading itself into as many branches as there are planets, including the sun among them. Its seven heads terminated in one row, and all stood parallel to one another. A conspicuous object among the spoils of Jerusalem pictured on the Arch of Titus at Rome is a figure of the candlestick, with its central shaft and six arms. It is not certain that this is an exact copy of even the one captured at the fall of the temple, for the Roman artist may have modified some of its parts; but in its main outline it doubtless truly represents the original. The two additional cuts herewith given exhibit two slightly different models, the one showing all the lamps on the same level, and the other at various elevations. Either of these will illustrate the statements of the text commented on above. Here is seen, first, the pedestal or base ( shaft of Exodus 25:31) from which rises the main shaft with its four knops and associated ornamentation, (Exodus 25:31; Exodus 25:34-35,) and from which three pipes branched out on each side, one above the other, and formed so many arms to hold the lamps. Each of these branches had three bowls or cups (Exodus 25:33) along with knop and flower, as the central shaft had four, placed as described in Exodus 25:35. Most writers believe that the seven lamps were all elevated to the same level, which is probable, but not made certain by what is here written. That they were all in a row, or in the same plane, as shown in all these cuts, is evident from Exodus 25:32, where the six branches are described as coming out of two sides of the main shaft.