Numbers 8:2

THE LAMPS, Numbers 8:1-4.

2. The seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick R.V., “in front of.” The Hebrew here is very explicit, yet it is difficult to imagine how the lamps on the candlestick are to give light over against its face or front. This face was the front shown by the seven arms, as they formed a straight line. Since the chandelier stood on the south side of the holy place, the face or front would be northward toward the table of show-bread, and not eastward toward the door of the tabernacle, so that more light was cast northward than eastward, inasmuch as a priest entering in would see the lamps all in a line as one light. The south side of the chandelier could not be called the front, because the lamps were not symmetrically constructed, the wick not being in the middle, but at the edge, so that the light was thrown upon one side, illumining this front space more than that behind. Throughout the Scriptures oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit by which believers are filled with light and life. Zechariah 4:2-12; Matthew 25:1-13; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9; 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27. The show-bread typifies Christ, the Bread of life. The chandelier pouring its full blaze northward upon the showbread beautifully sets forth the great office of the Spirit in the “holy place” of the sanctified heart. “He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine and show it unto you.” John 16:14, note.