Exodus 25:31-40

Exodus 25:31 P. The Golden Candlestick (or Lampstand, cf. Exodus 37:17 and Exodus 25:24). This was of massive gold, weighing 96 lbs., with its vessels (Exodus 25:40), having a base, a central stem, and six branches, all ornamented with bosses shaped like almond flowers, each cup or entire blossom being made up of the outer knop or calyx and the inner flower or corolla, three bosses on each branch and four on the central stem, as well as knops at the three points where the pairs of branches met the stem (Exodus 25:31). The seven lamps were probably shaped like sauce-boats, the wick protruding at the narrow end, and were to be fixed on (not lighted) so as to give light over against it, i.e. in front of it, with the wicks pointing north (Exodus 25:37). Tongs or tweezers for drawing up the wicks, and snuff-dishes were ordered also (Exodus 25:38). This design corresponds to that used in the post-exilic Temple (1Ma_1:21) as shown on the Arch of Titus (contrast the ten in Solomon's Temple, 1 Kings 7:49).