Luke 8:16

λύχνον. “A lamp.” The connexion lies partly in the antithesis between penal obscurity and the dissemination of added light.

σκεύει. St Luke uses the word as more intelligible to his Gentile readers than “bushel.”

ὑποκάτω κλίνης. ‘Under a couch.’ The ancient Jews had nothing resembling our bed. They slept on divans, or on mats laid upon the floor, as is still the case in the East. The best comment on this verse is Matthew 5:14; Matthew 5:16, “Ye are the light of the world.… Let your light so shine before men, &c.” John the Baptist is compared to ‘a lamp kindled and shining,’ and here the disciples are compared to it. Christ lighted the flame in their souls to be a beacon to all the world.

ἐπὶ λυχνίας τίθησιν. ‘Places it on a lamp-stand.’