Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAMP

Fairly small vessels, much like a small bowl, holding oil into which a wick was placed.

Oil lamps are known well before the 4th millennium b.c.e. when stone bowls containing oil were burned. By the 3rd millennium a round saucer or shallow bowl evolved into a lamp, typically with four slight depressions on its rim (lamps with as many as seven “lips” have been found); these in turn developed into four open spouts, and in the 2nd millennium lamps had only one spout. This simple wheel-made bowl with one spout is what Israel borrowed from her Canaanite neighbors and used throughout the OT period.

Lamps (Heb. nēr) were normally made of fired clay or rarely of metal, while the wick was made of an absorbent cord, most often from flax. The wick was usually allowed to project slightly beyond the edge of the spout. The earliest fuel was animal fat, but by OT times olive oil was used widely and castor oil or sesame oil rarely. The first extraction of oil obtained by crushing the olives in a press produced a light, fat-free oil which was edible and most desirable. The best oil was also used for religious purposes (Exod. 27:20). Second and even third extractions produced oil of increasingly fatty content. This lower grade oil was widely used in lamps and was nearly smokeless and odorless. Large lamps could hold enough oil to burn throughout the night, but the wick would eventually burn down and require adjustment. Since there were no matches, some fire or pilot light had to be kept burning in the household. Smaller lamps were in danger of going out during the night (Prov. 31:18), and someone would need to get up during the night to attend to the lamp. In addition to some storage container to hold the oil, a sharp pointed instrument such as a knife or a sliver of wood was used to trim the wick as it burned. Something similar to a tweezers was probably used to extinguish the flame.

Lamps were most often placed in concave niches in the walls of houses, on a table, or in later times hung from the ceiling. If placed on a table there was probably a bowl underneath for stability and for catching any oil that slowly exuded through the clay lamp. To prevent this loss of oil through the clay, the lamp could be soaked in water and then a small layer of water placed at the bottom of the lamp on which the oil floated. Lamps also had a religious use. Up to one half of all vessels buried with the dead were oil lamps. The symbolism here is that lamp/light equals life and darkness equals death (2 Sam. 21:17). Lamps were also used in building dedications. These lamps were new with only slight traces of burning. Perhaps they were lit only at the dedication for a short time.

The lamp as a source of light is used in a number of metaphorical ways. It lights the way (Ps. 119:105), represents wise or divine precepts (Prov. 6:20, 23), and is a life spirit burning within (20:27). Yahweh is the lamp of the psalmist (Ps. 18:29[MT 30]), and David is the lamp of Israel (2 Sam. 21:17). Negatively, the lamp of the wicked will be put out (Prov. 13:9; Job 18:5-6), and haughty eyes and a proud heart — the lamp of the wicked — are sin (Prov. 21:4). The sanctuary lamp in the tabernacle is called māʾôr (Exod. 25:6; 27:20; 35:28), the same term used for the sun and moon in Gen. 1:14-16.

In NT times lamps were generally smaller, often closed vessels, and featured geometric decorations. They probably burned for only four to five hours if lighted at dusk and so would go out around midnight (Matt. 25:1-12). Both John the Baptist (John 5:35) and Jesus (Rev. 21:23) were equated to lamps. Sound teaching was compared to a burning lamp (2 Pet. 1:19). To keep the lamps burning implies being ready for service (Luke 12:35).

Bibliography. R. H. Smith, “The Household Lamps of Palestine in Old Testament Times,” BA 27 (1964): 2-31; “The Household Lamps of Palestine in Intertestamental Times,” BA 27 (1964): 101-24; “The Household Lamps of Palestine in New Testament Times,” BA 29 (1966): 2-27.

James C. Moyer/Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAMP

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)