Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAMPSTAND

A pedestal for oil-filled wick lamps, or a stand incorporating one or more such lamps into its structure.

Although lamps might be put on a shelf or niche, they were frequently set on a separate lampstand (Heb. mĕnôrâ; 2 Kgs. 4:10; Gk. lychnía; Matt. 5:15). Some lampstands were single-stemmed and held only one lamp, while others featured several branches on the pedestal.

As with the lamp, most biblical references are to lampstands intended for cultic usage: a golden, seven-branched lampstand, cylindrical in form, used in the wilderness tabernacle (Exod. 25:31-40; 37:17-24); 10 golden lampstands in Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs. 7:49); the golden lampstand (perhaps two?) of the postexilic second temple, featuring a bowl with seven seven-lipped lamps (cf. Zech. 4:1-6, 11-14). The apocalyptic visions of Rev. 1:12-13, 20; 2:1 depict seven single lampstands.

The seven-branched temple lampstand from the Roman period appears in the earliest artistic depictions (cf. the arch of Titus in Rome) and forms the basis, in the Jewish tradition, for its later renderings.

Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LAMPSTAND

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)