Lampstand

The lampstand or menorah was a stand on which one or more oil lamps could be placed.

The word menorah nowadays mostly evokes the seven-armed lampstand, an important symbol in Judaism. But in the Bible, the word is not only used for the lampstand in the tabernacle and the Temple. In the story of Elisha and the woman from Shunem, in 2 Kings 4:10 for instance it says, “Let's build a small room on the roof, put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp (menorah) in it, and he can stay there whenever he visits us.” We also do not know for certain what the lampstands in the Temple of Solomon looked like.

Exodus 37:17-24 describes the lampstand in the tabernacle: a golden lampstand with one central arm and three arms on either side. In total it could hold seven small oil lamps. This is the best-known shape of the seven-armed lampstand.

On the arch of Titus in Rome, a triumphal arch erected after the destruction of the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem in AD 70, there is a relief showing the seven-armed lampstand being carried out of the Temple. In the time after the destruction of the Temple, the menorah was depicted frequently, for instance on the mosaic floors of synagogues or on grave stones. The oldest known depiction of a seven-armed lampstand is on a bronze coin from the first century BC.

According to 1 Kings 7:49, there were ten golden lampstands in the Temple of Solomon, “the ten lampstands that stood in front of the Most Holy Place, five on the south side and five on the north; the flowers, lamps, and tongs”. These were especially made for the Temple of Solomon. What they looked like exactly cannot be determined from the text in 1 Kings. There is, however, a description in Zechariah 4:2, “A lampstand made of gold ... At the top is a bowl for the oil. On the lampstand are seven lamps, each one with places for seven wicks”.

Archaeologists have found several examples of stands with a bowl on top. Several earthenware oil lamps with seven channels for wicks have also been found, so it is certainly possible that the lampstands in the Temple of Solomon looked like the description in Zechariah.