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Bible Dictionaries
Lamp
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Lamp.
1. That part of the Golden Candlestick belonging to the Tabernacle which bore the light; also of each of the ten candlesticks placed by Solomon in the Temple before the Holy of Holies. Exodus 25:37; 1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chronicles 4:20; 2 Chronicles 13:11; Zechariah 4:2. The lamps were lighted every evening and cleansed every morning. Exodus 30:7-8.
2. A torch or flambeau, such as was carried by the soldiers of Gideon. Judges 7:16; Judges 7:20. Compare Judges 15:4. The use, in marriage processions, of lamps fed with oil is alluded to in the parable of the ten virgins. Matthew 25:1. Modern Egyptian lamps consist of small glass vessels with a tube at the bottom containing a cotton wick twisted around a piece of straw.
For night travelling, a lantern composed of waxed cloth strained over a sort of cylinder of wire rings, and a top and bottom of perforated copper. This would, in form, at least, answer to the lamps within pitchers of Gideon.
"The Hebrews, like the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as the modern Orientals, were accustomed to burn lamps all night. This custom, with the effect produced by their going out or being extinguished, supplies various figures to the sacred writers. 2 Samuel 21:17; Proverbs 13:9; Proverbs 20:20. On the other hand, the keeping up of a lamp's light is used as a symbol of enduring and unbroken succession. 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 15:4; Psalms 132:17." - McClintock and Strong.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Lamp'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/l/lamp.html. 1901.
