the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Candle
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or נֵר , ner, a lamp, as elsewhere rendered; λύχνος, a light, as elsewhere.
I. Houses in the East were, from the earliest times, lighted up with lamps, and those of the Hebrews probably resembled such as we find depicted in the tombs at Thebes. Job, describing the destruction of a family among the Arabs, and the rendering one of their habitations desolate, says, "The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him" (Job 18:6; Job 21:17). On the other hand, when God promises to give David a lamp always in Jerusalem, it is an assurance that his house shouldnever become desolate. In the language of Jeremiah, to extinguish the light in an apartment is a convertible phrase for total destruction (Job 25:10). A burning lamp is, on the other hand, a symbol of prosperity (Job 29:3). Maillet, in his Lettres d'Egypte, says, "The houses in Egypt are never without lights; they burn lamps all the night long, and in every occupied apartment. So requisite to the comfort of a family is this custom reckoned, that the poorest people would rather retrench a part of their food than neglect it." Roberts, in illustration of the passage, "I will search Jerusalem with candles" (Zephaniah 1:12), remarks, "Does a man declare his innocence of any crime, the accusers say, ‘ We will search thee with lamps;'‘ Yes, yes, I will look into that affair with lamps;' ‘ What, have your lamps gone out? You see I am not guilty.' "(See LAMP).
There are monographs bearing on this subject as follows: D. W. Mü ller, De perennibus vet. lucernis (Altorf, 1705); J. J. Mü ller, De vet. λυχνοκαίᾷ (Jen. 1661); Schurzfleisch, De luminibus sacris (in his Controv. 25); Stockhausen, De cultu et usu lumisnum antiquo (Tr. ad Rh. 1726). (See CANDLESTICK).
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