table was only 1 cubit or six handbreadths, the loaves were baked with two handbreadths [their 'horns'] turned up at either end, thus taking the shape of a huge square bracket! (For these and similar speculations, as curious as useless, see Mcnnlwth xi. 4 tl". ; the Baraithn, % vii., with Flcschs notes and diagrams ; Edersheim, The Temple, 154 If. ; and Ugolinus' treatise in his Tliesaurus, vol. x.). The position of the table was on ' the north side' of the lioly place (26").
(4) The golden Lampstand (Ex 25^'-*' = 37"" [Gr. SS'"-'"] : cf. Jos. Ant. III. vi. 7, BJ VII. v. 5). — Of the whole furniture of the tabernacle, the article to which, since Wyclif's time, our Eng. versions have given the misleading designation ' the candlestick,' afforded the neatest opportunity for the display of artistic skill It was in reality a lampstand (n-iijo, Xux*"'" — the latter in Mt 5'" and parallels, where RV gives ' [lanip]-8tand,' Vulg. candelabrum) of pure gold (§ iii.), hence also termed the ' pure lampstand' (31* 39" etc. [cf. 'the pure table,' Lv 24'']; for other designations see below). See also Lamp.
The lampstand on the Arch of Titus differs from that described tn the text of P in several particulars, notably in the details of the ornamentation (see Reland'a plate, op. cit. 6). In thia respect il ajfrees better with the description of Josephus, who speaks of its ' knops and lilies with pomegranates and bowls,' seventy ornaments in all. The base, further, is hexagonal in form and ornamented with non-Jewish fi(j:ure8, while Jewish tradition speaks of the lampstand of the second temple as having a tn[K)d base. The earliest known representation of the stand is found on certain copper coins doubtfully attributed to Antigonus, the last of the Ilajsmonieans (Madden, Coing of the Jeu'g, 102, with woodcut). At a later period the seven-branched •candlestick,' more or less conventionally treated, was a favour, ite motif with Jewish and Christian artists on lamps,* gems, tombs, etc
Like the cherubim above the propitiatory (§ ix.), the lampstand was of ' beaten (i.e. rcpoussi) work' (•T»pr). A talent of gold was employed in its con- struction, the general idea of wliicIi is clear (see illustration) : from a central stem three opposite
TUB OOLDBN LAUPSTAIiD.
pairs of arms branched off ' like the arrangement of a trident' (Josephus), curving outwards and upwards till their extremities, on which the lamps were placed, were on a level with the top of the shaft. The upper portion of this central stem, from the lowest pair of arms upwards, is termctl the shaft (.ijf;, so RV ; not as A V ' branch '), also the lampstand ;)«r cxrdlcnre (v.'"); the lower portion is the base (so rightly KV for -nr., lit. ' loins, in the Mishna O'Oj Kel. xi."7). The latter, we have seen, probably ended in a tripod with clawed feet, aa in the table of shewbread. The leading motive of the ornamentation on stem and arms is derived
• For one of the best of these, showing Uie bua In the forn ot a tripod, lee PKt'St, 1880, p. 8.
664
TABEENACLE
TABER^^ACLE
^fjm the flower or blossom of the almond tree. The complete ornament, introduced four times on tlie stem and three times on each of the six branches, is termed y-jj (gcbla , lit. 'cuj),' so RV; AV ' bowl '), and consists of two parts,* correspond- ing to the cal3'x and corolla of the almond flower, the kaphtCr (EV 'knop') and the pcrnh (EV 'flower') of the text. At what intervals' these 'knops and flowers' are to be introduced is not stated (for the speculations of the Rabbis see Flesch, op. cit. with dia<rrams), nor do we know how the four sets of v." are to be distributed. It is usuallj' assumed that these include the three knops which in v.^' ornament the points where the branches diverge from the stem. It seems to us more in harmony with the text to regard the three knops in question, with which no flowers are associated, as suggested rather by the scales of the stem of a tree, from whose axils spring the buds which develop into branches. We accordingly prefer to find seven knops on the central stem, viz. two 'knops and flowers' to ornament the base, three ' knops' alone, forming axils for the branches, and two ' knops and flowers ' on the upper part of the shaft. Shaft and arms alike probably termin- ated in a 'cup' with its knop and flower, the five outspread petals of the corolla servin" as a tray for one of the seven lamps.t The latter were doubtless of the unvarj'ing Eastern pattern (see Lamp). The nozzles were turned towards the north, facing the table of shewbread, the lampstand having its place on the south side of the Holy Place. To see that the lamps were supplied with the finest produce of the olive ('puie olive oil beaten,' for which see OiL, vol. iii. p. 591*, 592»), trimmed and cleaned, was part of thedaily duty of the priests. The necessary apparatus, the snuffers and snuff-dishes (which see) with the 'oil vessels' (Nu 4'), were also of pure gold.
From the notices in the different strata of P (Ex 27»'-, of. 30', Lv 24"f-, Nu 8"^-) it is not clear whether the lamps were to be kept burning day and night or by ni^ht only. The latter alterna- tive was the custom in the sanctuary of Shiloli (1 S 3'). From Lv 24'»- (note v.»)— of which Ex 27«"- is perhaps a later reproduction — it would appear that the lamps burned only 'from evening to morning.' At the time of the morning sacrifice they were to be trimmed, cleaned, and replaced (Ex 30', cf. Tumid iii. 9, vi. 1), ready to be relit in the evening (30», 2 Ch 13"). Against this, the prima faeie interpretation, must be put such con- siderations as these: (1) the ancient custom of the ever burning lamp alluded to under Candle (vol. i. p. 348'') ; (2) the expression I'c^ -a, a 'continual lamp or light' (Lv 24== Ex 27=») ; and (3) since the dwelling was absolutely dark, there must, one would think, have been some provision for light- ing it during tlie day. The practice of a later period, vouched for by Josephus (Ant. III. viii. 3 [§ 199], with which cf. his quotation from pseudo- Hecat.Teus, c. Apion. i. 22 [§ 199]), by which only three of the lamps burned by day and the remain- ing four were lighted at sunset, seems to be a compromise between the directions of the text and the practical necessities of the case (so Riehm, HWB'', art. 'Leuchter'). The Rabbinical notices are still later, and differ from both the data of P and those of Josephus. (On the wliole question