Introduction:
“It was dark, cold and snowing. There went along the street a poor little girl with naked feet. She carried matches in an old apron and held a bundle of them in her hand…
She crept along trembling with cold and hunger. The flakes of snow covered her long fair hair, which fell in beautiful curls around her neck. From all the windows the candles were gleaming, and it smelt so deliciously of roast goose, for it was New Year’s Eve…
Her little hands were numb from cold. Oh! a match might warm her fingers. She drew one out and rubbed against the wall. How it blazed, how it burnt! It was a warm, bright flame, as she held her hands over it. It was a wonderful light!
She lighted another match. Now there she was sitting under the most magnificent Christmas tree. Thousands of lights were burning on the green branches. The little maiden stretched out her hands towards them, when the match went out. The lights of the Christmas tree rose higher and higher, she saw them now as stars in heaven…” – from “The Little Match Girl,” by Hans Christian Andersen, paraphrased
Menorah, Fray Juan Ricci
Lamps
What do they represent in the Bible?
In Yohannan 18:3 the “torches” held by those who came to arrest Yeshua in the Garden of Gethsemane where “lamps”:
“…and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.” – Yohannan 18:3
The same Greek word “lampas” is used in both Yohannan 18:3 and Matthew 25:1:
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” – Matthew 25:1
The picture of the torches pained in the scene of Yeshua’s arrest gives us a good idea of what the virgins’ “lamps” might have looked like. These “lamps” where used as torches outside. Some of these lamps with a large flat bowl and a rag or rope wick were also present in the room where Paul was teaching in Acts 20:8. This kind of lamp could be attached to a pole, and used as an outdoor torch to illuminate one’s steps in darkness.
“For the commandment is a lamp; and the Law/Torah is light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” – Proverbs 6:23
In the Hebrew original “lamp” is “neyr” and means lamp, candle, or light.
The lamp that lights our way in darkness is God’s commandment.
A lamp that is lit represents salvation:
“For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.” – Isaiah 62:1
See also:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” – Ps 119:105
“The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” – Proverbs 13:9
Lamp has yet another meaning in the Bible; not only it represents commandment, but also the spirit of man:
“The spirit of a man is the lamp/neyr of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart.” – Proverbs 20:27
Empty of filled we are lamps!
to be continued…
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