Mentioned as a secular object only in 2 Kings 4:10. The candlestick in the Temple, however, is frequently referred to, although there is no reliable definite information from earlier times concerning its use or its shape.
(1) In the temple of Shiloh a “ner” (lamp) is mentioned, but not a “menorah” (candlestick); according to 1 Samuel 3:3, the lamp seems to have burned only at night. In 1 Kings 7:49 ten golden candlesticks are referred to, five of which stood to the right and five to the left of the “debir” (oracle); and in Jeremiah 52:19 menorot are also found, though not in the parallel passage, 2 Kings 25:14. By modern critics, however, both 1 Kings 7:48-50 and Jeremiah 52:19 have been held to be interpolations. It may be merely accidental that we have no stronger references to the use of candlesticks in Solomon’s Temple, for the number ten is undoubtedly based on ancient tradition; and if Solomon had no golden candlesticks, he probably had them of bronze, cast for him by Huram (compare Stade’s “Zeitschrift,” 3:173 et seq.).
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Author: Jewish Encyclopedia
Keywords: Candlestick
Source: Isidore Singer (editor), The Jewish Encyclopedia (12 Volumes), (1906).
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.