This started as a bonus post about the Lampstand that I’ve been promising for a while. But since Numbers 8 begins with God giving instructions to Moses about the lamps, I thought I’d drop it in here. And this is all I’m going to cover in this post. I think we’ve talked sufficiently about the Levites representing Israel. Chapter 9 covers the “back-up” Passover and how God appeared as a cloud and pillar of fire. It also helps us realize that the narrative is about to shift gears from a day-by-day account to more like that journal you started but there may be months or years between entries.
So… I had a few mental dots connect about the lamps and wanted to share them. Consider this a deep-dive on the Menorah.
The Menorah – the golden almond tree lamp in the Holy Place – had 7 lamps. The branches seem to have held the supply of consecrated oil. It is not, I repeat NOT a “candlestick.” A candlestick is a stand that holds candles. Candles hadn’t even been invented yet. The Menorah of the Tabernacle is a 7-wick oil lamp made of 75 lbs of solid gold – that’s about 3 gold bars or a ball of gold about the size of small cantaloupe (which isn’t NEAR as much as I imagined.)
Most people had single, double or perhaps multi-wick lamps made of clay. Like these:
There aren’t many times in scripture where we get a peek into heaven to see the original tabernacle. But there are a few spots where someone sees the heavenly 7-lamps. And it’s rather mind-bending. Let’s look at them.
ZECHARIAH’S EXPERIENCE
“Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep. “What do you see now?” he asked. I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks. And I see two olive trees, one on each side of the bowl.” Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my Lord? What do they mean?” “Don’t you know?” the angel asked. “No, my Lord,” I replied.”
(Then follows a prophecy concerning Zerubbabel…Then we get this:)
“The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord that search all around the world. Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on each side of the lampstand, and what are the two olive branches that pour out golden oil through two gold tubes?” “Don’t you know?” he asked. “No, my Lord,” I replied. Then he said to me, “They represent the two anointed ones who stand in the court of the Lord of all the earth.”
Zechariah 4:1-5, 10-14 NLT
I love that the angel is kinda flabbergasted that Zechariah doesn’t know what he’s looking at.
Zechariah: (pointing) “What’s that?”
Angel: “You don’t know?”
Zechariah: “Am I supposed to?”
Angel: “C’mon Bro. Keep up.”
The 7 lamps are a visual representation of the eyes of God – which means that texts that refer to “the eyes of the Lord” are an oblique reference to the heavenly Menorah. As to the 2 heavenly olive trees – the “two anointed ones” – I have some guesses, but I’m not really sure.
And there are 49 individual wicks: 7 lamps each having 7 wicks. This multiple of 7 will be important next.
JOHN’S EXPERIENCE
“This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne;”
Revelation 1:4 NLT
We need to make an important distinction. There is a SINGLE golden lampstand in heaven (Zechariah saw it) and it has 7 lamps and 49 wicks. John sees this sevenfold-lamp but he also sees an additional 7 lampstands:
“When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. And standing in the middle of the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man. He was wearing a long robe with a gold sash across his chest.”
Then follows a description of a person that can be none other than Jesus. Who says,
“This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
Revelation 1:12-13, 20 NLT
These are lampstands (plural). And Jesus stands “in the middle” of them. And He says point blank that they are the seven churches. The fact that the churches and the Menorah are all lampstands are meant to connect. The Church is the Body of Christ – the dwelling place of the Spirit.
In Revelation 2:1, Jesus identifies Himself to the church at Ephesus as “the One who walks among the seven gold lampstands.” Then there is a slight shift when addressing Sardis:
“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars…”
Revelation 3:1 NLT
Jesus has the sevenfold Spirit of God.
Pause on that for a moment.
Seven carries the idea of fullness or even indefinite. It reminds me of what John the Baptist said about Jesus:
“For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.” John 3:34 NLT
Continuing in Revelation:
“From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit of God.” Revelation 4:5 NLT
“Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth.”
Revelation 5:6 NLT
Instead of asking What the Menorah represents we should be asking Who the Menorah represents.
The Prophet Hanani had to confront King Asa because the king had stopped relying on Yahweh and instead was relying on human support. At the end of his word to the king he said, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war.” 2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT
Once we start to bring the whole Word of God together, we can see that “the eyes of the Lord” isn’t a team of spy angels or a disembodied floating pair of eyeballs flying around. It’s the Eternal Word who will become incarnate and be called Jesus. You may also want to look at Psalm 34:15 and Hebrews 4:13.
The number 7 may be indicating that Jesus’ sight and perception are unlimited and multi-faceted. God does not see as man sees. Jesus sees into the heart and can perceive even hidden motives:
“For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”
Hebrews 4:12 NLT
K. Put your thinking cap on:
If the lampstand and it’s flames represent the sevenfold Spirit of God and His “eyes”; and if Jesus HAS the sevenfold Spirt that searches all the facets and layers of existence; and if the Churches are represented likewise by 7 lampstands and Jesus stands in the middle of them… I think it’s clear that the Churches are the current Tabernacle of God. God dwells in the middle of humanity, not in a tent with a golden Menorah but by the indwelling sevenfold Spirit of God present in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the heavenly Menorah – the light of the City.
The Kingdom of Darkness has a tendency to try to copy the Kingdom of God. Do we ever see a unity of 7 evil spirits? Yes. Yes we do.
“Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.”
Luke 8:1-2 NLT
In Acts 19:13-16 we have a brief account of the seven sons of Sceva who were Jewish exorcists trying to cast out a demon. The seven of them were beaten by the demonized man. In this case it was 7 men vs 1 demon possessed man.
“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
Matthew 12:43-45 NLT (see also Lk. 11:26)
Jesus could’ve chose ANY number, but he said seven. One evil spirit plus seven more.
7 + 1 = 8. Hmm… why does that ring a bell?
“This calls for a mind with understanding: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules. They also represent seven kings. Five kings have already fallen, the sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief. “The scarlet beast that was, but is no longer, is the eighth king. He is like the other seven, and he, too, is headed for destruction.” Revelation 17:9-11 NLT
The unseen realm is very real and very hard to get our heads around. It’s helpful to detach our imaginations from the physical realm governed by the laws of physics and time. Don’t get bogged down by visual imagery of a lamb with a spider-like face with 7 beady eyeballs. These descriptions have MUCH more to do with meaning than appearance.
There are more tidbits about flames and eyes and lamps and sevens that fit into the whole Menorah matrix of ideas and we could be at this for a lot longer, but I think we’ll stop here:
On the day of Pentecost there were “about 120” little flames. Each one of the disciples (men and women) were like wicks in a multi-light lamp – all burning the oil of the Holy Spirit.
To The Reader 