And he put the candlestick in the tent of meeting, opposite to the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward.
Moses sets the lampstand in the holy place, on the south side, straight across from the table. The room had no window, so two questions matter: what does this golden stand picture, and why did God fix its place?
No daylight reached the holy place. Everything a priest could see there, he saw by the lamps Moses lit on this stand.
The Holy Place was full of light. There was no room in it for darkness, which is a vivid picture of death and its fitting companion. All the light came from the seven lamps of gold. One lamp stood on top of each of the seven branches of the golden lampstand.
That light had a boundary.
The lampstand gave its light inside the holy place; the only light that was inside. I do not think the lampstand pictures testimony in the world. It is rather light in the circle where the priests serve. It is light in relation to the holy things of God, and it is there for the saints of God, not exactly for the world.
Unlike the ark, this piece had no acacia wood in it at all.
Pure gold brings to our minds God Himself. Gold shows God's righteousness. This lampstand was made completely of pure gold: there was no acacia wood in it like the ark. So what does this tell us? The lampstand speaks of the Lord Jesus Himself, One who is God, not as a man in this world but as alive in the presence of God.
The stand itself is not the flame. It holds the flame up.
The lampstand is distinct from the light, for it is really the light-bearer, and speaks of Christ as the Sustainer of all testimony for God. Light is the very nature of God: "God is light" (1 John 1:5).
Nothing in the stand could shine on its own. Israel had to supply beaten olive oil, and commentators consistently read the oil as the Spirit of God.
The lampstand is the glorified, risen Christ, and the light is the Holy Spirit who makes these known.
Verse 25 adds that Moses lit the lamps, but they did not stay lit by themselves. Someone had to tend them.
Aaron and his sons were responsible to care for it, trimming the wicks, and so on. So it is priestly work to see that the Spirit of God has His full, unhindered freedom to make the light of testimony shine bright. Trimming the wicks speaks of judging the flesh, so that the Spirit is free to do His positive work of shining out testimony. We are never given a vacation from godly exercise.
The place matters. From the south side, the light reached every piece in the room.
The lampstand was to light the whole holy place. It is also mentioned alongside each piece of furniture in the room. It was set "opposite the table" (Ex. 40:24-25), which would then be completely lit by it. It is also spoken of in connection with the burning of the incense on the golden altar (Ex. 30:7-8). So each piece of furniture stood out clearly in the lampstand's light, and by that light service could be done at each one.
What was true of the bread is true of us.
Note, the showbread is shone upon. It does not make the light. God provides the light to shine upon it. "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth," John 16:13. What is needed is that we open ourselves to His blessed working. We do that by taking, without reserve, the full position in grace which God gives.
Moses did not arrange the room by taste. The closing phrase of verse 25 is the refrain of the whole chapter.
Verses 1 to 15 give God's instructions to Moses, and verse 16 tells us that Moses did simply as the Lord commanded. The details of the raising up of the tabernacle are then repeated in verses 18 to 33. The fact that these things are repeated so often shows their importance in the eyes of God, so it is well if we meditate on all these details.
That obedience is what opened the way for God to move in.
The Lord God Himself had directed this tabernacle to be made. He had shown every part of it, in patterns, to Moses; and everything now matched those patterns exactly... Then, keeping it all in His sovereign hand, the Lord commands Moses to put it together and raise it up in its sanctuary form. Moses does so, still in the spirit of obedience. And the Lord, in the symbols of the cloud and the glory, takes possession of it as His dwelling place.
- Source. The holy place had no window; every ray came from the seven lamps Moses lit on this stand.
- Substance. Solid gold with no wood speaks of Christ as God, alive in God's presence — the bearer of the light, not the light itself.
- Supply. The light is the Holy Spirit, who shows the beauty of the risen Christ; the wicks need trimming so it keeps shining bright.
- Scope. Facing the table, the light fell on the bread and on the golden altar. It served the priests inside, not the world outside.
- Submission. Moses placed it where God said, and God then took the finished tent for Himself in the cloud and the glory.
And he lighted the lamps before Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
Moses has finished putting up the tabernacle. Now he sets each piece in place: the table, the bread, the lampstand, and then the lamps. No ordinary Israelite would ever enter that tent. Two questions press on this short verse. Who was the light for? And why does the same clause about Moses keep coming back?
The lamps burned inside a closed room. That one fact settles who the light was for:
Seven lamps rested on the seven branches of the beautiful lampstand. Inside the Holy Place they shed their light on the lampstand itself. Those outside never saw the light of the lamps strike the varied features of the lampstand. The priests who served inside the Holy Place did walk in the light of the lamps. But the shining was aimed at God Himself. The lamps shone for God's pleasure. The light had to keep burning "before Jehovah continually."
One writer links the seven lamps here to a scene in the last book of the Bible:
The number of its lamps was seven, and these were "lighted before Jehovah" (Ex. 40:25). We cannot fail to recall the words of the book of Revelation: "seven torches of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God" (Rev. 4:5).
(Older translations read Exodus 40:25 as "he lighted the lamps," and Revelation's "torches" as "lamps." That is why the two verses sound so alike.)
The lamps sat on a stand of pure gold. Where their light fell decides what the picture teaches:
This is not a picture of the Lord Jesus as the Light of the world. The reason is that this lamp lights the Holy Place during the night. Its light did not shine in the world. First of all, the light of the lamps was to light up the lampstand itself. The people had to bring oil to the priests. That oil was the fuel for the bowls, which kept the lamps burning. This oil refers to the Holy Spirit. So we have a figure of the Lord Jesus in the midst of His people, gathered to His name out from the world. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to tell us of His glory.
The stand carried buds, blossoms and fruit, and the light picked out every one:
The pure light of the lamps brought out all these features as it fell upon the beautiful lampstand. There was not a single feature on the lampstand that did not bring out something of Christ.
The lamps needed oil. The stand took its shape under the hammer. One writer joins the two:
The "pure oil" represents the grace of the Holy Spirit. That grace rests on the work of Christ, as the lampstand of "beaten gold" shows. The "olive" was pressed to yield the "oil," and the gold was "beaten" to form the lampstand. In other words, the grace and light of the Spirit rest on the death of Christ. The priesthood of Christ keeps them clear and powerful. The golden lamp spread its light through the sanctuary during the dreary hours of night. Darkness lay over the nation, and everyone slept. In all this we have a vivid picture of God's faithfulness to His people, whatever their outward condition.
Moses set the lampstand facing the table, and its light brought the whole room into view:
The lampstand gave light throughout the whole holy place. Yet it is also named with each separate article in the room. It was set "over against the table" (Ex. 40:24-25), which would then be completely lit by it... So each piece of furniture stood out in the light of the lampstand, and service could go on at each one by that light.
The verse ends the way its neighbours do. One writer counts that refrain and makes it the point of the chapter:
What is the praise He gives? It is that everything was done in obedience — "as the Lord commanded Moses." Eight times over we read that everything followed the instructions he had received (vv. 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32)... There was never a time of greater energy and activity. Never did larger crowds gather, claiming to worship. But measure all this by the test in the words, "as the Lord commanded Moses," and you find that man's will, and not the Lord's, is often the main spring of it all.
- Commanded — eight times this chapter adds "as the LORD had commanded Moses." God commends obedience, not energy, in the work of His house.
- Kindled — the light came from oil the people brought. That oil pictures the Holy Spirit, resting on Christ's work and kept burning by His priesthood.
- Inward — the lamps shone inside a closed room, not out at the world; the shining was for God's pleasure.
- Christ-ward — the light fell first on the golden stand, picking out every bud, blossom and fruit. Each one told of Christ.
- Serviceable — because the lamps burned, each piece of furniture stood out, and service could go on at each one.