A vessel used to keep and control fire as a source of light. This vessel, known as the oil lamp, had two basic parts: a receptacle for the oil and a wick inserted into the oil, whose protruding end would burn. Olives provided the main source of oil in Palestine; various materials, including flax, served as wicks. An easily understandable and powerful symbol of the importance of light, the oil lamp is referred to frequently in the Bible in a wide range of contexts. In the OT it conveys, e.g., the illuminating power of God (
2Sam 22:29;
Job 29:3) and of God’s precepts (
Ps 119:105); a father’s instructions to his dutiful son (
Prov 6:23); and the lasting existence of the Davidic dynasty (
1Kgs 11:36;
1Kgs 15:4). In the NT it is a symbol of the eye of the body (
Matt 6:22); the vigilance of the faithful servant (
Luke 12:35); and the function of the disciples in the world (
Matt 5:14-16).
2Sam 22:29
29Indeed, you are my lamp, O Lord,
the Lord lightens my darkness.
Job 29:3
3when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness;
Ps 119:105
105Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
Prov 6:23
23For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
1Kgs 11:36
36Yet to his son I will give one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.
1Kgs 15:4
4Nevertheless for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem;
Matt 6:22
The Sound Eye
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light;
Luke 12:35
Watchful Slaves
35“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;
Matt 5:14-16
14“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, an ... View more
