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  • From: Peter_Kirk AT sil.org
  • To: 596547 AT ican.net, b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: menorah design
  • Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 10:24 -0500 (EST)


I too have been puzzled by this verse (Num 8:2). But I guessed that
the lamps on the menora were originally something like the ones often
shown in illustrations, which look something like a flat teapot
(without handle), in which the wick was placed in the "spout". From
the New Bible Dictionary (IVP) I see that this design is Hellenistic,
but that the lamps used both in late middle bronze age Jericho and
later in Samaria were more like a saucer with one corner pinched out
for the wick. So I guess the ones in the Tabernacle would have been
similar - or was there a different Egyptian design? In each case there
was a specific direction for the wick, and in that direction most
light would be shed. So that presumably lies behind the instruction
for facing the lamps in a particular direction.

Peter Kirk




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