I’m not an Old Testament priest, so it’s hard for me to imagine what it felt like to walk into the holy place of the Tabernacle. Outside the tent, there was most likely a flood of noise and blood. But inside? A place of serenity and devotion.
As described later in Exodus, the Tabernacle was completely enclosed by thick tents. The only light in the holy place came from a single golden lampstand that stood on the south side of the Tabernacle, opposite the the table of showbread.
Although we’re not given the exact size for the lampstand, we are told that it and the adjacent utensils were created using a single talent of pure gold (Exodus 25:39), which weighs about 75 pounds. Josephus also records that it was about five feet high, which makes it almost as tall as an average Jewish male from that time period.
As with everything else in the Tabernacle, the details matter. There is one central lampstand with three branches on either side. Each branch has three cups of almond blossoms, with the central stem containing four. A single lamp was on the top of each branch. For a visual depiction, the Arch of Titus in Rome has a great carving that shows what it looked like in the first century.
The significance of the seven branches has been argued to infinity, but what gets lost in the minutiae is the meaning of the lampstand as a whole. Almond trees—which is what the cups are made to resemble—are the first blossom of the Spring. It represents newness and life, which is actually what happens when you’re forgiven (the very purpose of the Tabernacle).
In a way, the lampstand even represents life itself. It gives light to everything in the holy place (just like God Himself—1 John 1:5), and with the blossoms on the stems, the lampstand even physically resembles a tree. Some posited it even looks like the tree of life inside the Garden of Eden.
There’s no way to talk about all the different aspects of the lampstand and what it symbolizes without sparking an argument, but I would challenge us to focus less on the individual meaning and more on the lampstand itself. As you walked into the Tabernacle, the lampstand reminded you of your purpose: To commune with light and receive life.
