Scripture Daily

Context No. 4014 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 25:31-40: in context

31“You shall make a lamp stand of pure gold. The lamp stand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. 32There shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lamp stand out of its one side, and three branches of the lamp stand out of its other side; 33three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower; and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lamp stand; 34and in the lamp stand four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers; 35and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lamp stand. 36Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it, all of it one beaten work of pure gold. 37You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall light its lamps to give light to the space in front of it. 38Its snuffers and its snuff dishes shall be of pure gold. 39It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these accessories. 40See that you make them after their pattern, which has been shown to you on the mountain.

God gives detailed instructions for a lampstand of pure gold, hammered from a single piece, with branches shaped like almond blossoms, and seven lamps to give light in the holy place. Its purpose was simple and central: to give light before the LORD, in a place that had no window, so that the priests could minister.

There is meaning in this golden light. In the holy place, the lampstand burned continually, the one source of light in that sacred space, a picture of the light of God's presence and truth shining in the darkness. Scripture takes up this image again and again: God is light; his word is a lamp; his people are to be lights in the world. The lampstand's whole reason for being was to shine, to give light where there would otherwise be darkness. There is a call in this for God's people. Like the lampstand, we exist not to keep our light to ourselves but to shine, to give the light of God's truth and presence in a dark place. And, like the lampstand, our light is not our own; it is a borrowed radiance, fueled by the oil of God's Spirit, meant to shine before him and out into the world.

Am I shining as God's people are meant to, like the golden lampstand giving light in a dark place, letting the light of God's truth and presence shine through me by his Spirit rather than keeping it to myself?

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