λαμπας. There is frequent mention of lamps in Scripture, and the
word is often used figuratively. The houses in the east were, from the
remotest antiquity, lighted with lamps; and hence it is so common in
Scripture to call every thing which enlightens the body or mind, which
guides or refreshes, by the name of a lamp. These lamps were sustained
by a large candlestick set upon the ground. The houses of Egypt, in
modern times, are never without lights: they burn lamps all the night
long, and in every occupied apartment. So requisite to the comfort of a
family is this custom reckoned, or so imperious is the power which it
exercises, that the poorest people would rather retrench part of their
food than neglect it. As this custom no doubt prevailed in Egypt and the
adjacent regions of Arabia and Palestine in former times, it imparts a
beauty and force to some passages of Scripture which have been little
observed. Thus, in the language of Jeremiah, to extinguish the light in
an apartment is a convertible phrase for total destruction; and nothing
can more properly and emphatically represent the total destruction of a
city than the extinction of the lights: I will take from them the light
of a candle, and this whole land shall be a desolation and an
astonishment.” Job describes the destruction of a family among the
Arabs, and the desolation of their dwellings, in the very language of
the prophet: How oft is the candle of the wicked put out, and how oft
cometh their destruction upon them!” Job xxi, 17. Bildad expresses the
same idea in the following beautiful passage: Yea, the light of the
wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The
light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out
with him,” Job xviii, 5, 6. A burning lamp is, on the other hand, the
chosen symbol of prosperity, a beautiful instance of which occurs in the
complaint of Job: O that I were as in months past, as in the days when
God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his
light I walked through darkness,” Job xxix, 2, 3. When the ten tribes
were taken from Rehoboam, and given to his rival, Jehovah promised to
reserve one tribe, and assigns this reason: That David my servant may
have a light always before me in Jerusalem,” 1 Kings xi, 36. In many
parts of the east, and in particular in the Indies, instead of torches
and flambeaux, they carry a pot of oil in one hand, and a lamp full of
oily rags in the other.
word is often used figuratively. The houses in the east were, from the
remotest antiquity, lighted with lamps; and hence it is so common in
Scripture to call every thing which enlightens the body or mind, which
guides or refreshes, by the name of a lamp. These lamps were sustained
by a large candlestick set upon the ground. The houses of Egypt, in
modern times, are never without lights: they burn lamps all the night
long, and in every occupied apartment. So requisite to the comfort of a
family is this custom reckoned, or so imperious is the power which it
exercises, that the poorest people would rather retrench part of their
food than neglect it. As this custom no doubt prevailed in Egypt and the
adjacent regions of Arabia and Palestine in former times, it imparts a
beauty and force to some passages of Scripture which have been little
observed. Thus, in the language of Jeremiah, to extinguish the light in
an apartment is a convertible phrase for total destruction; and nothing
can more properly and emphatically represent the total destruction of a
city than the extinction of the lights: I will take from them the light
of a candle, and this whole land shall be a desolation and an
astonishment.” Job describes the destruction of a family among the
Arabs, and the desolation of their dwellings, in the very language of
the prophet: How oft is the candle of the wicked put out, and how oft
cometh their destruction upon them!” Job xxi, 17. Bildad expresses the
same idea in the following beautiful passage: Yea, the light of the
wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The
light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out
with him,” Job xviii, 5, 6. A burning lamp is, on the other hand, the
chosen symbol of prosperity, a beautiful instance of which occurs in the
complaint of Job: O that I were as in months past, as in the days when
God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his
light I walked through darkness,” Job xxix, 2, 3. When the ten tribes
were taken from Rehoboam, and given to his rival, Jehovah promised to
reserve one tribe, and assigns this reason: That David my servant may
have a light always before me in Jerusalem,” 1 Kings xi, 36. In many
parts of the east, and in particular in the Indies, instead of torches
and flambeaux, they carry a pot of oil in one hand, and a lamp full of
oily rags in the other.