24. The Ten Lampstands
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
holy scripture, for instance, of Abe16 being crowned with martyrdom, or of Enoch taken up out of the world, or how Noah was miraculously saved when the world was perishing,' or how, with the wiping out of the wicked men, Lot's hospitality had been rewarded from on high,* how in return for his obedience Abraham was appointed father of all nation^,^ how after being sold as a slave, Joseph was immediately exalted in return for his chastity and innocence;1° when we take these and countless things of the kind as models of virtue, what is it that holds them up before us but the five golden tables or vessels of the Lord or the loaves of proposition still on the left side of the temple?
For, taken in the historical sense, the divine scriptures open to us both the door to proper living and the eternal rewards to be hoped for from the Lord. But when on a deeper understanding of these things, we catch echoes of either the plan of the Lord's incarnation or some other mysteries of the holy Church, we find, as it were, the five other tables for carrying the vessels of election and the food of the life of the spirit on the right side of the temple, because we recognize that these very same words of sacred history, which are to us an entirely new lightning-flash of heavenly wisdom, open the door to a new understanding of the old. In which figure also, of course, are included the five lampstands made in the temple.
24. THE TEN LAMPSTANDS
24.1 For when scripture said that king Solomon had made the table on which the loaves of proposition were placed, it later added: 'of gold' and said, (7:49) And the golden lampstands, five on the right hand, and five on the left, over against the oracle, of pure gold, and the flowers like lilies, and the lamps over them of gold.
For just as the tables are rightly used as a type of holy scripture because they both minister righteousness to those hungering for the bread of the word and bear the vessels of the heavenly ministry, i.e. they propose for our imitation the actions of the righteous, so also by these lampstands the words of cf. Gn 4:8; 5:24; Sir 44:16ff cf. Gn 19:lff cf. Gn 17:4-6; 22:16-18 ' cf. Gn 6:18 lo cf. Gn 37:28ff
BOOK TWO
God are symbolized, i.e. because they give the light of wisdom to the erring. That is why the psalmist says, A lamp to myfeet, and so forth;' that too is why Solomon says, Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light2 Moreover, the reason why five lampstands were placed on the right and five on the left is quite easy to see from our discussion of the tables. But when he said five on the right and five on the left, he added fittingly: over against the oracle. For the oracle where the ark was, as has often been said, stands for the way to the heavenly homeland where Christ is seated at the right hand of God3 privy, that is, to his Father's secrets. And the temple lampstands of gold were placed opposite the oracle because the words of God always have in view the abode of the heavenly city that they may instil into our hearts the knowledge and desire of it, and fire those who take their fleshly origin from the earth to long for and to merit a place of everlasting abode in heaven.
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24.2 On the other hand, regarding what is said about the lampstands, (7:49) five on the right hand and five on the left, there are people who think this is to be taken in the sense that five were on the right of the lampstand which Moses made in the desert4 and five on the left of it, but that both were to the south where the one lampstand which Moses made was supposed to stand. But they should apply the same interpretation to the ten tables, all of which, it is true, were positioned on the north side but five on the right of the Mosaic table and five on the left. Yet if you consider the words of sacred scripture where it says, And the golden lampstandrfive on the right hand and jive on the left over against the oracle, it is obvious, unless I am mistaken, that both sets of five alike faced the oracle inasmuch as they were placed opposite it, close to either side of the temple. For if all the lampstands had been placed right along the south side of the temple they would not be said to have been placed opposite the oracle but rather, facing north or facing the tables, if the tables too stood there, as was said in Exodus of the one lampstand, which without any doubt
Ps118:105
Pr 6:23
Col 3:1 cf. Ex 2635 3 K 7:49
BEDE: ON THE TEMPLE
stood on the south side: He set the lampstand also in the tabernacle of the testimony, facing the table on the south side;6 and also in the Book of Numbers: When you set up the seven lamps facing in that direction they shallgive light in front of the lampstand.' The reason why there were both lampstands and tables on either side of the temple was that divine scripture was composed for the enlightenment and refreshment of both peoples of God, and in prosperity and adversity, on sad occasions and joyous, it has been wont to refresh us lest we weaken, and to enlighten us lest we remain blind; furthermore, it sets forth for the benefit of both peoples the vessels of mercy laid upon it, i.e. the deeds of the righteous recounted in it, that we too may be encouraged in the performance of righteous actions.
24.3
But if you ask what the difference in type is between the lampstands and their lamps, we can rightly take the lamps to mean saintly people into whom the oil of the Holy Spirit has been poured so that they not only are themselves aflame with the fire of love in their hearts, but show the light of knowledge to their neighbour in their words; the lampstands, on the other hand, which hold these lamps aloft so as to be seen in the Church, we can take to mean the sacred scripture which, when read, shows us the virtues and teaching of the saints. And this interpretation is supported by the Lord's word in which he says of John, He was a burning and a shining
Thus we can also very fittingly say that the lamps are the words of God according to the saying of the psalmist which we have already quoted earlier, Your word, 0 Lord, is a lamp to my feet.g On the other hand, the lampstand for these lamps are all the saints who with ever humble intent subject their hearts and bodies to the burden of the Lord's commandments. For whoever takes care not to follow his own will in anything but is attentive in everything to what holy scripture may say, and strives to be submissive to its commandments and listen to its promises, is like the golden lampstand of God's house which holds its lamps, because he strives to make the chaste members of his body and the chaste thoughts of his mind submissive to God's commands, and in order to do this with the same fixed resolve as the lampstand,
Ex4022 ' Nb8:2
Jn 5:35
Ps118:105