Commentary - Exodus 25:31-40

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Exodus, God gives Moses the blueprint for the golden lampstand, the Menorah. This is not interior decorating advice for a desert tent; it is a profound piece of theological instruction rendered in gold. The lampstand was to be the sole source of light within the Holy Place, illuminating the Table of Showbread and the Altar of Incense. Its intricate design, specified with exacting detail, points forward to the person and work of Jesus Christ and to the nature and mission of His church. Made of one solid piece of pure gold, beaten into shape, it speaks of the divine nature and suffering of the Messiah. Its seven lamps, fueled by pure oil, represent the perfect, Spirit-given light of Christ, the Light of the World. The organic, tree-like structure, with branches, buds, and blossoms, points to the fruitfulness and life that flows from Him. Ultimately, the lampstand is a picture of Christ, who is our light, and by extension, the Church, which is called to bear His light in the midst of a dark world. Every detail here is freighted with meaning, and all of it is according to a divine pattern, a copy of a heavenly reality.

The instructions are precise because the worship of God is not a man-made enterprise. God Himself dictates the terms by which He will be approached and the symbols by which He will be known. The lampstand, therefore, is a central piece of furniture in the drama of redemption, a standing sermon in hammered gold, preaching the coming of the one who would say, "I am the light of the world," and who would commission His people to be the same.

Outline

Context In Exodus

These instructions come immediately after God has given Moses the Ten Commandments and the civil laws (the Book of the Covenant), and after the covenant has been ratified with blood at the base of Mount Sinai. Having established the legal and relational foundation of His kingdom, God now provides the architectural plans for His royal tent, the Tabernacle. This is where He will dwell in the midst of His people. The instructions begin with the innermost furniture, the most holy things: the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Showbread, and now, the Golden Lampstand. These three items furnish the two chambers of the Tabernacle proper. The Ark is in the Most Holy Place, while the Table and the Lampstand are in the Holy Place. The placement is significant. The lampstand's purpose is to illuminate the Holy Place, shining on the bread of God's presence. This whole section (Exodus 25-31) details the construction of a portable cosmos, a model of heaven and earth, where God's presence is localized and His program of redemption is dramatized through symbolic furniture and prescribed rituals.

Key Issues

A Sermon in Gold

We live in an age that is suspicious of symbols. We want the "plain facts," the data points, the unadorned truth. But God, who made the world and everything in it, is a master communicator, and He communicates through created things. He doesn't just give us abstract propositions; He gives us pictures, types, and shadows. The Tabernacle is a master class in this kind of divine communication. It is a gospel primer for a pre-literate people, though its lessons are deep enough to occupy us for a lifetime.

The golden lampstand is a particularly rich symbol. It stands in the Holy Place, a space curtained off from the common world, a place of priestly service. And in that sacred darkness, it is the only source of light. Without it, the priests could not see the Table of Showbread or the Altar of Incense. This tells us something fundamental: you cannot approach God or feast on His provision without the light that He Himself provides. All our attempts to navigate the spiritual world by our own light are doomed to failure. We need divine illumination. This lampstand, then, is a standing prophecy of the one who would come as the true light, Jesus Christ, and of the church He would establish to carry that light to the nations.

Verse by Verse Commentary

31 “Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand, its base, and its shaft are to be made of hammered work; its cups, its bulbs, and its flowers shall be of the same piece.

The instructions begin with the material: pure gold. Gold in Scripture consistently represents that which is divine, pure, precious, and enduring. This is not gold-plated; it is solid, pure gold. This points to the divine nature of the light it represents. This is not a humanly-generated flicker, but a reflection of the very glory of God. The method of its making is also specified: hammered work. This was not cast in a mold. A talent of gold was taken and beaten into this intricate shape. This speaks of pressure, of affliction, of being shaped through suffering. It is a clear foreshadowing of the Messiah, who was "bruised for our iniquities" and perfected through the things He suffered. The unity of the piece is stressed from the outset. The base, shaft, cups, and flowers were not to be made separately and soldered together. They were to be of the same piece, speaking of the organic unity of the source of light.

32 Six branches shall go out from its sides; three branches of the lampstand from its one side and three branches of the lampstand from its other side.

The structure is that of a central shaft with six branches, three on each side. Together with the central shaft which also held a lamp, this makes for a total of seven lamps. The number seven in Scripture is the number of perfection and completion, particularly covenantal completion. This is the perfect light. The structure is like that of a tree, an image of life and growth. Light and life are inextricably linked. The branches come out from the central shaft, suggesting that all the light is sourced from one main trunk. There is one source, with multiple expressions.

33 Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bulb and a flower, so for the six branches going out from the lampstand;

The ornamentation is specified as being like almond blossoms. This is not an arbitrary aesthetic choice. The almond tree was the first tree to blossom in the spring in Israel; it was a symbol of new life and watchfulness. Aaron's rod that budded to confirm his priesthood was an almond branch (Numbers 17:8). This imagery, therefore, speaks of resurrection life and divine approval. The light this lampstand gives is a living light, a fruitful light, a light that heralds a new creation. Each of the six branches has this three-fold pattern of almond blossoms, bulbs, and flowers, indicating a fullness of life and fruitfulness across the entire structure.

34 and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers.

The central shaft, here referred to as "the lampstand" proper, is distinguished from the branches by having four sets of these almond blossom decorations. This highlights the centrality and preeminence of the main shaft. While the branches share in the fruitful life, the central trunk possesses it in greater measure. If the branches represent the people of God, the central shaft represents the Christ from whom they draw all their life and light. He has life in Himself, and it is from His fullness that we receive.

35 And a bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.

The structure is further detailed. At the point where each pair of branches extends from the central shaft, there is a "bulb" or knop. This reinforces the organic, tree-like appearance. The branches do not just jut out awkwardly; they emerge naturally from the trunk, as a branch does from a tree. This again emphasizes the source. The life and light of the branches are entirely dependent on their connection to the central shaft.

36 Their bulbs and their branches shall be of the same piece; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold.

God repeats the crucial point for emphasis. All of it must be one unified piece. You cannot separate the branches from the shaft, or the shaft from the base. This speaks profoundly of the unity of Christ and His church. As Jesus says in John 15, "I am the vine; you are the branches." The life is in the vine, and the branches only live and bear fruit as they abide in Him. We are not a collection of separate individuals who decided to associate with Jesus. We are organically and indissolubly united to Him, hammered out of the same piece, as it were, by the sovereign work of God.

37 Then you shall make its lamps seven in number; and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it.

Now we come to the function. The purpose of this beautiful, costly object is to hold seven lamps and to shed light. And the light is directed forward, "on the space in front of it." This is crucial. The light shines on the Table of Showbread, the bread of the presence. The illumination God provides enables His priests to see and partake of the provision He supplies. The Word of God (the bread) is understood through the Spirit of God (the light). This is a picture of the Holy Spirit illuminating the Scriptures for us, allowing us to feast on Christ. The light is not for its own sake; it has a purpose, and that is to reveal the things of God.

38 And its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold.

Even the maintenance tools, the tongs for trimming the wicks and the trays for holding the trimmings, were to be of pure gold. This tells us that the maintenance of the light is also a holy activity. Keeping the light burning brightly requires constant attention. The wicks had to be trimmed to remove the carbon build-up so they wouldn't smoke and dim the flame. This speaks to the need for the church to continually be purified, to deal with the sin and corruption that would dim our witness and obscure the light of the gospel. This work of sanctification is not a grubby affair, but a holy task, part of our priestly service.

39 It shall be made from a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils.

The sheer amount of gold is specified: a talent, which is somewhere around 75 pounds. This was an object of immense value, representing a significant portion of the wealth of the people. God's presence is not a cheap thing. The light of the world was purchased at an infinite price. This great costliness points to the supreme value of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

40 And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.

This is the concluding mandate, and it governs everything. Moses was not given creative license. He was to be a faithful copyist. He was shown a pattern, a heavenly reality, and the earthly tabernacle was to be a replica of that. The author of Hebrews picks up on this, explaining that the Tabernacle was a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5). This means that our worship is not something we invent. True worship conforms to the reality of who God is and how He has revealed Himself. We don't get to design the lampstand according to our own tastes. We are to build the church according to the pattern laid out for us in the Word of God, which is itself the revelation of the heavenly reality centered in Christ.

Application

The golden lampstand has been fulfilled, and its fulfillment is Christ and His Church. Jesus declared, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). He is the central shaft, divine, pure, and precious, made perfect through suffering. He is the true almond branch, the first to blossom from the dead, bringing resurrection life to the world. All light and life reside in Him.

But then He turns to His disciples and says, "You are the light of the world" (Matt 5:14). The book of Revelation makes the typology explicit: "the seven lampstands are the seven churches" (Rev 1:20). We are the branches that extend from the central shaft. Our light is a derived light. Our life is a derived life. We have no light of our own, but are called to hold up the light of Christ. We are to be one body, one piece, united in Him. Our purpose is not to be beautiful, golden decorations, but to shine. We are to shine on the bread of life, illuminating the gospel for a world starving in darkness.

This passage calls us to examine the source and quality of our light. Is our church life, our family life, our personal life, drawing its energy from the central shaft, from Christ Himself, revealed in His Word? Or are we trying to generate our own light, a synthetic, man-made flicker? And are we tending the lamps? Are we using the golden tongs of brotherly admonition and church discipline to trim the wicks, to deal with the sin that makes the light smoky and dim? God has given us the pattern. Our task is not to innovate or improvise, but to build faithfully, so that the church might be what it was created to be: a golden lampstand, radiating the perfect light of the Son in a world that is very, very dark.