Exodus 37:18, commentary and pictures

The verse describes six branches extending from beside the lampstand, three on one side and three on the other, forming a seven-branched stand holding seven lamps. It was one solid work of beaten gold weighing about a talent, made after the pattern shown to Moses, and stood on the south side of the holy place with its lamps burning before the Lord. Every part was made exactly as God directed for the sanctuary He commanded to be built that He might dwell among His people. Like the rest of the earthly tabernacle with its rites, the lampstand served as a shadow of heavenly things and pointed to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin and transform character. Its seven lamps represent the Holy Spirit in all its operations, called the seven Spirits of God, while that typical earthly sanctuary passed away entirely at the death of Christ.

Wording and Tabernacle Setting

The word rendered out of the side is mitzad, meaning at or by the side, and out of is an admissible rendering because the prefix min means from or of, so the three branches on each side are shown extending from beside the lampstand, not from inside it. The verse describes six branches going out of the sides of the candlestick, three branches out of the one side and three out of the other, forming a seven-branched lampstand with seven lamps. The candlestick was one solid work of beaten gold weighing about a talent, made after the express pattern shown to Moses. Every part was made exactly as God directed in carrying out the sanctuary instructions.

With its seven burning lamps it stood on the left or south side of the holy place, the first apartment of the earthly sanctuary, where Moses placed it and lit its lamps before the Lord. The verse belongs to the account of preparing, fitting, building and inaugurating the wilderness tabernacle in Exodus 25-40, especially Exodus 36-39, the sanctuary built at God's command. It describes part of the furnishings of the worldly sanctuary first pitched in the wilderness after Israel was brought out of Egypt, set up on the first day of the first month of the second year after the Exodus, and afterward succeeded by the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

The marvelously beautiful structure was made from free-will offerings of the children of Israel that God might dwell among them after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Its workmen were specially endowed by God to build it, and its pattern was divine, given by God to Moses in the mount. The tabernacle was the center of Israel's worship, which revolved around the holy of holies where God's law rested beneath the mercy seat. The manifestation of God's glory at the sanctuary at its building and inaugurating showed His acceptance of the people's repentance.

Obedient Making and Meaning

The six branches, three on each side, were made exactly according to God's directions, with every part of the lampstand fashioned as God directed in the carrying out of the sanctuary instructions. The surrounding chapters belong to the account of the sanctuary's construction and state that the Lord's directions for building it were carried out explicitly. The sanctuary itself was a great, multiple object-lesson comprehending in its forms and rites the great plan of salvation for a people unfitted by slavery to comprehend God's salvation and required character.

Like the rest of the earthly tabernacle with all its rites and ceremonies, the candlestick served unto the shadow of heavenly things and pointed to the coming Messiah and His power to forgive sin, transform the character, and deliver from burdens. With the death of Christ and the rending of the veil of the temple, that typical and shadowy earthly sanctuary passed away entirely and forever. The seven lamps on that candlestick represent the Holy Spirit in all its operations, called the seven Spirits of God, like the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne in the first apartment of the heavenly sanctuary.