Texts in Conversation
Exodus describes the tree shaped golden lampstand of the tabernacle, crafted as a single piece with branches, cups, buds, and blossoms, and holding seven lamps. Zechariah later depicts a vision of this same lampstand, explicitly mentioning its seven lamps.
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Exodus 25:31
Hebrew Bible
29 You are to make its plates, its ladles, its pitchers, and its bowls, to be used in pouring out offerings; you are to make them of pure gold. 30 You are to set the Bread of the Presence on the table before me continually. 31 “You are to make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand is to be made of hammered metal; its base and its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its blossoms are to be from the same piece. 32 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand, three branches of the lampstand from one side of it and three branches of the lampstand from the other side of it. 33 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, and three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on the next branch, and the same for the six branches extending from the lampstand.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Zechariah 4:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The angelic messenger who had been speaking with me then returned and woke me, as a person is wakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a menorah of pure gold with a receptacle at the top. There are seven lamps at the top, with seven pipes going to the lamps. 3 There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the receptacle and the other on the left.” 4 Then I asked the messenger who spoke with me, “What are these, sir?”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... There are two other places where the imagery of the golden lampstand (בָהָז תַרוֹנְמ) is used, which might be possible intertexts to Zechariah 4, namely, the ten golden lampstands in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 7:49), and the single lampstand in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31–39; 37:17–24; 39:37; Leviticus 24:4; Numbers 8:4). However, the further description in Zechariah 4:2 of “seven lamps” makes it clear that the single tabernacle lampstand is on view, since a reference to the seven lamps (ָהיֶתֹרֵנ הָעְבִשְׁו) only occurs in Exodus 25:37; 37:23 and Numbers 8:2. Thus, our starting point is that the vision in Zechariah 4 is making a primary allusion to the tabernacle lampstand ..."
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