Page 92 - Through New Eyes

86 THROUGH NEW EYES

20; 8:5, 16; 9:3, 8, 15, 22-23; 10:12-13; Red Sea: Exodus 14:16,
21, 26; water from the rock: Exodus 17:5-6; Numbers 20:8-9; defeat
of Amalek: Exodus 17:11; Aaron’s rod blossoms: Numbers 17).
The hyssop branch, so often used in bringing cleansing, resur-
recting water to those symbolically dead in uncleanness, should
also be associated with God’s power (Exodus 12:22; Leviticus
14:4, 6, 49-52; Numbers 19:6, 18; Psalm 51:7; Hebrews 9:19).
We can mention also the use of oil from trees, especially
olive oil, in connection with God’s glory manifestation. All the
furniture of the Tabernacle was anointed with special olive oil
(Exodus 30:22-33), and olive oil was burned to provide the
glory-light in the Tabernacle lampstand (Leviticus 24:1-4;
Zechariah 4:3, 11-12). The holiest parts of the Temple were made
of olive wood (1 Kings 6:23, 31-34), and the New Covenant in-
volves a rejection of Mount Zion and a shift to the Mount of
Olives (Zechariah 14:4; Matthew 24:3; 26:30; Acts 1:12).3
But most interesting is the institutionalized burning bush:
the golden lampstand in the Tabernacle and Temple.4 The
lampstand was a stylized almond tree that burned with fire (Ex-
odus 25: 31-40; 37: 17-24). We can hardly avoid the connection
with the burning bush. The word for the shaft of the lampstand
is literally “reed. ” Such reeds represent people, as in 2 Kings
18:21, Isaiah 36:6, and Ezekiel 29:6-7, all of which refer to
Pharaoh, since Egypt was a land of reeds. A reference to the
Iampstand as an image of people is found in a famous verse, Isa-
iah 42:3, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning
wick He will not extinguish.”
The idea of a “dimly burning wick,” of the lampstand about
to go out, occurs elsewhere in the Bible. Just before the Taber-
nacle was destroyed, we find that “the lamp of God had not yet
gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord
where the ark of God was” (1 Samuel 3:3). Shortly after this
event, the “lamp” of God’s revelation dwindled further as the Ark
was captured and the High Priest died.
David and his heirs, God’s oil-anointed kings, are spoken of
as lamps that need to be sustained (2 Samuel 21:17; 1 Kings
11: 36; 15:4). Given the connection between lamps and trees, we
also find David’s line spoken of as a tree, the root and Shoot of
Jesse (Isaiah 4:2; 6:13; 11:10, 12; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah