And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: ’Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him: When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.’ And Aaron did so: he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick, as the LORD commanded Moses. (Numbers 8:1–3)
וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: דַּבֵּר אֶל אַהֲרֹן וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו, בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרֹת, אֶל מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת. וַיַּעַשׂ כֵּן אַהֲרֹן, אֶל מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה הֶעֱלָה נֵרֹתֶיהָ – כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה' אֶת מֹשֶׁה. (במדבר ח', א-ג)
The lamps were not integral parts of the lampstand, but separate vessels placed upon it. This follows from the command to make the lampstand and its utensils in Terumah (Exodus 25:31–39), and the description of its covering in Bamidbar (Numbers 4:9).
Notice that the command here does not describe lighting the lamps itself, but instructs Aaron to observe something particular when raising them onto the lampstand: “When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.” What does this command mean?
Rashi, following the Sages, explains that Aaron was commanded to arrange all the lamps to incline toward the central lamp on the lampstand’s body. If so, however, it should have said “the six lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick” (Joseph Bekhor Shor).
According to Ibn Ezra and others, the verse elaborates what was already said in the command to make the lampstand in Terumah: “And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven; and they shall light the lamps thereof, to give light over against it.” (Exodus 25:37). That is, the lamps must illuminate the space before the lampstand, the interior of the Tent of Meeting.
Cassuto explains why this command was needed: biblical oil lamps differed from the glass cups we use today for Sabbath and Hanukkah lights. In our lamps the wick emerges from the center of the transparent cup, and its flame spreads light equally in all directions without obstruction. Biblical oil lamps, however, had a direction. They resembled small dishes pinched at one side and drawn slightly outward, where the wick was placed. The lamp itself was opaque and blocked the flame’s light. Cassuto therefore explains that the Torah commands Aaron to point the wick-bearing part toward the front of the lampstand, into the Tent of Meeting rather than toward the Tabernacle wall.
This interpretation has several difficulties. First, Cassuto understands the command as arranging the lamps on the lampstand to illuminate the space before it. Yet the verse focuses on raising them onto it, rather than their arrangement upon it. If the purpose were instructions for their final arrangement, something like “When thou arrangest the lamps, they shall face the front of the candlestick” would have been more appropriate (a verse that does not exist).
Second, on Cassuto’s explanation the command ensures the lampstand illuminates the Tabernacle’s interior rather than its wall. This is self-evident. Why does Beha’alotekha need a special, independent command and detailed emphasis that Aaron observed it?
The command to make the lampstand in Terumah does mention, in passing, illumination toward its front. Comparing the parallel verses about the table, however, reveals a change in the identity of the actor. Of the table it says:
And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and the pans thereof, and the jars thereof, and the bowls thereof, wherewith to pour out; of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before Me always. (Exodus 25:29–30)
וְעָשִׂיתָ קְּעָרֹתָיו וְכַפֹּתָיו וּקְשׂוֹתָיו וּמְנַקִּיֹּתָיו אֲשֶׁר יֻסַּךְ בָּהֵן זָהָב טָהוֹר תַּעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם. וְנָתַתָּ עַל הַשֻּׁלְחָן לֶחֶם פָּנִים לְפָנַי תָּמִיד. (שמות כ"ה, כט-ל).
Moses is commanded to make the table’s utensils and then place the continual bread upon it. Following this pattern, we would expect for the lampstand:
And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven; and thou shalt raise its lamps, and it/they shall give light over against it. (A verse that does not exist)
וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת נֵרֹתֶיהָ שִׁבְעָה וְהֶעֱלֵיתָ אֶת נֵרֹתֶיהָ וְהֵאִירָה/וְהֵאִירוּ עַל עֵבֶר פָּנֶיהָ. (פסוק שלא קיים)
Moses would be commanded to make the lamps and then raise them so that the lampstand or lamps illuminate its front. But this is not what is written. Terumah commands Moses to make the lamps, while raising them is attributed to someone else (Aaron?), and illumination is attributed to the person raising them, not to the lampstand (a feminine noun) or the lamps (plural):
And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven; and they shall light the lamps thereof, to give light over against it. (Exodus 25:37)
וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת נֵרֹתֶיהָ שִׁבְעָה וְהֶעֱלָה אֶת נֵרֹתֶיהָ וְהֵאִיר עַל עֵבֶר פָּנֶיהָ. (שמות כ"ה, לז)
The Hebrew wording suggests that illumination describes not the final stage of arranging lamps on the lampstand, but an earlier stage in which Aaron physically raises them onto it. The JPS rendering quoted above does not reproduce the Hebrew’s singular masculine forms for raising and illuminating, on which this grammatical argument rests.
Accordingly, I propose an explanation, although it is speculative.
“The seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick” does not describe their intended direction of light when positioned on it, but how they are raised onto it. On this explanation, Aaron was first commanded ceremonially to light all seven lamps before the lampstand and only then raise them onto it, perhaps like waving an offering before placing it on the altar. The verses should thus be understood: “When thou lightest the lamps” – when you raise the lamps onto the lampstand; “the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick” – do so with them already burning, illuminating the lampstand’s front. “And Aaron did so … as the LORD commanded Moses” – Aaron did this: “he lighted the lamps thereof so as to give light in front of the candlestick” – he raised the lit lamps before the lampstand, exactly as commanded.
What is the command’s ceremonial significance? The Torah does not explain, just as it does not explain the reasons for other ceremonial actions in the Tabernacle. Surprisingly, however, a connection can be found between this explanation and Rashi’s interpretation following the Sages, which likewise sees the verse as a ceremonial action. Both approaches understand a meaningful symbolic act, rather than merely a technical operation intended to illuminate the interior, whether inclining the lamps toward the central lamp or illuminating the lampstand while raising them onto it.
This explains the need for a special command and the statement that Aaron did not depart from it: the action was not trivial.
