Oil for the Tabernacle Lamp

Exodus 27:1–19 has focused on the exterior of the tabernacle, providing directions for the courtyard and the bronze altar, which was set up in the courtyard for the Israelites to offer sacrifices. Today’s passage returns to directions for the tabernacle’s interior, specifying the kind of oil to be used in the lamps on the lampstand.

As we have noted, the tabernacle was God’s home among the Israelites, and as the tents of the Israelites had lamps to provide illumination at night, God’s tent home had lamps as well. The lamps for God’s tent were more beautiful than the Israelites’ lamps, however, for He is the King. These lamps were placed on an ornate lampstand in the Holy Place within the tabernacle (see Ex. 25:31–40; 26:35), and they needed fuel to provide light. This oil was to come from pressed olives for the sake of providing a pure fuel (Ex. 27:20). The process involved pressing the olives to extract the oil and then filtering it through a cloth to remove any impurities. Oil was poured into the lamps on the lampstand and a wick was inserted in each lamp and lit to provide light.

We see in Exodus 27:21 that Aaron and his sons, the priests, were to keep the lamps burning regularly from morning to evening. They had to tend the lamps all night, refilling them with oil and replacing their wicks as necessary to ensure that the light never went out. The burning lamps reminded the Israelites that God was at home among them, for one sign that an Israelite family was at home in its tent in the evening was that their lamp was burning. Unlike the Israelites’ lamps, however, God’s light burned all night, and this is theologically significant. When Israelite families went to bed, they would extinguish the flames of their lamps. Yet God never sleeps, so He would have no need to put out His light. The continually burning lamp in the tabernacle pointed to the reality that the Lord is always alert. As Psalm 121:3–4 tells us, the one true God never slumbers or sleeps. He is always paying attention to His creation, upholding it by the word of His power (see also Heb. 1:1–4). He is always at work (John 5:17), and this is true even if we cannot perceive what He is doing. We can therefore be confident that things always remain in His control and that He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).