The menorah was originally designed as a means of providing light in the holy place in the Tabernacle. It has become a symbol of the Jewish people, the most recognized symbol of the Jewish people. But, it’s more than a symbol; it is a heavenly symbol of profound beauty that evokes images of the divine. The book of Hebrews tells us the God gave a specific pattern to Moses on… how to build the Menorah and gave Bezalel “the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship to design artistic works…,” (Exodus 31:2-3) that he would make what God had commanded Moses. The reason God told Moses to follow the pattern shown in the mount was that the furniture was a copy of the heavenly tabernacle. (Heb. 9)
The menorah in the Tabernacle and later the Temple was located on the south side of the Holy Place. Each of the seven branches had a lamp at the top of the branch. Each lamp was shaped like Aladdin’s lamp with the wick coming out the spout. Three Branches on one side were positioned with the spout of the lamp pointing east, and three on the opposite side were positioned with the spout of the lamps pointing west and both sides pointing toward the middle lamp. The middle lamp spout pointed north.
This center lamp had a special name. It was called the Servant Lamp or the Lamp of God. The servant lamp was lit first and the Servant Lamp was used to light the other lamps. In the first chapter of Revelation, we are told that John saw Jesus standing in the midst of seven lamp stands or candlesticks. The lamps symbolizing the churches that feed from one lamp stand, represented by Jesus standing in the servant lamp position, would fit the picture of the menorah better than seven separate lamp stands.
This image is seen in several places in the Bible. In Genesis 1:1 there seven words in the Hebrew. The middle word is not translated and contains two letters, the Aleph and the Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Several verses in the Bible tell of the presence of Jesus at creation and that He was the means of creation. (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:16) The menorah in Genesis 1:1 shows the same truth in code or symbolic representation.
God appeared to Abraham seven times in Genesis the fourth time (Genesis 15:1-18) was when He made a covenant with Abraham. A covenant is made between two equals. Abraham was not God’s equal, so how could he make a covenant with God? We read Abraham prepared the animals, but a deep sleep came upon him and a smoking oven and a burning torch passed between those pieces. God passed between the pieces with someone who had to be His equal.
Who was the other one who passed through the pieces and was God’s equal? Proverbs 30:4 tells us that God has a son. Genesis 15:17 speaks of a plurality of God, with one being a substitute for Abraham. Was that other person in Genesis 15 the Son of God? This speaks of a future time when the substitute takes on flesh to pay the price of a broken covenant.