(33)
Three bowls made like unto almonds.--Or,
three cups like almond blossoms. It is not quite clear if these were consecutive, or if each cup held a "knop" (pomegranate), on which followed a (lily) blossom. On the whole Reland's representation accords best with the latter view.
In the other branch.--Rather, in another branch. The ornamentation was the same in the first, the second, and all the other branches; but in the longer branches the triple series was probably repeated of tener.
Verse 33. -
Three bowls made like unto almonds. Cups shaped like almond blossoms seem to be intended. Each branch had three of these in succession, then a pomegranate and a lily-flower. The lily probably represented the Egyptian lotus, or water-lily.
In the other branch. Rather, "on another branch." There were six branches, not two only. The ornamentation of two is described; then we are told that the remainder were similar.
25:31-40 The candlestick represents the light of God's word and Spirit, in and through Christ Jesus, afforded in this dark world to his believing people, to direct their worship and obedience, and to afford them consolations. The church is still dark, as the tabernacle was, in comparison with what it will be in heaven; but the word of God is a light shining in a dark place,
Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch,.... There were three bowls or cups in the form of almond nuts to each branch, which were either to hold oil for the lamps, as before observed, or, as others think, to catch the snuff which fell from them; and there were a "knop", which, according to the signification of the word, was in the form of a pomegranate, and a flower, which the Targum of Jonathan renders a lily; and they are both in Scripture emblems of the saints endowed with the gifts and graces of the Spirit:
and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch; on the other side of the candlestick, opposite to the former:
so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick; there were the same number of bowls, with a knop and a flower in the rest of the branches, as in those mentioned.
