Lamps in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See CANDLE; CANDLESTICK.) The ordinary means of lighting apartments. In Judges 7:16; Judges 7:20, lamps mean torches; so John 18:3; Matthew 25:1. The terra cotta and bronze handlamps from Nimrud and Koyunjik perhaps give a good idea of the Bible lamp. The Egyption kandeel or common lamp is a small glass vessel with a tube in the bottom in which is stuck a wick of cotton twisted round straw. Water is poured in first, then the oil. The usual symbols of the early Christian lamps found at Jerusalem are the cross, the seven branched candlestick, the palm (John 12:13; Revelation 7:9). The rudeness of the lamps indicates the poverty of the early saints at Jerusalem. The inscriptions that occur are "the light of Christ shineth to all," and the initials I. X. TH., "Jesus Christ God."