Exodus 25:31

The Lampstand

25:31 50 “You are to make a lampstand51 of pure gold. The lampstand is to be made of hammered metal; its base and its shaft, its cups,52 its buds, and its blossoms are to be from the same piece.53

50	sn Clearly the point here is to provide light in the tent for access to God. He provided for his worshipers a light for the way to God, but he also wanted them to provide oil for the lamp to ensure that the light would not go out. Verses 31–36 describe the piece. It was essentially one central shaft, with three branches on either side turned out and upward. The stem and the branches were ornamented every so often with gold that was formed into the shape of the calyx and corolla of the almond flower. On top of the central shaft and the six branches were the lamps.
51	tn The word is מְנֹרָה (ménorah)—here in construct to a following genitive of material. The main piece was one lampstand, but there were seven lamps on the shaft and its branches. See E. Goodenough, “The Menorah among the Jews of the Roman World,” HUCA 23 (1950/51): 449–92.
52	sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 342–44) says that the description “the cups, knobs and flowers” is explained in vv. 32–36 as three decorations in the form of a cup, shaped like an almond blossom, to be made on one branch. Every cup will have two parts, (a) a knob, that is, the receptacle at the base of the blossom, and (b) a flower, which is called the corolla, so that each lamp rests on top of a flower.
53	tn Heb “will be from/of it”; the referent (“the same piece” of wrought metal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.