THE PEREGRINATIONS OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK
THE PEREGRINATIONS OF THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK
Titus evidently thought he had secured a rare prize in the golden candlestick, seeing he caused it to be conspicuously exalted in the triumphal procession to Rome (p. 68), where, some time after, he had it honorably placed in the temple of Peace, in which it remained in honor and safety for the long period of four centuries. In Carthage.—In the year A.D. 455 Rome was conquered by the Vandals under Genseric, their king, who transferred the golden candlestick to Carthage (see Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, chapter 36).
Again in possession of the Romans.—After remaining eighty-three years in Carthage the golden candlestick, on the Vandals being conquered by the eastern army of the Romans under Belisarus, again came into the possession of the Romans, and was taken by the victorious general to Constantinople, the then eastern capital of the empire (Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, chapter 41).
Restored to Jerusalem.—The Emperor Justinian generously restored the precious relic to Jerusalem, where it found a resting-place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Gibbon remarks: “And the holy vessels of the Jewish temple, which, after their long peregrinations, were respectively deposited in the Christian Church of Jerusalem” (chapter 41).
It is not likely, though possible, that the golden candlestick may still be hidden in some secret corner or recess of the church. More probably it has been stolen, or perhaps taken away by the Persians when the city was stormed by them, A.D. 614, or by some subsequent conqueror of the Holy City. WHICH WAS THE CANDLESTICK EXHIBITED IN THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH?
While there is no doubt that the candlestick in the triumphal procession was got out of the temple, we have no information anywhere showing what particular one it was. The following are the sacred candlesticks used in the sanctuary:—
1. The tabernacle candlestick, which, after serving its day, was stored as a relic in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8:4; 2 Chronicles 5:5).
2. The ten candlesticks made for Solomon’s temple, five of which stood on the right hand, and five on the left, of the holy place. These ten candlesticks were cut in pieces and carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon (2 Kings 24:13-15). The tabernacle candlestick and the tabernacle itself, and its other holy vessels are not mentioned as included in the temple treasures which Nebuchadnezzar took away, and must have escaped his notice, probably being stowed away in some out-of-the-way and unexplored chamber. But even if he had taken them, it does not follow on that account that they were lost to the Jews, for the treasures carried to Babylon were restored by Cyrus to the temple (Ezra 5:14-15). The ten candlesticks, though cut in pieces (2 Kings 24:13-15), were not so destroyed as to render them incapable of being restored to their original condition, for they were returned as above by Cyrus to the second temple, the one rebuilt by Zerubbabel. The ten candlesticks again taken away from the temple, rain the year B.C. 170 Antiochus Epiphanes took away the golden vessels and other treasures of the temple (1Ma 1:20-21). As no mention is made of the tabernacle and its holy vessels, the probability is that they escaped the notice of Antiochus, as they had done that of Nebuchadnezzar.
3. The candlestick presented to the temple by Judas Maccabeus.—In the year B.C. 165 Judas Maccabeus expelled the Syrians and restored the sanctuary. He furnished the temple, we are told, with new holy vessels.
“He made up the sanctuary, and the things that were within the temple, and hallowed the court. They made also new holy vessels, and unto the temple they brought the candlestick, the altar of burnt offerings, and of incense, and the Table” (1Ma 4:48-49). There was thus in the sanctuary as restored by Judas Maccabeus, as there had been in the tabernacle, only one candlestick, and not ten as there had been in Solomon’s temple.
4. The candlestick or candlesticks in Herod’s temple.—No mention is made of Herod having made golden vessels for the holy place of his temple; and it is generally taken for granted that he transferred those of the second temple to his own. We are strongly of opinion that he did not transfer the holy vessels of the second temple, supplied by Judas Maccabeus, for use in his own, but provided new golden vessels for the holy place of his temple, as he had provided everything else pertaining to the temple at his own expense. As there is no mention, as we have already noticed, of either Nebuchadnezzar or Epiphanes having removed the tabernacle candlestick from its resting-place in the temple, it is almost certain, as the priests were sure to know where it was stored, to have been removed by them for safe deposit in the Herodian temple. And as the candlestick and other golden vessels in use in the holy place of the second temple in the days of the Maccabees, were not, as we are convinced, transferred for use in that of Herod, they would also, as sacred relics, along with those of the tabernacle be deposited by the priests in the Herodian temple.
These two candlesticks, the one of the tabernacle and the one in use in the second temple (the one presented by Judas Maccabeus), at the time we are speaking of, are the only two holy place candlesticks known to have been in the second temple in the days of the Maccabees, and, of course, the only two that could have been removed to Herod’s temple.
We can scarcely doubt that these two candlesticks were the two which came into the possession of Titus. There are no other two we can possibly think of, or of which we can find any trace. The ten candlesticks which were used in Solomon’s temple, and also for some time in the second temple, having, as we have seen (B.C. 170) been taken away by Antiochus.
During the assault on the upper city, “one of the priests,” we are told, “delivered to Titus from the walls of the holy house two candlesticks, like to those that lay in the holy house, with tables and cisterns, and vials, all made of solid gold, and very heavy (Josephus Wars, 6.8, 3). Observe, they were not the candlesticks in use in the holy place of the temple, but only like them, and, of course, could have been no others than those of the tabernacle and the second temple (in the time of the Maccabees), taken from the deposit chambers in Herod’s temple where, with other sacred relics, they had been placed.
One of these must have been the one that was carried in the triumphal procession. But which? The table which, along with the two candlesticks, the priest delivered to Titus, was, we are told by Josephus, of many talents weight, and of course was the one carried along with the candlestick in the triumphal procession.
Josephus occasionally is given to exaggerate, and we think there can be little doubt that he overstates the weight of the table. What number of talents may be considered many here? Certainly not fewer than from ten to twenty. If only ten, then the table would be worth about £50,000, or if twenty, then about £100,000, either sum much greater than we can reasonably suppose the table to have been worth. As the candlestick shown on the Arch of Titus was rather larger than the table, it is taken for granted that the candlestick was likewise of many talents weight, and of course, like the table, would be worth from fifty to one hundred thousand pounds. If so, it could not have been the tabernacle candlestick,—so argue those who hold it must have been another. However, even though it could be shown that the table, as stated by Josephus, was of many talents weight, it does not follow that the candlestick must necessarily have been of about equal weight. The only sure data we have to guide us as to the weight of the holy place candlesticks is that of the weight of the tabernacle candlestick, the prototype of the others. It weighed rather less than one talent (Exodus 25:39), and was worth about £5000. The ten of the holy place of Solomon’s temple were undoubtedly made after the pattern of that of the tabernacle, and if so, each would be of the same weight, which would give a value of £50,000 for the ten. It is not in the least likely that the one gifted to the second temple by Judas Maccabeus, and which also would be made after the pattern of the divine original in the tabernacle, would be otherwise than about the same weight as it, and of those of Solomon’s temple.
It is true that a talent of gold forms but a small block, but the candlestick, though made of pure gold and its parts of solid gold (we mean not merely gilded), must have been hollow, and this would account for about a talent of gold making a candlestick of the size and shape of the tabernacle one, and also of the others which were made undoubtedly after the pattern of this their divine prototype. In favor of the candlestick carried in the triumphal procession being of many talents’ weight is the circumstance that eight men are represented as carrying it. But this is no decisive proof of its being of such weight, for if only of about one talent of weight according to our opinion, eight men might have been employed in carrying it. We cannot judge of the weight of trophies carried in a triumphal procession by the number of their bearers, since it is esteemed a great honor to act in this capacity. Arrangements are generally made to admit of as many men as can conveniently share the honor. To the same purpose is the circumstance that the weight of a triumphal car, and that of the number of men riding in it, cannot be judged by the number of horses or men drawing the carriage. Of the two candlesticks delivered to Titus that of the tabernacle would undoubtedly appear the more ancient, and the prototype of the other, as it really was, and of the ten of Solomon’s temple. So there can be little doubt the Titus would select it for exhibition in the triumphal procession. From all the circumstances we have indicated we are convinced that it was the tabernacle candlestick that was carried in the triumphal procession, sculptured on the Arch of Titus, and sometime after deposited in the temple of Peace at Rome, where it remained in safety and honor for four centuries; was then transferred to Carthage where it remained for nearly one hundred years; thereafter removed to Constantinople; and finally found a resting-place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. There, if not fallen a prey to some thief or invader, it is awaiting its resurrection by some fortunate and happy discoverer. The tabernacle candlestick and Mount Nebo.—If it be historically true that the tabernacle candlestick was hid in a cave of Mount Nebo in the days of Jeremiah as some writers hold, then our contention regarding it falls to the ground. They tells us that Jeremiah, previous to his setting out for Egypt, took the tabernacle and its holy vessels to this famous mount, and there hid them in a cave. Their opinion is founded on the following passage in the second book of Maccabees: “It is also found in the records that the prophet commanded them that were carried away to take of the fire as it had been signified” (2:1). It was also contained in the sacred writing that the prophet, being warned of God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark go with him, as he went forth into the mountain where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of God. “And when Jeremy came thither, he found an hollow cave, wherein he laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door” (w. 4, 5).
There can be little doubt that this passage is legendary. The learned Prideaux considers it fabulous. While it might be considered possible in the troubling times in Jerusalem, when the city and the land were harassed by Babylonian armies, to carry away a trifle or two, it can scarcely be conceived possible that the tabernacle and its holy vessels could be carried away to a cave in Mount Pisgah, seeing that no fewer than six wagons drawn by twelve oxen were required to transport the tabernacle from place to place in the wilderness. We hold the passage to be as we have said legendary. But even were it historically true, it will be observed that there is no mention in it of the golden candlestick, so that our contention with respect to it is not in the least affected by the passage.