LAMP
The lamps of the ancients, sometimes called "candles" in our Bible, were cups and vessels of many convenient and graceful shapes; and might be carried in the hand, or set upon a stand. See Candlestick. The lamp was fed with vegetable oils, tallow, wax, etc., and was kept burning all night. The poorest families, in some parts of the East, still regard this as essential to health and comfort. A darkened house therefore forcibly told of the extinction of its former occupants, Job 18:5, Job 1:18; Proverbs 13:9; Proverbs 1:20; Jeremiah 25:10, Jeremiah 1:25; while a constant light was significant of prosperity and perpetuity, 2 Samuel 21:17; 1 Kings 11:36; Psalms 132:17. Lamps to be carried in the streets presented a large surface of wicking to the air, and needed to be frequently replenished from a vessel of oil borne in the other hand, Matthew 25:3, Matthew 1:25. Torches and lanterns, John 18:3, were very necessary in ancient cities, the streets of which were never lighted.