suffering. We may well believe that it soothed the weary years of the Babylonian exile. It enters
largely into the order of the Latin Church for the services of passion-week. On the ninth day of the
month of Ab (July-August), the Lamentations of Jeremiah were read, year by year, with fasting
and weeping, to commemorate the misery out of which the people had been delivered.
Lamp
That part of the golden candlestick belonging to the tabernacle which bore the light; also of each
of the ten candlesticks placed by Solomon in the temple before the holy of holies. (Exodus 25:37;
•
1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chronicles 4:20; 13:11; Zechariah 4:2) The lamps were lighted every evening and
cleansed every morning. (Exodus 30:7,8)
•A torch or flambeau, such as was carried by the soldiers of Gideon. (Judges 7:16,20) comp. Judg
15:4 The use in marriage processions of lamps fed with oil is alluded to in the parable of the ten
virgins. (Matthew 25:1) Modern Egyptian lamps consist of small glass vessels with a tube at the
bottom containing a cotton wick twisted around a piece of straw. For night travelling, a lantern
composed of waxed cloth strained over a sort of cylinder of wire rings, and a top and bottom of
perforated copper. This would, in form at least, answer to the lamps within pitchers of Gideon.
“The Hebrews, like the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as the modern Orientals, were
accustomed to burn lamps all night. This custom, with the effect produced by their going out or
being extinguished, supplies various figures to the sacred writers. (2 Samuel 21:17; Proverbs 13:9;
20:20) On the other hand, the keeping up of a lamp’s light is used as a symbol of enduring and
unbroken succession. (1 Kings 11:36; 15:4; Psalms 132:17) ”—McClintock and Strong.
Lancet
This word is found in (1 Kings 18:28) only. The Hebrew term is romach, which is elsewhere
rendered, and appears to mean a javelin or light spear. In the original edition of the Authorized
Version (1611) the word is “lancers.”
Language
[Tongues, Confusion Of, CONFUSION OF]
Lantern
(so called of its shining) occurs only in (John 18:3) (It there probably denotes any kind of
covered light, in distinction from a simple taper or common house-light, as well as from a flambeau.
Lanterns were much employed by the Romans in military operations. Two, of bronze, have been
found among the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. They are cylindrical, with translucent horn
sides, the lamp within being furnished with an extinguisher.—ED.)
Laodicea
(justice of the people), a town in the Roman province of Asia situated in the valley of the
Maeander, on a small river called the Lycus, with Colossae and Hierapolis a few miles distant to
the west. Built, or rather rebuilt, by one of the Seleucid monarchs, and named in honor of his wife,
Laodicea became under the Roman government a place of some importance. Its trade was
considerable; it lay on the line of a great road; and it was the seat of a conventus. From the third
chapter and seventeenth verse of Revelation we should gather it was a place of great wealth.
Christianity was introduced into Laodicea, not, however, as it would seem, through the direct agency
of St. Paul. We have good reason for believing that when, in writing from Rome to the Christians
of Colossae, he sent a greeting to those of Laodicea, he had not personally visited either place. But
the preaching of the gospel at Ephesus, (Acts 18:19; Acts 19:41) must inevitably have resulted in
the formation of churches in the neighboring cities, especially where Jews were settled; and there