by weight also for the lampstands of gold, and for the lamps of it, of gold, by weight for every lampstand and for the lamps of it; and for the lampstands of silver, [silver] by weight for [every] lampstand and for the lamps of it, according to the use of every lampstand;
". . . the Temple of Old Testament Israel was not essentially a ’religious’ center where religious activities such as sacrifice and worship were carried out; it was the house of Yahweh, the palace of the Great King who could and must be visited there by His devoted subjects. Losing sight of this downplays the centrality of covenant as a fundamental theological principle. When one understands that Yahweh had redeemed and made covenant with His elect people Israel as a great king makes covenant with a vassal, the role of the Temple as the focal point of Israel’s faith becomes immediately apparent. It is the palace of the Sovereign, the place to which they make periodic pilgrimage to proffer their allegiance and to offer up their gifts of homage. Seen as such, the care with which even its most minute details are revealed and executed is most intelligible, for as the visible expression of the invisible God, the Temple with all its forms and functions becomes a sublime revelatory vehicle of the character and purposes of the Almighty." [Note: Merrill, "A Theology . . .," p. 176.] 