ition.
Both the single light or candle, and the distinctive combination of
seven, are the favorite objects of metaphor, interpretation, and
poetic sentiment. In the Bible the word "ner" ([Hebrew: nun-resh;
Transliteration: ner])--candle or light, embodied, of course, in the
word Menorah ([Hebrew: mem-nun-vav-resh-hey; Transliteration:
menorah])--is used metaphorically in many significant senses. God is a
light--enlightening, comforting and honoring his people. The rational
understanding and conscience are lights which search, inform, direct
and judge us. A profession of faith is called a lamp, which renders
men shining and useful and instructors of others. The last two
interpretations certainly cast an appropriate reflection on our choice
of Menorah.

For the number 7, as we all know, the ancient Hebrews had a singular
fondness, attributing to it a magic potency. This may have arisen from
the traditional story of the seven days of Creation, and the
institution of the Sabbath--without a doubt the most important of
Hebrew institutions. This certainly enhanced the reverence for the
number 7, which soon became the most sacred Hebrew number, bearing
nearly always the connotation of holiness and sanctity or mystic
perfection. The acts of atonement and purification were accompanied by
a sevenfold sprinkling. There were seven trumpets, seven priests that
sounded them seven days around Jericho, seven lamps, seven seals, etc.
The seventh day was the Sabbath, the seventh year was the Sabbatical
(still observed to the well-earned emolument of our professors in the
Universities), and seven times seven years brought on the Jubilee. The
seventh month was the holiest month of the year (which we appreciate
now by regarding September as an auspicious month in which to return
to college studies). The number seven soon came to be used also
conventionally as an indefinite or round number, indicating
abundance, completeness, perfection.[1] Cicero calls seven the knot
and cement of all things, as being that by which the natural and
spiritual world are comprehended in one idea.

_The Manifold Symbolism of the Seven Lamps_

BE that as it may, our ancestral learned men seem to have found no end
of significant meanings in the seven lamps of the Menorah. Generally
it was held to represent the creation of the universe in seven days,
the center light symbolizing the Sabbath. Again, the seven branches
are the seven continents of the earth and t