What Can Jewish Candle Lighting Teach Us About Being a Good Christian?
At the time of this recording, we’re only a couple of weeks away from Valentine’s Day. One of the traditions of this lover’s holiday is a candlelight dinner. There’s just something special about looking across the table at your true love and beholding their beauty by the soft warm flame. This is the reason the Jewish people have a tradition of candle lighting every Friday evening before sundown. And I’ll prove it to you in less than 10 minutes.
“Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel Shabbat.”
What? You didn’t understand that? Ok, here it is in English: “Blessed are You, Oh LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with commandments, and commanded us to light Shabbat candles.” This is the beautiful blessing recited in Jewish homes just a few minutes before sundown on Friday evenings. There’s just one problem with it: it’s never a commandment in the Torah. Uh oh…
Shabbat Shalom
Lighting candles to bring in the Sabbath is both very practical and beautiful. And while it isn’t explicitly commanded in the Torah, it’s not hard to see where the idea came from. Israel was commanded not to work on the Sabbath. At all. One specific commandment is that Israel was forbidden to light a fire on Sabbath:
Moses assembled the whole community of the Israelites and said to them, “These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do. In six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on it will be put to death. You must not kindle a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.” (Exodus 35:1-3 NET)
Jewish tradition explains why lighting a fire on the Sabbath was specifically mentioned in these verses. Apparently, Israel didn’t believe that lighting a fire was work – only preparation for work. YHWH didn’t even want this to happen. He wanted Sabbath to be something completely different. All work needed to stop before sundown. And that included lighting a fire. So, it became very practical to light a fire before sundown. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have any light or anything to cook on until the Sabbath was over.
Where Did Jewish Candle Lighting Come From?
But the Sages explain that the candle lighting was much more than a useful practice. Tradition says that over the centuries, apathy over the Sabbath came over the Jewish people. But rather than disobeying by lighting a fire, the Jewish people just stopped having light altogether.
My wife, Christy (who is an amazing baker, by the way) says: “You eat with your eyes.” The rabbis agree with her. They saw the joy of the Sabbath was gone. It was just a day where no one was allowed to work. But that’s not the purpose of the Sabbath.
It’s a day to take a vacation from the cares of the world and celebrate being a part of God’s covenant people! And even more than that, it’s a day to remember that God is God, and He is One who truly provides for all of our needs. And this is when the rabbis began requiring that all Jewish homes light candles before sundown. It is an event to commemorate Israel’s relationship with the God of Heaven and Earth. And to enjoy a beautiful dinner with the One who loves them and cares for them. Sabbath evening is a candlelight dinner with the Lover of our souls.
The Light of the World
Paul writes that one of the main reasons for the Torah – including the Sabbath commandment – was to set Israel apart from the nations of the world. It made them different. And maybe this is why Jesus uses light as a metaphor for His followers:
Christian’s aren’t commanded to light candles on Sabbath evening. But, we are commanded to be the Light of the World. What if we start a tradition of lighting candles one meal a week – Sunday dinner or something like that – and remembering that the world is a very dark place without our light.
