Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
LAMP. The lights of the East are of various kinds; not only oil, but pitch, naphtha, and wax are used to maintain the flame. The wicks were generally made of cotton or of flax. According to rabbinical tradition, the wicks of the sacred lamps were made of the old linen garments of the priests. The form of Oriental lamps was fanciful, and often elegant. We have no descriptions of the forms specially used by the Hebrews, but they were probably not different from those used in Egypt and Western Asia.
The materials of which lamps were made were baked clay, terra cotta, bronze, etc. The lamps of the Hebrews, it is probable, were suffered to burn all night, and this occasioned no great expense in a country so rich in oil. We are told that this was considered indispensable to the comfort of a family, and that the poorest people would rather deny themselves food than neglect it. The putting out of the light denoted the ruin and extinction of the family and the desertion of the house. " "How oft is Assyrian Terra-Cotta and Glass Lamps. ) Chaldaean Lamps Lamp with Christian Inscription.
" Jer 25:10-11: Prov 20:20. " Prov 31:18.