CONTINUAL LAMP — literally 'lamp of regularity.' The command (27:20-21) is the chapter's only instruction not addressed to Moses building something, but to the whole people bringing something: pure, beaten olive oil, so Aaron and his sons can tend the lampstand's flame every evening 'from evening to morning' before Jehovah — the text's own scope, not literal round-the-clock burning. ⚠ Its closing phrase, 'an EVERLASTING STATUTE throughout their generations,' is the identical Hebrew formula (chukkat olam) that first sealed the Passover three chapters back (12:14, already on these pages) — now sealing the priesthood's own first standing duty, one chapter before Aaron and his sons are even given their garments (Exodus 28, already on these pages). The modern synagogue's ever-burning 'Ner Tamid' lamp over the ark takes its name from this phrase, though its own continuous, day-and-night burning is a later development. → first discussed at Exod 27:20