Israel Lights a Lamp for the One Who Lights All

Another interpretation: Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the world, You tell us to give light before You, yet You are the light of the world, "for You are my lamp, O LORD" (2 Samuel 22:29), and light dwells with You, as it is said, "He reveals the deep things" (Daniel 2:22). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: it is not that I need your light, but to raise you up before the nations, "when you kindle the lamps" (Numbers 8:2), so that they will say, Israel gives light to the One who gives light to all. A parable: to what is the matter like? To a sighted man and a blind man who were walking on the road. The sighted man said to the blind man, Come and I will support you, and he supported him as they walked. When they entered the city and the house, the sighted man said to the blind man, Go out and kindle the lamp for me. The blind man said to him: Please, while we were on the road you supported me until we came into the house, and you accompanied me, and now you tell me, Go out and kindle the lamp for me? He said to him: So that you will not feel beholden to me for leading you on the road. So too the sighted one is the Holy One, blessed be He, "the eyes of the LORD that range over all the earth" (Zechariah 4:10), and it is written, "and the LORD went before them by day" (Exodus 13:21); and here He says, "and they shall take to you," not because I need it, but in order to give light to you. The lightning is an offspring of the fire above, and it goes forth and dazzles the whole world; would I then need light? A mortal kindles a lamp from a lamp; can he kindle one out of the darkness? But of the Holy One, blessed be He, it is written, "and darkness was over the face of the deep, and God said, Let there be light" (Genesis 1:2-3), and it says, "even the darkness is not dark to You" (Psalms 139:12). The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: in this world you needed the light of the Temple, but in the World to Come, in the merit of that lamp, I will bring you the King Messiah, who is likened to a lamp, as it is said, "There I will make a horn sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed" (Psalms 132:17). And not only that, but I will make light for you, for thus said Isaiah, "the LORD shall be to you for an everlasting light" (Isaiah 60:19).