Snuffer
Snuffer
(מזִמֶּרֶת, mezammereth, a cutting instrument; 1Ki 7:50; 2Ki 12:14; 2Ki 25:14; 2Ch 4:22; Jer 52:18; מֶלקָחִי ם, melkacha'yim, Ex 37:23; tongs, as elsewhere rendered), an implement for removing the snuff from the lamps of the sacred candelabrum. Judging from the latter of the above Hebrew terms, it was double, but not of the scissors form. Instruments like ours for cutting the wick of a lamp were not anciently known, unless the instrument represented in the cut, copied from one in the British Museum, may be supposed to have been used for such a purpose; but a sort of tweezers was employed to draw up the wick when necessary, and for pinching off any superfluous portion. Everyone is aware that lamps when properly replenished with oil do not need snuffing, like candles. The sort of tweezers we have mentioned is still used in the East for trimming lamps. Snuffers are only known in those parts of Western Asia where candles are partially used during winter. Snuffers are candle, not lamp, instruments; and candles are but little used in any part of Asia, the temperature being generally too warm. SEE CANDLESTICK.
