This simple-to-understand concept appears 78 times in the Bible. When combined with some specific nouns, ta•mid coins some well-known biblical expressions.
The first is o•lat ta•mid, the continual burnt offering (Exodus 29:42).
The second is the everlasting fire, esh ta•mid (Leviticus 24:2).
The next is ner ta•mid, the lamps that burns continually (Leviticus 24:2). If you are familiar with the work of Michael Evans for the Holocaust survivors in Israel, you may have heard about the Yad Vashem institute in Jerusalem. Yad Vashem is a world center of the Jewish people commemorating the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and the ongoing confrontation of humanity with the horrors of the Holocaust. At the center, there is a hall named O•hel Iz•kor (Remembrance Tent), which has an eternally lit memorial fire that is also called ner ta•mid.
Two other expressions relate to provision of livelihood: le•chem ta•mid (bread supplied continually) and a•ru•chat ta•mid (a daily portion for every day), both mentioned in the last two verses of both II Kings and the last two verses of the Book of Jeremiah:
“And changed his prison garments; and he ate bread continually before him all the days of his life. And his allowance was a continual allowance given to him by the king, a daily portion for every day, all the days of his life”
We conclude with the ordinary use of the word ‘tamid’ as it appears in the beautiful Psalm:
“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved”
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