על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר א נ״דOn the Special Laws, Book I 54
א׳
1[296] Again he commands that the lamps on the sacred candlestick within the veil should be kept burning from evening till early morning. He has several objects in this. One is, that the holy places should be illuminated when the daylight leaves them and thus remain ever exempt from darkness, in this resembling the stars. For they when the sun has set display their own light instead and do not forsake their place in the cosmic order.
ב׳
2[297] A second object was, that at night-time also some rites of the same kith and kin as those of the day-time should be performed for the service of God, and that no time or season should omit its thanksgiving. And to shew our thankfulness the sacrificial offering, for sacrificial it may quite properly be called, most suitable and appropriate to the night is the radiance of that most sacred light in the inner shrine.
ג׳
3[298] There is a third reason, a very cogent one: Not only in our waking hours do we experience blessings, but also in our slumbers. For God the bountiful has provided our mortal race with a great support in the form of sleep, whereby both body and soul are benefited. The body is released from the labours of the day, the soul relaxes its anxious cares and retreats into itself, away from the press and clamour of the senses, and can then, if at no other time, enjoy privacy and commune with itself. Rightly therefore did the law determine so to apportion the thank-offerings that thankfulness is expressed for our waking time by the victims brought to the altar, for sleep and the benefits which it gives by the lighting of the sacred lamps.