There may be an intended contrast here between the “light” and the “lamp.” The good man glows with divine light from the Source of all light and life, while the bad man is forced to devise a lamp by whose glimmering and smoky light he hopes to see a way through to a good end in spite of his rejection of the true Light. The light is eternal, but the lamps will all die out (see Job 18:5; John 1:8).