Reference: Shewbread
Easton
Ex 25:30 (R.V. marg., "presence bread"); 1Ch 9:32 (marg., "bread of ordering"); Nu 4:7: called "hallowed bread" (R.V., "holy bread") in 1Sa 21:1-6.
This bread consisted of twelve loaves made of the finest flour. They were flat and thin, and were placed in two rows of six each on a table in the holy place before the Lord. They were renewed every Sabbath (Le 24:5-9), and those that were removed to give place to the new ones were to be eaten by the priests only in the holy place (see 1Sa 21:3-6; comp. Mt 12:3-4).
The number of the loaves represented the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the entire spiritual Israel, "the true Israel;" and the placing of them on the table symbolized the entire consecration of Israel to the Lord, and their acceptance of God as their God. The table for the bread was made of acacia wood, 3 feet long, 18 inches broad, and 2 feet 3 inches high. It was plated with pure gold. Two staves, plated with gold, passed through golden rings, were used for carrying it.
Illustration: Table of Shewbread
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
"You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. read more. You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant. It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute."
On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?" David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, 'Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.' read more. Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present."
Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present." The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women."
The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?"
David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?" So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
Some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the show bread, to prepare it every Sabbath.
But he said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, he and his companions; how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
Fausets
Bread of the faces or "presence" of God (Ex 25:30). "Bread of ordering" (1Ch 9:32). "The continual bread" (Nu 4:7). "Hallowed bread" (1Sa 21:4-6; Mt 12:4; Heb 9:2 "the shewbread," Greek "bread of setting forth".) The table was of acacia or "shittim wood," two cubits long, one broad, one and a half high, overlaid with pure gold, with a golden crown to the border round about, to hinder any bread falling off (but see below); Ex 25:23-30. The border was to be "of a handbreadth"; so in the sculpture on Titus' Arch the slave's hand that holds the table is just the breadth of the border. "The pure table" (Le 24:6), both because of its unalloyed gold and because of the "pure offering" on it (Mal 1:11). The table stood in the holy place on the N. side (Ex 26:35). The 12 cakes of unleavened bread, arranged in two piles, with a golden cup of frankincense on each (Josephus Ant. 3:10, section 7), were renewed every sabbath, and the stale loaves given to the priests.
They represented the 12 tribes before Jehovah perpetually, (see Re 21:12) in token that He was always graciously accepting His people and their good works, for whom atonement had been made by the victims on the altar outside. They were the national meat offering (Le 24:5-9). Each cake contained two tenths of an ephah, about six pounds and a quarter, of fine flour. The frankincense as a memorial was probably cast upon the altar fire as "an offering made by fire unto the Lord," when the bread was removed from the table on the Sabbath. Ahimelech stretched the law in giving the stale loaves to David's men, as free from ceremonial defilement (1Sa 21:4-6; Mt 12:4), for they should have been eaten by the priests, in the holy place (Le 24:5-9). Bahr thinks the loaves symbolized the Holy One in His sanctuary as the Bread of life to His people (Joh 6:35,47-51; Mt 4:4; De 8:3).
But the loaves were taken from Israel, not presented by God to them; and one loaf would suit his view rather than twelve (1Co 10:17). Still, on their presenting themselves before Him in the bread symbol, He feeds them represented by their priests. As they are a bread offering to Him, so He gives Himself as the bread to feed them. In 2Ch 4:8,19, ten tables are mentioned "whereon the shewbread was set," i.e., Solomon made a number of tables, and one great golden one on which they set the loaves. In the parallel passage, 1Ki 7:48, "the table of gold" alone is mentioned, as in 2Ch 29:18. "Ten" is the number also of the candlesticks. The tables were probably made of cedarwood overlaid with gold (see Josephus Ant. 8:3, section 7). As it is omitted in the list of articles restored from Babylon (Ezr 1:9-11), it was doubtless remade by Zerubbabel. Antiochus Epiphanes carried away the table of the second temple (2Ma 1:22). Anew one was made at the restoration of the temple by Judas Maccabeus (1Ma 4:49).
Afterward Ptolemy Philadelphus presented a splendid table (Josephus Ant. 12:2, section 8-9). In the Arch of Titus, the sculptor in defiance of perspective exhibits the two ends. Speaker's Commentary (Ex 25:23-30) for "crown of gold" translated "moulding of gold"; for "border," "a framing" which reached from leg to leg, to make the table firm, as well as to adorn it with a second moulding of gold; two fragments of such a framing appear half way clown the legs in the Titus' Arch sculpture. "Over against the framing" the rings were "upon the four extremities (KJV "corners") that were at the four (clawlike) feet," answering to each corner of it. The staves were never taken out of the golden rings by which the ark was to be borne; so translated Nu 4:5-6, "put the staves thereof in order," not "put in," they would need merely adjustment after motion (Ex 25:14-15).
The "dishes" or bowls were probably the measures for the meal used in the loaves. For "spoons" translated "cups" filled with frankincense, represented on Titus' Arch. For "covers" and "bowls" and "to cover withal" translated "flagons and chalices, to pour out withal." These were for the drink offering which accompanied every meat offering, for the shewbread was a true meat offering. In Nu 4:7 the Hebrew means "the shew table" or "table of the faces" or presence, namely, of God manifested. Similar is the phrase "the Angel of His presence" (Isa 63:9; Ex 33:14-15; 23:20; De 4:37, "in His sight".) The "face" stands for the Person. "The bread of the face" on the table in the sanctuary symbolizes that man is admitted to God's holy table and presence, seeing and being nourished by God in the person of Christ, the Bread of life.
The priests, Israel's representatives, alone ate this sacramental pledge in the Old Testament. The whole church as "priests unto God" offer themselves before God and are fed at the Lord's table with the sacramental symbol of Christ's body, our true food (Ps 23:5; Lu 22:30; 1Co 11:26). The continued renewal every Sabbath testified to the design of that holy day to renew men afresh to self dedication as in God's immediate presence; as Israel by the candlestick appeared as a people of enlightenment, and by the incense altar as a people of prayer. The frankincense always on the shewbread, and consumed when the bread was to be eaten, symbolized that prayer must ever accompany self dedication, and that the fame of love must kindle prayer when we are about to hold communion with and to be nourished by Him.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
"Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark. The poles shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it.
"You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth, and one and a half cubits its height.
"You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth, and one and a half cubits its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it.
You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a gold molding around it. You shall make a rim of a handbreadth around it. You shall make a golden molding on its rim around it.
You shall make a rim of a handbreadth around it. You shall make a golden molding on its rim around it. You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet.
You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet. The rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table.
The rings shall be close to the rim, for places for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them.
You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls to pour out offerings with. You shall make them of pure gold.
You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls to pour out offerings with. You shall make them of pure gold. You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.
You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and you shall put the table on the north side.
He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." He said to him, "If your presence doesn't go with me, do not carry us up from here.
"You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake.
"You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.
You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.
You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD.
You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant.
Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant. It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute."
It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute."
When the camp moves forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the Testimony with it, and shall put a covering of sealskin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles. read more. On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live.
The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women."
The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?"
David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?" So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the show bread was, of gold;
Some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the show bread, to prepare it every Sabbath.
He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.
Solomon made all the vessels that were in God's house, the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them;
Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, "We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and the table of show bread, with all its vessels.
This is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, one thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives, thirty bowls of gold, silver bowls of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels one thousand. read more. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these up, when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old.
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations," says the LORD of hosts.
But he answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'"
how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. read more. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread.
For a tabernacle was prepared. In the first part were the lampstand, the table, and the show bread; which is called the Holy Place.
having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
Hastings
In one of the oldest historical documents preserved in the OT we find, in a passage telling of David's flight from Saul, the first mention of an offering in the shape of 'holy bread,' which was presented to Jahweh in the sanctuary at Nob (1Sa 21:1-6). Here this holy bread is also termed 'the bread of the presence' (1Sa 21:6), i.e. of Jahweh, which appears in English Version as 'shewbread'
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You shall make its dishes, its spoons, its ladles, and its bowls to pour out offerings with. You shall make them of pure gold.
"You shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. You shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. read more. You shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to the LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant.
Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant.
Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the children of Israel an everlasting covenant. It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute."
It shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy to him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute."
On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
On the table of show bread they shall spread a blue cloth, and put on it the dishes, the spoons, the bowls, and the cups with which to pour out; and the continual bread shall be on it.
Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?" David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, 'Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.' read more. Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present." The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?" So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
And before the sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in its height; and he overlaid it with pure gold: and he covered the altar with cedar.
Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the LORD: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the show bread was, of gold;
Some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the show bread, to prepare it every Sabbath.
Some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the show bread, to prepare it every Sabbath.
for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all kinds of measure and size;
Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.
The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before the LORD.
they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.
Smith
Shew-bread,
etc. literally "bread of the face" or "faces." Shew-bread was unleavened bread placed upon a table which stood in the sanctuary together with the seven-branched candlestick and the altar of incense. See
for description of this table. Every Sabbath twelve newly baked loaves, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, were put on it in two rows, six in each, and sprinkled with incense, where they remained till the following Sabbath. Then they were replaced by twelve new ones, the incense was burned, and they were eaten by the priests in the holy place, out of which they might not be removed, The title "bread of the face" seems to indicate that bread through which God is seen, that is, with the participation of which the seeing of God is bound up, or through the participation of which man attains the sight of God whence it follows that we have not to think of bread merely as such as the means of nourishing the bodily life, but as spiritual food as a means of appropriating and retaining that life which consists In seeing the face of God.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You shall set bread of the presence on the table before me always.