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
And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it. Two tenth parts [of an ephah] shall be in one cake. And thou shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before LORD. read more. And thou shall put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant. And 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 LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and 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. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are thou alone, and no man with thee? And 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 thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I have assigned the young men t read more. Now therefore what is under thy hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.
Now therefore what is under thy hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present. And 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.
And 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. And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth 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 sh
And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth 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 sh So the priest gave him holy [bread], for there was no bread there but the showbread that was taken from before 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 showbread that was taken from before LORD to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
And some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread to prepare it every Sabbath.
But he said to them, Have ye not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those with him, how he entered into the house of God, and ate the loaves of the presentation, which was not permitted for him to eat, nor for those with him, except 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 a [heavenly] agent before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
And thou shall put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, with which to bear the ark. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.
And thou shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits the length of it, and a cubit the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it.
And thou shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits the length of it, and a cubit the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shall make to it a border of a handbreadth round about, and thou shall make a golden crown to the border of it round about.
And thou shall make to it a border of a handbreadth round about, and thou shall make a golden crown to the border of it round about. And thou shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet of it.
And thou shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet of it. The rings shall be close by the border, for places for the staves to bear the table.
The rings shall be close by the border, for places for the staves to bear the table. And thou shall make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
And thou shall make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shall make the dishes of it, and the spoons of it, and the flagons of it, and the bowls of it, with which to pour out, of pure gold thou shall make them.
And thou shall make the dishes of it, and the spoons of it, and the flagons of it, and the bowls of it, with which to pour out, of pure gold thou shall make them. And thou shall set upon the table showbread before me always.
And thou shall set the table outside the veil, and the candlestick opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. And thou shall put the table on the north side.
And he said, My presence shall go [with thee], and I will give thee rest. And Moses said to him, If thy presence go not, do not carry us up from here.
And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it. Two tenth parts [of an ephah] shall be in one cake.
And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it. Two tenth parts [of an ephah] shall be in one cake. And thou shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before LORD.
And thou shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before LORD.
And thou shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before LORD. And thou shall put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to LORD.
And thou shall put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant.
Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant. And 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 LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
And 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 LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
When the camp sets 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 on it a covering of sea-skin, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue, and shall put in the staves of it. read more. And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups with which to pour out. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups with which to pour out. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt,
And he humbled thee, and allowed thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proce
And 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.
And 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. And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth 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 sh
And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth 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 sh So the priest gave him holy [bread], for there was no bread there but the showbread that was taken from before 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 showbread that was taken from before LORD to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of LORD: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the showbread was, of gold,
And some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread 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. And he made a hundred basins of gold.
And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God, also the golden altar, and the tables on which was the showbread,
Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within [the palace], and said, We have cleansed all the house of LORD, and the altar of burnt-offering with all the vessels of it, and the table of showbread with all the vessels of it.
And this is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, a thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives, thirty bowls of gold, four hundred and ten silver bowls of a second sort, and a thousand other vessels. read more. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar brought up when those of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Thou prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou have anointed my head with oil. My cup runs over.
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the [heavenly] agent 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 Gentiles. And in every place incense [is] offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name [is] great among the Gentiles, says LORD
But having answered, he said, It is written, Man will not live on bread alone, but on every word coming out through the mouth of God.
how he entered into the house of God, and ate the loaves of the presentation, which was not permitted for him to eat, nor for those with him, except only for the priests?
how he entered into the house of God, and ate the loaves of the presentation, which was not permitted for him to eat, nor for those with him, except only for the priests?
that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and 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, no, not hunger, and he who believes in me will, no, not ever thirst.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me 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 that comes down out of heaven, that a man may eat of it, and not die. I am the living bread, having come down out of heaven. If any man eats of this bread, he will live into the age. And also, the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Because we, the many, are one bread, one body, for we are all partakers of the one bread.
For a tabernacle was prepared, the first in which was also the lampstand, and the table, and the presentation of the loaves, which is called the Holy place.
which has a great and high wall having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve agents, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons 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
And thou shall make the dishes of it, and the spoons of it, and the flagons of it, and the bowls of it, with which to pour out, of pure gold thou shall make them.
And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it. Two tenth parts [of an ephah] shall be in one cake. And thou shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before LORD. read more. And thou shall put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to LORD. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant.
Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant.
Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before LORD continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant. And 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 LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
And 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 LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups with which to pour out. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and 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. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are thou alone, and no man with thee? And 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 thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I have assigned the young men t read more. Now therefore what is under thy hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present. And 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. And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth 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 sh So the priest gave him holy [bread], for there was no bread there but the showbread that was taken from before 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 showbread that was taken from before 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 showbread that was taken from before LORD to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
And inside the oracle was [a space of] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height of it. And he overlaid it with pure gold. And he covered the altar with cedar.
And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of LORD: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the showbread was, of gold,
And some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread to prepare it every Sabbath.
And some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread to prepare it every Sabbath.
for the showbread, 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 manner of measure and size.
Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of LORD my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt-offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbat
The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and the length of it two cubits, and the corners of it, and the length of it, and the walls of it, were of wood. And he said to me, This is the table that is before LORD.
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.