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 you shall set upon the table Bread of the Presence before Me always.
And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes of it. Two-tenth parts shall be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Jehovah. read more. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a fire offering to Jehovah. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy to him of the fire offerings of Jehovah, by a never-ending statute.
And they shall spread a cloth of blue upon the table of showbread, and put the dishes on it, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the drink offering, and covers to cover it with. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you? 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 you, and what I have sent you. And I have sent servants to such and such a place. read more. And therefore, what is under your hand? Give five loaves of bread in my hand, or what there is to be found.
And therefore, what is under your hand? Give five loaves of bread in my hand, or what there is to be found. And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest and said to him, Truly women have been kept from us for about three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and in a way the holy bread is common. Also surely today it is sanctified in the vessels.
And David answered the priest and said to him, Truly women have been kept from us for about three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and in a way the holy bread is common. Also surely today it is sanctified in the vessels. And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And others of the sons of the Kohathites, from among their brothers, were over The Bread of Arrangement, to prepare sabbath by sabbath.
But He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him, how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor 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 in the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.
And you shall put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, so that the ark may be carried with them. And the staves shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it.
You shall also make a table of acacia-wood, its length two cubits, and its breadth a cubit, and its height a cubit and a half.
You shall also make a table of acacia-wood, its length two cubits, and its breadth a cubit, and its height a cubit and a half. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make to this a crown of gold all around.
And you shall overlay it with pure gold, and make to this a crown of gold all around. And you shall make to it a border of a hand's breadth round about. And you shall make a golden crown to the border of it, all around.
And you shall make to it a border of a hand's breadth round about. And you shall make a golden crown to the border of it, all around. And you 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 you 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 adjoining the border as housings for the staves to carry the table.
The rings shall be adjoining the border as housings for the staves to carry the table. And you shall make the staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them.
And you shall make the staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them. And you shall make its dishes, and its spoons, and its pitchers, and its sacrificial cups with which a drink-offering is made. You shall make them of pure gold.
And you shall make its dishes, and its spoons, and its pitchers, and its sacrificial cups with which a drink-offering is made. You shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set upon the table Bread of the Presence before Me always.
And you shall set upon the table Bread of the Presence before Me always.
And you shall set upon the table Bread of the Presence before Me always.
And 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.
And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here.
And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes of it. Two-tenth parts shall be in one cake.
And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes of it. Two-tenth parts shall be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Jehovah.
And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Jehovah.
And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Jehovah. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a fire offering to Jehovah.
And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a fire offering to Jehovah. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy to him of the fire offerings of Jehovah, by a never-ending statute.
And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy to him of the fire offerings of Jehovah, by a never-ending statute.
And when the camp sets forth, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of testimony with it. And they shall put on it the covering of dugong skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in its staves. read more. And they shall spread a cloth of blue upon the table of showbread, and put the dishes on it, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the drink offering, and covers to cover it with. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And they shall spread a cloth of blue upon the table of showbread, and put the dishes on it, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the drink offering, and covers to cover it with. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought you out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt,
And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and then He fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know it, so that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of Jehovah man shall live.
And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest and said to him, Truly women have been kept from us for about three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and in a way the holy bread is common. Also surely today it is sanctified in the vessels.
And David answered the priest and said to him, Truly women have been kept from us for about three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and in a way the holy bread is common. Also surely today it is sanctified in the vessels. And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And Solomon made all the vessels in the house of Jehovah: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the Bread of the Presence;
And others of the sons of the Kohathites, from among their brothers, were over The Bread of Arrangement, to prepare sabbath by sabbath.
And he made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold.
And Solomon made all the vessels for the house of God, and the golden altar, and the tables on which the showbread was set;
And they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, We have cleaned all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of burnt offering, with all its vessels, and the showbread table, and all its vessels.
And this is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, a thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives, thirty basins of gold, four hundred and ten silver basins of a second kind, 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 the exiles were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
You prepare a table for 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 its going in, My name shall be great among the nations; and everywhere incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure food offering. For My name shall be great among the nations, says Jehovah 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 showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst.
Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me has everlasting life. I am the Bread of life. read more. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died. This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven, so that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever. And truly the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
For we, the many, are one bread and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.
For the first tabernacle was prepared, in which was both the lampstand, and the table, and the setting out of the loaves, which is called Holies.
And it had a great and high wall, with twelve gates. And on the gates were twelve angels, and having 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 you shall make its dishes, and its spoons, and its pitchers, and its sacrificial cups with which a drink-offering is made. You shall make them of pure gold.
And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes of it. Two-tenth parts shall be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Jehovah. read more. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, so that it may be on the bread for a memorial, a fire offering to Jehovah. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
Every sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah forever, from the sons of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy to him of the fire offerings of Jehovah, by a never-ending statute.
And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And they shall eat it in the holy place, for it is most holy to him of the fire offerings of Jehovah, by a never-ending statute.
And they shall spread a cloth of blue upon the table of showbread, and put the dishes on it, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the drink offering, and covers to cover it with. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And they shall spread a cloth of blue upon the table of showbread, and put the dishes on it, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the drink offering, and covers to cover it with. And the continual bread shall be on it.
And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you? 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 you, and what I have sent you. And I have sent servants to such and such a place. read more. And therefore, what is under your hand? Give five loaves of bread in my hand, or what there is to be found. And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest and said to him, Truly women have been kept from us for about three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and in a way the holy bread is common. Also surely today it is sanctified in the vessels. And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And the priest gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence that was taken from before Jehovah, in order to put hot bread in on the day when it was taken away.
And the Holy of Holies in the front part was twenty cubits in length and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in height. And he overlaid it with pure gold, and covered the altar of cedar.
And Solomon made all the vessels in the house of Jehovah: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the Bread of the Presence;
And others of the sons of the Kohathites, from among their brothers, were over The Bread of Arrangement, to prepare sabbath by sabbath.
And others of the sons of the Kohathites, from among their brothers, were over The Bread of Arrangement, to prepare sabbath by sabbath.
both for the showbread, and for the fine flour for food offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all kinds of measure and size,
Behold, I am building a house to the name of Jehovah my God, to dedicate it to Him, and to burn before Him sweet incense, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of Jehovah our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.
The altar of wood was 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 Jehovah.
They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table, to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.
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
And you shall set upon the table Bread of the Presence before Me always.