A) THE BREAD OF LIFE.

B) THE GOLDEN SPOONS.

C) FRANKINCENSE.

D) THE MAKEUP OF THE SHEWBREAD.

E) OIL AND SALT.

F) THE CHANGING OF THE SHEWBREAD.

 

 

A) THE BREAD OF LIFE

 

 

As we enter into the Holy Place we notice the Table of Shewbread upon our right-hand side (to the North).  We can see this by going to Exodus 25:23-30; 37:10-16.  It was made of “shittim wood,” overlaid with “pure gold.”  The term “showbread” comes from a Hebrew word that means “Bread of the Face,” or “Bread of Presence,” because the loaves were set before the face, or presence of Jehovah.  It is the meal offering from the children of Israel to the Lord (Lev. 24:8).  Therefore, we should not necessarily think of this bread as a means of nourishing the body, but as spiritual food.  Spiritual food consists in seeking and seeing in everything, the face of God.  “And they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads.”  Revelation 22:4.

 

This Table of Shewbread best expresses itself in the fact that the “shittim wood,” overlaid with “pure gold,” typified the unique union of our Lord’s Divine nature with His human nature (Php. 2:6-11).  That Jesus was Divine is clearly seen in John 1:1-4 & 10-14; 10:30-33; 20:28; Hebrews 1:2-6.  Also, ascribing to Jesus such Divine attributes as His eternal Existence is seen in Revelation 1:8; while we also see His Omnipresence in Matthew 28:20; and His Omniscience in John 2:24-25; and lastly His Omnipotence in Philippians 3:21.

 

The Shewbread is known as “continual Shewbread,” Second Chronicles 2:4, because it was to be “always” “before,” Exodus 25:30, our Lord.

 

Bread is termed, “The Staff of Life,” and is emblematic of life itself.  The Shewbread was thus a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ Himself, Who is the True “Bread of Life,’ John 6:35 & 48; giving unfailing sustenance to all who partake of Him.  In a side note:  He was born in the city of Bethlehem, which means literally, “House of Bread.”

 

There is two symbolic representations in the unleavened aspect of the Shewbread.  The first is known by most all of us, that being that leaven represents sin.  Therefore, the representation is that our Lord achieved in His eartholy ministry sinlessness.  That second is generally missed by most, that being that unleaved bread does not rise.  Therefore, it represents that our Lord would not be raised from the dead until three days later.

 

The Table was two cubits (3 feet) in length, one cubit (18 inches) in width, and one and one-half cubits (27 inches) in height (Exo. 37:10).  All around the table was “a crown of gold,” Exodus 37:11.  However, “Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about,” Exodus 37:12 & 25:25.  Thus, there were two rows of crowns, separated in distance of about one hands breadth (not width short wise, but lengthwise, longest finger to wrist), round about the top of the table.  “And he made the vessels which were upon the Table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.”  Exodus 37:16.  This indicates that there was a shelf some distance below the top shelf.  From this it would appear that the tabletop was for the bread and the lower shelf was for the service-ware.

 

 

B) THE GOLDEN SPOONS

 

 

There were “golden spoons” (or incense cups), which were gifts brought by each of the twelve tribes, weighing ten shekels each (about 1/4 of a pound), Numbers 7:86.  “Frankincense” was placed on each row of the loaves (Lev. 24:7), being “two rows, six on a row,” Leviticus 24:6, and the spoons were “full of incense” (Num. 7:14 & 20 & 26 & 28 & 32 & 44 & 50 & 62 & 68 & 74 & 80 & 86), supplied by the Levites (1Ch. 9:29).  Thus, the “spoons” were filled with “frankincense,” which was then poured on top of the bread with the remainder of it being burned upon the Alter of Incense (Lev. 24:7; Num 7:14) as an offering to Jehovah.

 

 

C) FRANKINCENSE

 

 

Therefore, in addition to the incense that was already burning upon the Alter of Incense, each Sabbath saw the added addition of the frankincense, which provided its own fragrance to the Sanctuary as a whole, and produced a silvery white cast.  This, mixed with the incense, provided a balsam-like fragrance which would permeate the Holy Place and make its way throughout the court and surrounding encampment.

 

In a side note, Leviticus 6:26; 24:9, gives the impression that the priests “shall eat it [the Shewbread] in the Holy Place.”  However, nothing was ever eaten in the Holy Place.  A more correct rendering would be, “in a holy place,” which would be the Court, or “the sacred court,” as in Numbers 28:7.  “Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ.  The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf.  It is reflected in every water spring. . . makes sacred the provisions for our daily life.  The family board becomes as the table of the Lord, and every meal a sacrament.”  DA:660.  And we all know that Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 6:35 & 48).

 

It must be remembered that frankincense was one of the gifts presented to our Lord at His birth (Mat. 2:11).  It well represents the sweetness in which our Lord treated all and the “sweet savor of Christ,” Second Corinthians 2:15, that we are to present to everyone we meet.

 

 

D) THE MAKEUP OF THE SHEWBREAD

 

 

The bread was made from “fine flour,” Numbers, Chapter 7, which means it was ground fine with all unevenness and all coarse particles removed.  This exemplifies the torture which our Lord went through before, or better, being prepared for the cross.

 

The representation in the preparation of the shewbread to be used in the Sanctuary is that Christ was made perfect through suffering.  If we are to be like Him, we must be refined, and all coarseness and roughness be removed from our characters.  But how significant is the expression “fine flour?”  Flour is grain that has been crushed between the upper and the hindmost millstones (Isa. 47:2).  It was grain, capable of being planted, capable of life perpetuation.  However, now it can never be planted again, because it is crushed and lifeless.  Or is it?  It (Jesus) gave life, It died, that others might live.  The crushing of Its Own life became the means through which life is perpetuated.  Death enriched It and glorified It, and made It serviceable to mankind.

 

Let’s look at the making of the “shewbread.”  The bread was made from about six pounds of flour with the addition of oil and salt; having no leaven (Lev. 2:1 & 5 & 11 & 13).  Since the shewbread was to typify the sinless life of Christ, so we see in the Mosaic Law the strictly forbidden use of leaven; a symbol of sin (Exo. 12:8 & 15-20; Mat. 16:6).  And leaven was strictly forbidden from being used in the flour set aside for priestly ritual (Lev. 2:11) of which our Lord is the High Priest.  Therefore, Jesus as our High Priest, and our Bread of Life, was without sin (2Co. 5:21; 1Pe. 1:19).

 

 

E) OIL AND SALT

 

 

Oil symbolized Christ working through the Holy Spirit.  “The oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.”  COL:406.3; MB:164.  That the Holy Spirit played a major role in the life and ministry of our Lord should be of no question.  Our Lord was conceived (Mat. 1:18-20), baptized (Mat. 3:6), anointed (Heb. 1:9), empowered for service (Luke 4:14-18), and resurrected (Rom. 8:11) by the Holy Spirit.

 

Salt, being a preservative, symbolizes incorruption.  Salt is also a symbol of endlessness:  “Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?”  Second Corinthians 13:5.  Therefore, we are admonished to “have salt in your sleeves, and have peace one with another,” Mark 9:50.  And Christians are admonished to be most Christ-like, in that they are to be “the salt of the earth,” Matthew 5:13.

 

It is also stressed of salt, that all offerings were to be inclusive of it:  “with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt,” Leviticus 2:13 & Mark 9:49.  Salt was also emblematic of God’s everlasting covenant relationship with His people, being called the “salt of the covenant of thy God,” Leviticus 2:13.  And this “covenant” was never to be broken (Num. 18:19; 2Ch. 13:5).

 

Salt also has a preserving power and it makes food palatable.  It is very symbolic of the preserving, keeping power of God.  Though we are not to look for a hidden meaning in every expression, it does not seem farfetched to believe that this is true of God.  “In the ritual service, salt was added to every sacrifice.  This, like the offering of incense, signified that only the righteousness of Christ could make the service acceptable to God.  Referring to this practice, Jesus said, ‘Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.’ [Mark 9:49] ‘Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.’ [Mark 9:50] All who would present themselves ‘a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God’ (Rom. 12:1), must receive the saving salt, the righteousness of our Saviour.  Then they become ‘the salt of the earth,’ restraining evil among men, as salt preserves from corruption.  Matt. 5:13.”  DA:439.

 

 

F) THE CHANGING OF THE SHEWBREAD

 

 

The changing of the “shewbread” was an elaborate service, as described in the “Mishna,” which is the first section of the “Talmud:”  “Four priests entered the Holy Place, two of them carrying the piles of bread, and two of them the cups of incense.  Four priests had gone in before them, two to take off the two old piles of Showbread, and two to take off the cups of incense.  Those who brought in the new bread stood at the north side facing southward, those who took away the old bread, at the south side, facing northward.  One against the hands of the other, as it is written, ‘Thou shalt set upon the Table Bread of the Passover always before me’ (Men. XI, 7).  The loaves that were removed were delivered to the priest for their consumption with in Tabernacle [most likely referring to eating the bread “within the courtyard”], the whole quantity amounting to seventy-five pounds of bread per week.”

 

The Table of Shewbread (or “pure table,” Lev. 24:6; 2Ch. 13:10-11) was never to be without bread (Exo. 25:30;Num. 4:7).  The Kohathites, a division of the Levites, prepared it every Sabbath (1Ch. 9:32), and at the beginning (in the morning) of each Sabbath, the “newly baked” bread was brought to an incoming priest (once a week) who “set it in order” on the table “before the Lord,” Leviticus 24:5-8.  Then the old bread (one week old) was taken away (in the evening toward the end of the Sabbath) and eaten by the out-going priests (Lev. 24:8).

 

“In the first apartment, or Holy Place, were the Table of Showbread, the Candlestick, or Lampstand, and the Altar of Incense.  The Table of Showbread stood on the north.  With its ornamental crown, it was overlaid with pure gold.  On this Table the priests were each Sabbath to place twelve cakes, arranged in two piles, and sprinkled with frankincense.  The loaves that were removed, being accounted holy, were to be eaten by the priests.”  PP:348.1.  The “two piles” also makes sense, in that Jacob had two wives which formed the 12 tribes (see below).

 

At the end of that week, whatever was left was burned on the Brazen Altar, “for it is most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire,” Leviticus 24:9.  Thus the incoming priests had put the new bread on the Table before the outgoing priests who removed the old bread.  Care was taken not to remove the old until the new was put on; for never was the Table of Shewbread to be without bread.  The bread thus symbolizes the ever-present dependence that Israel (we) had upon God for sustenance, and a constant promise from God that He would sustain them.  It is to be observed that a “division of the Levites” would be 6 priests (1Ch. 24:1-19; 2Ch. 8:14; 35:4-5).  There were 24 in all (25 if you include the High Priest), consisting of 4 divisions, equaling 4 weeks of coverage for each month of the year.

 

The Shewbread consisted of twelve loaves, one for each tribe.  With each tribe having as its duty to provide a loaf for the Sanctuary services, it well represented the oneness in which our Lord would ultimately have us achieve as members of His Church.  Or as Paul puts it:  “For we being many are one bread, and one body:  for we are all partakers of that One Bread.”  First Corinthians 10:17 (see also 1Co. 12:12-20).

 

They were each made out of “fine four,” “two tenth deals shall be in one cake,” Leviticus 24:5, that is, two tenth parts of an ephah, which were “two omers,” Exodus 16:22, or rather, one omer would be as much as a man could eat in one day of the manna:  so that one of these cakes was as much as two men could eat of bread in one day.  Each cake was ten hands’ breadth long, five broad, and seven fingers its horns, or was its height, and placed in two piles on the Table of Shewbread every Sabbath (1Ch. 9:32).

 

Finally, from PP:354 we read:  “The Showbread was kept ever before the Lord as a perpetual offering.  Thus it was a part of the daily sacrifice.  It was called Showbread, or ‘Bread of the Presence,’ because it was ever before the face of the Lord.  It was an acknowledgment of man’s dependence upon God for both temporal and spiritual food, and that it is received only through the mediation of Christ.  God had fed Israel in the wilderness with bread from Heaven, and they were still dependent upon His bounty, both for temporal food and spiritual blessings.  Both the Manna and the Showbread pointed to Christ, the Living Bread, Who is ever in the presence of God for us.  He Himself said, ‘I Am the Living Bread which Came down from Heaven.’  John 6:48-51.  Frankincense was placed upon the loaves.  When the bread was removed every Sabbath, to be replaced by fresh loaves, the frankincense was burned upon the Altar [of Incense] as a memorial before God.”  And since the burnt offerings said:  All that I am is the Lord’s; then the meal offerings, which were always to accompany the burnt offerings (Num. 15:4), said:  All that I have is the Lord’s.”

 

Let’s take a little glimpse of the future through the ministration of the Table of Shewbread.  According to First Chronicles 9:32, the bread on the Table of Shewbread was to be replaced every Sabbath.  If we consider that Satan has designed it to have the bread to be replaced every Sunday instead, we can see the future setting up of this false sabbath and the eventual persecution of those who insist upon keeping Jesus, the Bread of Life, John 6:15, in the center of their worship.  Thus, by insisting that the bread on the Table of Shewbread be changed on the Holy Seventh-Day, God ordained Biblical Sabbath, they will be persecuted for the keeping of the Seventh-Day Sabbath Holy.