Exodus 25:30

And thou shall set upon the table shewbread before me always.

And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. Showbread , [ lechem (H3899) paaniym (H6440)] - literally, bread of faces, presence bread [Septuagint, artoi enoopioi] (Leviticus 24:5-9);

Heb. Bread of faces, or of the presence, so called, because it was constantly placed in God’ s presence. This bread was divided into twelve loaves, one for every tribe; and they were in their name presented to God in the nature of an offering, as the frankincense shows, as a public acknowledgment that they received all their bread or food, both corporal and spiritual, from God’ s hand, and were to use it as in God’ s presence

Exodus 25:30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.Ver. 30. Show bread.]

(30) Thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.—For a detailed account of the arrangement of the shewbread see Leviticus 24:5-9. The Hebrew expression translated “shewbread” is literally, “bread of face,” or “bread of presence”—bread, that is, which was set forth always before the presence of God.

Verse 30. Shew-bread] לחם פנים lechem panim literally, bread of faces; so called, either because they were placed before the presence or face of God in the sanctuary, or because they were made square, as the Jews will have it. It is probable that they were in the form or cubes or hexaedrons, each side presenting the same appearance; and hence the Jews might suppose they were called the bread or loaves of faces: but the Hebrew text seems to intimate that they were called the bread of faces, פנים panim, because, as the Lord says, they were set לפני lephanai, before my FACE. These loaves or cakes were twelve, representing, as is generally supposed, the twelve tribes of Israel. They were in two rows of six each. On the top of each row there was a golden dish with frankincense, which was burned before the Lord, as a memorial, at the end of the week, when the old loaves were removed and replaced by new ones, the priests taking the former for their domestic use. It is more difficult to ascertain the use of these, or what they represented, than almost any other emblem in the whole Jewish economy. Many have conjectured their meaning, and I feel no disposition to increase their number by any addition of my own. The note on Exodus 25:23, from Dr. Cudworth, appears to me more rational than any thing else I have met with. The tabernacle was God's house, and in it he had his table, his bread, his wine, candlestick, &c., to show them that he had taken up his dwelling among them. See Clarke on Exodus 25:23.

30. shewbread] This rend. is first found in Tindale’s version of Heb 9:2 (1526), being derived by him apparently from Luther’s Schaubrot (1522). Though, however, a possible paraphrase of the expression used by Jerome (see below), it does not correctly represent the expression used here, which is undoubtedly Presence-bread (RVm.), i.e. bread set out in Jehovah’s presence, and designed originally as His food. The custom of presenting food on a table as an oblation to a god was widely diffused among ancient peoples: it will be sufficient to instance the lectisternia of the Romans, the similar custom abundantly attested for Assyria, even with the use of 12 loaves (EB. iv. 4116; KAT.3[203] 600), the tables which the idolatrous Israelites laid out for Gad, the god of fortune (Isaiah 65:11), Bar 4:30, and the story of Bel and the Dragon. The gods were supposed to require food and drink; and reverence towards them naturally took the form of supplying their needs. These were the ideas out of which no doubt the Heb. institution originated; but in the light of the higher religion of Israel the ‘continual bread’ (Numbers 4:7) acquired, we may be sure, a higher significance, and was regarded as a standing acknowledgement on the part of (Leviticus 24:8 RVm.) the children of Israel that Jehovah was the giver of their daily bread. See further on the Presence-bread (which is here mentioned only incidentally) the notes on Leviticus 24:5-9; Kennedy in DB. iv. 495 ff., 663; Jewish Encycl. art. Showbread; Edersheim, The Temple and its ministry, p. Exodus 155 f. (with quotations from the Mishna). The antiquity of the institution is attested by the familiar incident, 1 Samuel 21:4-6. [203] Die Keilinschriften und das A T., 1903, by H. Zimmern (pp. 345–653) and H. Winckler (pp. 1–342).The post-exilic name of the Presence-bread—derived from the fact that the twelve large flat oblong cakes of which it consisted were arranged on the table in two piles (Leviticus 24:6)—was Bread set out (lit. Bread of arrangement), 1 Chronicles 9:32; 1 Chronicles 23:29 al. (cf. on Exodus 40:4). This was rendered by LXX. οἱἄρτοιτῆςπροθέσεως, ‘the loaves of setting before’ (viz. before God: cf. προτίθημι, to ‘set before,’ of a meal), whence the NT. expression ὁἄρτοςτῆςπροθέσεως, Matthew 12:4 al. (for ἡπρ. τῶνἄρτων Hebrews 9:2, see 2 Chronicles 13:11 LXX.). Jerome’s panes propositionis is simply a lit. translation of the LXX. rend.; and this, understood as ‘loaves of exhibition,’ no doubt suggested to Luther his Schaubrot, whence our shewbread. 31–40 (cf. Exodus 37:17-24). The golden candlestick or lampstand. This consisted of a central stem, resting on feet, with three branches turned upwards and outwards on each side, the stem and branches being ornamented by the gold, at suitable distances, being beaten into the shape of the calyx and corolla of the almond-flower. The whole was of pure beaten gold, a talent (96 lb.) of the metal being employed in its construction.

30. Showbread before me always — The showbread (Hebrews τπινμην, bread of faces,) was so called from its being designed to lie as a meat-offering continually before the face of Jehovah.