Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin (continued)
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1
7. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
7. Pones quoque super ordinem utrunque thus purum, eritque pani in memoriale et incensum Jehovae.
8. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Is-
8. Per singula sabbatha ordinabit illos coram Jehova semper, a filiis Israel foedere sempiterno. rael by an everlasting covenant.
9. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.
9. Et erit Aharonis et filiorum ejus, qui comedent eum in loco sancto: quia sanctitatis sanctitatum est ei ex oblationibus ignitis Jehovae statuto perpetuo.
We now come to the third part of the external service of God, which will bring us to the end of our exposition of the Second Commandment. We have, then, now to treat of the sacred oblations, the first place amongst which I have thought it best to give to the loaves, which had their peculiar table opposite the candlestick on the north side, as we saw in the construction of the Tabernacle; for although the mention of them will recur elsewhere, yet, since they were offered separately, and placed before the Ark of the Covenant, as it were in God's sight, they must not be treated of apart from the sacrifices. I have already explained that this was no ordinary symbol of God's favor, when He descended familiarly to them, as if He were their messmate. They were called "the bread of faces," 569 because they were placed before the eyes of God; and thus He made known His special favor, as if coming to banquet with them. Nor can it be doubted but that He commanded them to be twelve in number, with reference to the twelve tribes, as if He would admit to His table the food offered by each of them. The "two tenths" make the fifth part of the epah. And it is plaia indeed that this rite was thus accurately prescribed by God, lest diversity in so serious a matter might gradually give birth to many corruptions. In the word "tenths," He seems to allude to the tax which He had imposed on the people, that thus the holiness of the loaves might be enhanced. But לחם-" פניםpanes facierum." In Exodus 25:30, as in several other places, the shew-bread of A. V. is a translation of these words. — W