The Table And Shew-Bread, Typical Of Christ And His Church
The Table And Shew-Bread, Typical Of Christ And His Church
Every sabbath, he shall set it in order before the Lord, continually; being taken from the children 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 unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, for a perpetual statute—Leviticus 24:8 and 9.
EVERY sabbath he shall set it. This refers to the shew-bread, which was to be always, continually before the Lord, according to Exodus 25:30. And thou shalt set upon the table shew-bread before me always. This was made of fine flour, as in the context, verse 5. And this fine flour was made into unleavened cakes; and these cakes were in number twelve. And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof; two tenth deals shall be in one cake. (Leviticus 24:5) These twelve cakes answer to the twelve tribes of Israel. And being set upon the table continually was in commemoration of the bread the twelve tribes of Israel were fed with in the wilderness. These were set upon a table called, in verse the 6th, a pure table: called so, because it was overlaid with pure gold; because upon it was set the pure shew-bread; bread made of fine flour, and used in the pure service of God. Of the form, matter, and decorations of this table, you read at large in the 25th chapter of the book of Exodus.
This table was set in the holy place, on the North side of it, over against the veil that divided between that and the holy of holies; and so was before the ark, the symbol of the Divine presence. And these twelve cakes were set in two rows, six in a row; and frankincense was put upon these rows, denoting the acceptableness of them to the Lord. 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. (Leviticus 24:7) This was done, as our text says, every sabbath, Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord. These cakes were first placed there on the sabbath day; and there they continued the whole week following. The next sabbath day they were removed from off the table, and twelve more new ones put in their room. As fast as the priests took off the old loaves, there was another course of priests that placed upon it new hot loaves; so that the table was never empty; therefore it is said, they were before the Lord continually. Hence this bread is called continual bread: (Numbers 4:7) and this shew-bread was the portion of the priests. The twelve cakes of the old bread, when taken off the shew-bread table, were divided between the courses of the priests, that carried in, and brought out; and they were not to be carried to their own houses, or families; only Aaron and his sons were to eat of it, and that only in the holy place, the court of the tabernacle: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord, made by fire, by a perpetual statute. (Leviticus 24:9) Hence our Lord observes, in answer to the rebuke the Jews gave his disciples for plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath-day, "Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew-bread; which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?" (Matthew 7:3, 4)
Now the mystery, and the gospel of all this, I shall endeavour to point out; or to shew, what was meant and typified by