the above-mentioned kinds of bread (the last excepted) were thin and crisp, the mode of eating them was by breaking (Lev. ii, 6 ; Isa. lviii, 7 ; Lam. iv, 4 ; Matt, xiv, 19 ; xv, 36 ; xxvi, 26; Acts xx, 11 ; comp. Xen. Anab. vii, 3, § 22, aorovc. cukXu), whence the term CnQ, to break=to give bread (Jer. xvi, 7) ; the pieces broken for consumption were called cXatr/utra (Matt. xiv, 20 : John vi, 12). Old bread is described in Josh, ix, 5, 12, as crumbled (Q"1"Ij7>3, nihhudim' ; Aquil. t\pa0vpii>jiivog ; in frusta comminuii ; A. V. "mould}-," following the Sept. evpeoniov iced /3f/3pw/t«ror), a term which is also applied (1 Kings xiv, 3) to a kind of bis- cuit, which easily crumbled (KoXXupig; A. V. "crack- nels").— Smith, s. v. See Cake.
4. Figurative Uses of the term "Bread." — As the Hebrews generally made their bread very thin, and in the form of little flat cakes (especially their unleavened bread), they did not cut it with a knife, but broke it, which gave rise to that expression so usual in Scrip- ture of breaking bread, to signify eating, sitting down to table, taking a repast (Lam. iv, 4 ; Matt, xiv, 19 ; xv, 36). In the institution of the Lord's Supper oui Saviour broke the bread ; whence to break bread, and breaking of bread, in the New Testament, are used some times for the celebration of the Eucharist (Matt, xxvi, 26), and also the celebration of the agapai, or love- feast (Acts ii, 46). (See below.)
"Cast thy bread upon the waters" (Eccl. xi, 1), may allude to the custom practised in some countries of sowing bread-corn or rice upon a soil well irrigated, or, as some think, against the rainy season; or, in a figurative sense, it may be an exhortation to disinter- ested liberality, with a promise of receiving its due recompense.
The figurative expressions "bread of sorrows" (Psa. exxvii, 2) and "bread of tears" (Psa. xliii, 3) mean the portion of every day as one's daily bread. So the "bread of wickedness" (Prov. iv, 17) and "bread of deceit" (Prov. xx, 17) denote not only a living or estate obtained by fraud and sin, but that to do wickedly is as much the portion of a wicked man's life as to eat his daily bread. See Daily Bread ; Life (Bread of).
Shew-bread is the rendering in the Auth. Vers, of the Heb. D"0Q Etj?, le 'chem panim' ', the brad of the face, or of the presence, because it was set forth before the face or in the presence of Jehovah in his holy place. It is also called "the bread arranged in order" and "the perpetual bread," because it was never absent from the table (Lev. xxiv, 6, 7 ; 1 Chron. xxiii, 29). In the outer apartment of the tabernacle, on the right hand, or north side, stood a table made of acacia (shittim) wood, two cubits long, one broad, and one and a half high, and covered with lamina? of gold. The top of the leaf of this table was encircled by a bor- der or rim of gold. The frame of the table immedi- ately below the leaf was encircled with a piece of wood of about four inches in breadth, around the edge of which was a rim or border similar to that around the leaf. A little lower down, but at equal distances frcm the, top of the table, there were four rings of gold fast- ened to the legs, through which staves covered withl gold were inserted for the purpose of carrying it (Exod. ' xxv, 23-28; xxxvii, 10-16). These rings were not found in the table which was afterward made for the Temple, nor indeed in any of the sacred furniture, where they had previously been, except in the ark of the covenant. Twelve unleavened loaves were placed upon this table, which wore sprinkled with frankin- cense (the Sept. adds salt; Lev. xxiv, 7). The num- ber twelve represents the twelve tribes, and was not diminished after the defection often of the tribes from the worship of God in his sanctuary, because the cov- enant with the sons of Abraham was not formally ab- rogated, and because there were still many true Is- raelites among the apostatizing tribes. The twelve loaves were also a constant record against them, and
BREAKFAST
8S3
BREASTPLATE
served as a standing testimonial that their proper place was before the forsaken altar of Jehovah. The loaves were placed in two piles, one above another, and were changed every Sabbath day by the priests. The frankincense that had stood on the bread during the week was then burned as an oblation, and the re- moved bread became the property of the priests, who, as God's servants, had a right to eat of the bread that came from his table ; but they were obliged to eat it in the hoi}' place, and nowhere else. No others might lawfully eat of it ; but, in a case of extreme emergen- cy, the priest incurred no blame if he imparted it to persons who were in a state of ceremonial purity, as in the instance of David and his men (1 Sam. xxi, 4^6 ; Matt, xii, 4).— Kitto.
Wine also was placed upon the "table of shew- bread" in bowls, some larger and some smaller; also in vessels that were covered and in cups, which were probably employed in pouring in and taking out the wine from the other vessels, or in making libations. Gesenius calls them " patera? libatorim," and they ap- pear in the Authorized Version as " spoons" (see gen- erally Exod. xxv, 20, 30; xxxvii, 10-16; xl, 4, 24; Lev. xxiv, 5-9 ; Num. iv, 7). See Siiew-bread.