1. The Table and its Accessories. — "Within the ark it was directed that there should be a table of shittim wood, i.e. (/(■((«'(/, two cutiits in length, a cubit in breadth, and a cubit and a half in height, overlaid with pure gold, and having "a golden crown to the border there- of round about," i.e. a border or list, in order, as we may suppose, to hinder that which was ))laced on it from by any accident falling off. The further description of this table will be found in Exod. xxv, 23-3f>. ami a re]i- resentation of it as it existed in the Herodian Temple forms an interesting feature in the bas-reliefs within the arch of Titus. The accuracy of this may, as is obvious, be trusted. It exhibits one striking corre- spondence with the prescriptions in Exodus. We there find the following words: "and thou shalt make unto it a border of a handbreadth round about." In the sculpture of the arch the hand of one of the slaves who is carrying the table, and the border, are of ai)out equal breadth. This table is itself called CrElH "|nbr."the table of the face," in Numb, iv, 7, and iniiH "nb^", "the pure table," in Lev. xxiv, 6 and 2 Chron. xiii, 11. This latter epithet is generally referred by commenta- tors to the unalloyed gold with which so much of it was covered. It may, however, mean somewhat more than this, and bear something of the spiritual force which it has in Malachi i, 1 1.
It was thought by Philo and Clement of Alexandria that the table was a symbol of the world, its four sidi s or legs tyjiifying the four seasons. In the utter ab-
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T:ible of Showbread. (From the Arch of Titus at Rome).
SHOWBREAD
ir
SHOWBREAD
sence of any argument in their support, we may feel warranted in neglecting such fanciful conjectures, with- oot calling in the aid of Biihr's arginnents against them.
In 2 Chron, iv, 19 we have mention of '• the tables whereon the show-bread was set," and at ver. H we read of Solomon making ten tables. This is pn)bal)ly ex- plained by the statement of Josephus {Aiit. viii, 3, 7), that the king made a number of tables, and one great golden one on which they placed the loaves of (jod. See Temple.
The table of the second Temple was carried away by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Mace, i, 22), and a new one made at the refurnishing of the sanctuary under Judas Maccabffius (iv, 49). Afterwards Ptolemy Philadelphus presented a magniticent table (Josephus, .l«^xii,2,8,9).
The table stood in the sanctuary, together with the seven-branched candlestick and the altar of incense. Its position, according to Josephus (^Ant. iii, 6, G), was on the north side of the sanctuarv, not far from the veil that opened into the most holy. Besides the twelve loaves, the showbread table was adorned with dishes, spoons, bowls, etc., which were of pure gold (Exod. xxv, 29). These, however, were evidently subsidiary to the loaves, the preparation, presentation, and subsequent treatment of which manifestly constituted the ordinuHce of the showbread. See Table.
II. The Bread and i/s Siffiiificance. — Whether the bread was to be leavened or unleavened is not said. The Jewish tradition holds it to have been unleavened (Josephus, Ant. iii, (!, (5; 10, 7; Philo, De Com/r. v, 1); and as Josephus and Philo could scarcely be ignorant of what on such a matter was customary in their time, it is not to be doubted that, according to the later practice at least, the bread was mileavened, affording ground for the inference that the same was the case also in earlier times. The cakes or loaves were to be placed in two rows; but whether each apart, six in a line, or piled up one above another, is not indicated. The Jewish tradition, however, is quite uniform ; it represents them as ranged in two columns, six in each. Two reasons seem to confirm this view : first, the di- mensions of the table, coupled with the quantity of flour in each cake, which must have rendered it next to impossible to have two parallel lines of six loaves placed on it; and, second, the regulati<jn concerning the frankincense (the Sept. and Philo add salt) which re- quired this to be set, not on each cake as standing in- dividuallj' apart, but upon each row, as if forming a visible unity (Lev. xxiv, 7). The frankincense was to be "on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire imto the Lord;" the two golden pots containing it being, according to Josephus (.l«^iii, 10,7}, taken out along with the bread, and the frankincense burned on the altar of burnt-ofiering before the bread was given to the priests to be eaten. On each Sabbath this took place; tw-elve new loaves which had been prepared the evening before hy a portion of the Levites (1 Chron. ix, 32) being made everj"^ returning Sabljath to replace the old, and fresh frankincense put in the golden ves- sels in the room of that which had been burned (Lev. xxiv, 8, 9).
The nmnber of the loaves (twelve) is considered by Philo and Josephus to represent the twelve months. If there was such a reference, it must surely have been quite subordinate to that which is obvious at once. The twelve loaves jjlaiidy answer to the twelve tribes (comp. Rev. xxii, 2). But, taking tins for granted, we have still to ascertain the meaning of the rite, and there is none which is left in Scripture so wholly unexplained. Though it is mentioned, as we have seen, in other parts of the Old Test, besides the Pentateuch, it is never more than mentioned. The narrative of David and his companions being permitted to eat the showbread (I Sam. xxi,4:-6) does but illustrate the sanctity which was ascribed to it; and besides our Saviour's appeal to that narrative (!\Iatt. xii, 4), the ordinance is only once referred to in the N^w Test, (Heb. ix, 2), and there it is