Leviticus 24:5-9--Bread for the Tabernacle

Leviticus 24:5-9
English Standard Version

Bread for the Tabernacle
5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. 7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord's food offerings, a perpetual due.”

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We talked yesterday about the special oil that was supposed to be made and how the lamps of the Golden Lampstand were to be attended to day and night by the High Priest.  Today, we see the instructions for making the special bread that is often called Showbread that was placed on a special golden table that was opposite the Golden Lampstand so that the light from the lampstand (remember that the Golden Lampstand represents all of the saved people and the "seven churches" in the book of Revelation and they are fueled by the work of the Holy Spirit--the pure olive oil).  It then is a great picture for us that the job of the Holy Spirit and the Church is to magnify Christ who is the Unleavened Bread here on the Table of Showbread.  It is made of the finest ingredients and there are to be 12 loaves that are baked (one for each of the 12 tribes, though we know the number 12 to later represent the 12 foundations of the 12 apostles later in the book of Revelation--it is both the number of gates and the number of foundations in the New Jerusalem).

There is a specific quantity of flour that is to be used for each loaf.  Two-tenths of an ephah doesn't sound like much but it converts to 18.6 cups for US dry measure, so these are some pretty sizable loaves of bread.  The twelve loaves were split into two piles--we'll see this later before the 12 tribes enter the land that they will split into two groups of six so that they stand on mountains opposite one another and engage in a "responsive reading" of the blessings and curses of the Law before entering the land.

There is then frankincense added to each pile (we know frankincense is one of the gifts brought by the wise men to Jesus) and this combined with the bread would be a memorial portion of a food offering.  Every week on the Sabbath, new bread was laid out on the Table of Showbread as it appears that Aaron and his sons (the priests) were to eat of this bread on a weekly basis.  Perhaps this is the reason that some denominations have Communion on a weekly basis, though there is no definite timeline other than "as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup" and "when you do this" given by Jesus in the New Testament. 

Aaron and his sons were to eat the bread in a holy place in the same way that they were to eat of their portion of the sacrifices in a holy place.  Unlike the sacrifices though, there is no portion here that is burnt up an offering to the LORD.  The priests are to consume all of it.  The entire body of Christ was given for them, and they needed to be reminded of this picture of a sinless, guiltless offering on a weekly basis, and one had to come to the presence of the LORD (the Holy of Holies) by way of the Table of Showbread that guarded the entrance.  Even in this sense God was showing that the substitutionary atonement made by the body of Christ was the only way by which to gain access to God and it is our daily bread for us as the Church--the priests in His service.


John 6:35-40
English Standard Version
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.