Table for Showbread – שולחן לחם הפנים – The Table of the bread of Presence

The Table for Showbread was used for the display of showbread, which had to be put before the presence of the Lord. There were two stacks of showbread with six loaves on each stack. The bread was replaced with fresh bread on every shabbat.

Description

The Table of Showbread was made of shittim wood and overlain with pure gold.
Shittim wood speaks about Yeshua, who came to us in the flesh, but the wood is overlain with gold, which tells us, that glory – the image of God – has to be revealed through this object. The rings are round and made of pure gold, which means it’s without flesh and tells us that we as priests need to carry the meaning of the showbread on our shoulders through the vision of Who God is for eternity. The crown tells us that it’s about Someone’s kingship, but the word used in Hebrew for crown is the word ZER זֵר which is different from the word usually used. Zer speaks about surrounding something, but also wants to tell us, that there is a different way to approach and do things; it speaks about a different mindset. When we look at that which happened at the table, we will see that the different way of doing things is discipleship vs. that which we know as the theatre model.

Components

• A crown: a border the width of a hand roundabout made of gold
• 4 golden rings on the 4 corners (the rings are on the legs of the table, but against the border)
• 2 staves of shittim wood, overlain with gold

Meaning of the numbers

In this house (2) where God dwells, there is only One (1) whose glory should be seen – whose image should be visible – and that is God Himself. God’s glory needs to be visible in the house at all time! 1,5 cubits speaks about the conviction I have and the way I serve Him at the moment – the way my relationship with God is now – but because it is not complete, because there is room for change and growth in my relationship to God, it’s one and a half. Half a cubit means, it’s not complete yet. My faith is not complete yet. He is complete → 1 cubit; but I am not → ½, so it’s 1,5 cubits.

Tools

• Dishes
• Spoons (can also be translated as cups)
• Covers (can also be translated as cup or jug)
• Bowls (sacrificial bowls)
• All made of pure gold

Measurements

2 x 1 x 1,5 cubits
The lengths of the staves are not given, so we asked ourselves:
1) How big is the tabernacle inside?
2) How many people do you need to carry the weight of the table? The table was not very heavy. 4 people could easily carry it on their shoulders. The staves were removed from the table once inside the tabernacle.

Material

Shittim wood
Overlain with pure gold

The Process

There was quite a large number of Levites and priests, making it impossible for them all to work in the tabernacle at the same time, so they were divided into 24 priestly orders according to the 24 family heads in the Levitical tribe who were priests. Between Passover and Sukkot there are 24 weeks and in a normal year (not a leap year) there are also 24 weeks between Sukkot and Passover. Every Shabbat a new group of priests would come to serve in the tabernacle (and then later in the temple). Service was always from one Shabbat to the next. On the first Shabbat of your week of service, you would be trained by the priests who have just completed their week of service. On the last Shabbat of your service, you would then train the next group coming in for their service. The two groups would stand around the table of showbread, tear the bread, put it in the dishes and drink from a cup (that which is translated as spoons here) and eat a meal with one another. The priests who have completed their weekly work lay hands on those who are starting their service and transfer the responsibility and release them into their service. Everything happening around the table has to do with discipleship! Someone shows you exactly what to do (they don’t just tell you) and then bless and release you to start doing it yourself by the laying on of hands.

Scriptures

Exodus 25:23-30

23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. 25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.
26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.
27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.
28 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.
30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me always.

Applied Spiritual Value to our lives

The table of showbread is connected to the fourth of the six foundations of our faith in Hebrews 6:1, which is “the laying on of hands”. It teaches us the importance of equipping and discipling other (and of being equipped and discipled ourselves) so that we can fulfill that, which Yeshua commands us in Matthew 28:19&20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He is our King and we have crowned Him as such in our lives and therefore we are now a royal priesthood, who has been changed in their mindset to start making decisions from the image of God, and who can teach and equip others by the examples of our own lives before releasing them to go and make disciples.