SHEWBREAD

INTRODUCTION

The table of shewbread (also translated show bread or bread of the Presence) are mentioned only 10 times in the Hebrew bible and at least once in the New Covenant writings.  This piece of furniture with all its furnishings was located on the north side of the holy place of the tabernacle, Solomon’s temple, and the second temple.  Bare outlines of the ritual associated with this table and the associated bread are fund in the bible, and later Jewish writings provide little additional detail.  The only thing that remains clear to a person examining the temple ritual today is that each aspect of ritual and most aspects of the tabernacle/temple had a symbolic or metaphysical significance.  Some but not all of these are explicitly explained within the text of scripture.  For those aspects of ritual or physical components that have no detailed explanation, we can use the analogy of scripture to posit an interpretation, but such explanations can only be tentative.

DESCRIPTION

A general description for the table of “show bread” is provided in Exodus 25:23-30 and then repeated in Exodus 35:13, and this table may have lasted at least until the arc of the covenant (1 Sam 4:18) was captured by the Philistines, and it may have lasted until the time of Solomon.  At any rate, 1 Kings 7:48 indicated that Solomon had new furniture made as part of the first temple construction.  Presumably, all of the temple fittings and treasure still present in the temple except the arc of the covenant were taken to Babylon in 586 BCE. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah do record the number and type of temple vessels returned to Jerusalem from Babylon, but there is no indication that the holy place furniture was included.  The second temple also included the menorah, altar of incense, and table of “show bread;” and these items were carted off to Rome after the fall of Jerusalem.  However, there is no written record of their construction.

TABLE DESCRIPTION

This table was to be 2 cubits by 1 cubit by 1.5 cubits high and built of acacia wood. (A cubit was approximately 24 in or 67 cm.)  It was to be overlaid with pure gold, and the top was to have a decorative rim.  One ring was to be attached to each leg near the rim to receive poles for carrying the table.  The poles themselves were to be made from acacia wood and overlaid with gold.  Additionally, a set of dishes, pans, jars, and bowls were to be constructed from gold to support the ritual activity associated with the “show bread.”

“SHOW BREAD”

The term translated show bread is µynIP; µj2l2.  Because the term µynIP; is always used in the plural form, it literally means either face or faces; however, this term is also used for presence, surface, person, and various other meanings in particular constructions and contexts.  Here the expression is a construct chain usually now translated bread of presence.  This is probably the most ambiguous way in which a construct chain can be translated.  Standard reference books on classical Hebrew syntax list up to 18 different meanings for the construct relation.  In this case, let me suggest that bread is symbolic, and it represents an individual or a group of individuals.  (Note: The translation a of b for a construct chain is technically correct, but it conveys essentially no information about the intended meaning in the original context.  A translator or beginning student of classical Hebrew will resort to such a rendering when he/she has no real idea what the expression is intended to communicate.)

THE RITUAL

The most detailed description of the ritual is found in Leviticus 24:5-9.  The priests were to bake 12 loaves or cakes from 1/5 of an ephah (about 4.9 pounds each) every week, and each Shabbat the old bread would be removed and replaced with the new.  The bread was to be placed on the table in two rows, and frankincense was to be placed on each row of bread.  The text further states that this whole arrangement was to be an offering by fire to YHWH.

The text does not state whether the loaves were to be leavened or not, nor does it provide any detail as to how the frankincense was to be placed on the two rows of bread.  A loaf made from 4.9 pounds of flower would be fairly large, so they would either have been unleavened cakes or flat bread. Because the old bread was to be eaten by the priests during the following week, the frankincense clearly was not placed directly on the bread but on one or more fire pans next to or on top of each row.  Additionally, the frankincense would have to be replenished, probably the first thing each morning as a minimum.  This whole series of activities constituted one of the rituals conducted by the priests every week.

POSSIBLE SIGNIFICANCE

Neither the Hebrew bible nor the Talmud provides any explanation for the significance of the ritual activity associated with these loaves of bread.  Several ancient sources do provide additional detail on how the ritual was conducted during the second temple period but no real interpretation.  Modern English translations typically render µynIP;h' µj2l2 as bread of the Presence, implying that the cakes or loaves represented the presence of YHWH.  Since the bread taken from the table each Shabbat was to be eaten by the priests rather than burned, modern biblical scholars view this as a mystical meal shared between the priests and YHWH.  Let me suggest a slightly different interpretation for the symbolic significance of the ritual.

·      µynIP;h' µj2l2 – each loaf or cake does represent an individual or group of individuals but not YHWH.  Since 12 identical loaves were required, each one represented one of the tribes of Israel without distinction from one to the other.

·      According to Josephus, the loaves were unleavened cakes that were piled in two stacks of six and placed before YHWH for a week before being replaced with fresh bread.  Since leaven often is used as a symbol for sin, the unleavened cakes would indicate that the 12 tribes abode before YHWH, who viewed them as without sin.

·      Pans of frankincense were placed either on top of or beside the two stacks of bread.  The resulting smoke has two significances.  First, it provides a visible representation of human worship rising up to the presence of YHWH.  Second, the smoke of fragrant incense is interpreted as the prayers of the people (Ps 141:2) coming up before God..

·      The priests were charged to consume the old bread after it had been in the presence of YHWH for seven days.  If we accept the idea that the loaves represented the 12 tribes, then this act is analogous to the name of the tribes being inscribed on the shoulder pieces and breastplate of the high priest’s vestments.  The high priest was charged to bear the people on his shoulders and to have them on his heart continually.  With the consumption of this bread, the priests symbolically take the people of Israel into themselves, making them representatives of corporate Israel before YHWH.