Dictionaries :: Shewbread

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Shewbread:

Exd 25:30 (R.V. marg., "presence bread"); 1Ch 9:32 (marg., "bread of ordering"); Num 4:7: called "hallowed bread" (R.V., "holy bread") in 1Sa 21:1-6.

This bread consisted of twelve loaves made of the finest flour. They were flat and thin, and were placed in two rows of six each on a table in the holy place before the Lord. They were renewed every Sabbath (Lev 24:5-9), and those that were removed to give place to the new ones were to be eaten by the priests only in the holy place (see 1Sa 21:3-6; Mat 12:3,4).

The number of the loaves represented the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the entire spiritual Israel, "the true Israel;" and the placing of them on the table symbolized the entire consecration of Israel to the Lord, and their acceptance of God as their God. The table for the bread was made of acacia wood, 3 feet long, 18 inches broad, and 2 feet 3 inches high. It was plated with pure gold. Two staves, plated with gold, passed through golden rings, were used for carrying it.

Torrey's New Topical Textbook

Shewbread: Twelve Cakes of Fine Flour

Lev 24:5

Shewbread: Called Hallowed Bread

1Sa 21:4

Shewbread: Materials For, Provided by the People

Lev 24:8; Neh 10:32,33

Shewbread: Prepared by Levites

1Ch 9:32; 23:29

Shewbread: Placed in Two Rows on the Table by the Priests

Exd 25:30; 40:23; Lev 24:6

Shewbread: Table Of

Dimensions of

Exd 25:23

Covered with gold

Exd 25:24

Had an ornamental border

Exd 25:25

Had staves of shittim wood covered with gold

Exd 25:28

Had rings of gold in the corners for the staves

Exd 25:26,27

Had dishes, spoons, covers, and bowls of gold

Exd 25:29

Placed in the north side of the tabernacle

Exd 40:22; Hbr 9:2

Directions for removing

Num 4:7

Shewbread: Pure Frankincense Placed On

Lev 24:7

Shewbread: Was Changed Every Sabbath Day

Lev 24:8

Shewbread: After Removal from the Table Given to the Priests

Lev 24:9

Shewbread: Not Lawful for Any but the Priests to Eat, Except

1Sa 21:4-6; Mat 12:4

Shewbread: Illustrative Of

Christ as the bread of life

Jhn 6:48

The Church

1Cr 5:7; 10:17

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Shewbread:

Note: The phrase rendered "the shewbread" is formed by the combination of the nouns prothesis, "a setting forth" (pro, "before," tithemi, "to place") and artos, "a loaf" (in the plural), each with the article, Mat 12:4; Mar 2:26; Luk 6:4, lit., "the loaves of the setting forth;" in Hbr 9:2, lit., "the setting forth of the loaves." The corresponding OT phrases are lit., "bread of the face," Exd 25:30, i.e., the presence, referring to the Presence of God (cp. Isa 63:9 with Exd 33:14, 15); "the bread of ordering," 1Ch 9:32, marg. In Num 4:7 it is called "the continual bread;" in 1Sa 21:4, 6, "holy bread" (AV, "hallowed"). In the Sept. of 1Ki 7:48, it is called "the bread of the offering" (prosphora, "a bearing towards"). The twelve loaves, representing the tribes of Israel, were set in order every Sabbath day before the Lord, "on the behalf of the children," Lev 24:8, RV (marg., and AV, "from"), "an everlasting covenant." The loaves symbolized the fact that on the basis of the sacrificial atonement of the Cross, believers are accepted beforeGod, and nourished by Him in the Person of Christ. The showbread was partaken of by the priests, as representatives of the nation. Priesthood now being co-extensive with all who belong to Christ, 1Pe 2:5, 9, He, the Living Bread, is the nourishment of all, and where He is, there, representatively, they are.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Shewbread:

(Exodus 25:30; 35:13; 39:36 etc.). literally "bread of the face" or "faces." Shew‐bread was unleavened bread placed upon a table which stood in the sanctuary together with the seven‐branched candlestick and the altar of incense. See Exodus 25:23-30 for description of this table. Every Sabbath twelve newly baked loaves, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, were put on it in two rows, six in each, and sprinkled with incense, where they remained till the following Sabbath. Then they were replaced by twelve new ones, the incense was burned, and they were eaten by the priests in the holy place, out of which they might not be removed, The title "bread of the face" seems to indicate that bread through which God is seen, that is, with the participation of which the seeing of God is bound up, or through the participation of which man attains the sight of God whence it follows that we have not to think of bread merely as such as the means of nourishing the bodily life, but as spiritual food as a means of appropriating and retaining that life which consists In seeing the face of God.