AP

2 Chronicles 4:19  Solomon also made all the furnishings that were in God’s temple: the golden altar; the tables on which was the bread of the Presence; …

Much has been written and argued about the intended meaning or relevance of the ‘bread of the Presence’ in terms of the worship of the LORD, first in the Tabernacle, then in the Temple.  The Hebrew word translated ‘bread’ is the ordinary word for what we know as bread (‘lechem’, as in ‘Bethlehem’, ‘House of Bread’), but he word translated ‘the Presence’ is a bit more complex.  It is ‘happanim’ which is literally ‘the faces’; but ‘face’ is often used to express ‘presence’, as in ‘before the face of Pharaoh’ is the way to say ‘in Pharaoh’s presence’.

The KJV translates ‘bread of the Presence’ as ‘Shewbread’.  The suggestion that the twelve loaves were moulded to represent Yahweh’s face is easily discounted in the light of the Second Commandment.  What is clear from the OT is that the 12 loaves expressed in a physical form the ongoing spiritual nourishment, promised by Covenant, and provided by the LORD for his Chosen People (hence 12 representing the 12 Tribes).  Each Sabbath the priests consecrated 12 freshly baked loaves and placed them on the special golden Table provided for this sole purpose, and they alone consumed the week-old loaves within the Holy Place, signifying the close, continuous union between the LORD-Who-Provides (‘Yahweh-Yireh’) and his Covenant People.

We see all this ultimately fulfilled in the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ among us.  Jesus referred to himself as the ‘Living Bread’: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51); and this explains what he meant at the Last Supper when he broke the bread and gave it to his 12 disciples to eat, saying: “Take, eat, this is my body” (Matthew 26:26) with the implication, by his action, that his body would be broken for them.

– Bruce Christian