The Table of Shewbread
“And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.”
Exodus 25:30 · KJV
“And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.”
Leviticus 24:5 · KJV
“And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.”
Leviticus 24:6 · KJV
Twelve loaves sat in the holy place, “bread of the presence,” renewed every Sabbath, one for each tribe, always before God's face.
Only the priests could eat it (Lev 24:9). Yet when David was hungry and fleeing Saul, the priest gave him the shewbread and God did not count it sin (1 Sam 21:6). Jesus cites that exact incident to defend His disciples: “Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred... how he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat?” (Matt 12:3-4). The bread of the presence was for the priests, but mercy opened it to a hungry man, which is the whole argument: “the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Twelve loaves, the whole nation, always before His face.