08 The Table Of Shewbread

The Table Of Shewbread

(Exo 30:23) “Thou shalt make a table of shittim wood” The table presents Christ as the centre and ground of communion to the Church of God. “A table,” not tables; for there is but one. Where believers are gathered together unto the Name of Jesus, it is God’s will that His dying love should be commemorated among them.

“Of shittim wood.” The incarnation and humanity of the Lord Jesus lies at the foundation, and an incarnate Saviour—God manifest in the flesh—is the centre of our communion in church fellowship. The Dimensions Of The Table

“Two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the is the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.”

God has fixed the dimensions of His own table, and man is not at liberty to extend or limit it. In length and breadth it extends to all believers, while walking worthily, yet excluding the unconverted, and the defiled. Its height also is of divine appointment. It is on a level with the propitiatory, for it is for those who through atonement have their iniquities forgiven, their sins covered. The length and breadth of the table is half a cubit less than the ark and propitiatory; for their are more saved by Christ, than actually and worthily sit at His table. The Overlaying

Verse 24. “And thou shalt overlay IT with pure gold.” Gold is the emblem of divine excellency, and pure gold of the purity and holiness of the divine nature, That is not the Lord’s table, according to the mind of God, where the divinity of Christ, and His divine excellency and glory, is not held and maintained. The Christ in whose Name we meet is Immanuel—God with us. The Golden Crown

“And make thereto a crown of gold round about.” He who was once made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man, is now crowned with glory and honour. While we commemorate therefore His dying and redeeming love, we do it also in the apprehension of His glory where He now is, at God’s right-hand. And we do this “until He come,” in the expectation of His return to receive us to Himself. The Border Verse 25. “And thou shalt make unto it a border of a hand-breadth round about.” The table which was extended and limited by divine grace and infinite wisdom, was also guarded. There as to be a border to the table of a handbreadth. here are four fingers to a handbreadth, and there are four things indispensable to real and right communion the Lord’s table, according to God and His Word, there is to be real and full blessing. First, saving faith in Christ, which admits into the family of God, are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:26; John 1:12). Secondly, the HOLINESS and consistency of walk which becomes the confession of the Name of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5.) Thirdly, soundness in holding and maintaining the Person of Christ (1Jn 1:10). Fourth SUBJECTION to the Lordship of Christ. For we meet at the Lord’s table as believers, in brotherly love, and in the Name of Him that is holy, Him that is true, and of Him that hath the key of David, that openeth no man shutteth (Rev 3:7). It should be observed that the Lord Jesus, at the Passover, previous to His instituting the Lord’s Supper, having first washed His disciples feet (John 13:1-11), then led His disciples into the closest self-examination (Mat 26:20-25; John 13:12-30); the result of which was that Judas, having received the sop, went immediately out. Then, and not till then, could Jesus divide the bread among them, and also the cup, saying, “Drink ye all of it.” In Luke’s account, who states things in their moral order and connection, and not always in their historical order, it would appear otherwise; but a careful examination of all the passages will confirm the fact. The Border Crowned

“And thou shalt make a golden crown to the border there of round about.” This is very striking! There is not only a divine glory connected with the Person of the Lord Jesus as the ground of communion, as shewn by the golden crown to the table, but also God has put divine honour on the jealousy which guards the communion of saints because it is connected with the glory of the Person of His Son. And as the border extends all round, so does the crown: for it is the jealousy that guards the Person of Jesus in every point, in the matter of communion, that has this divine honour put upon it by God Himself. The Rings And Staves

Verse 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.” Thus adapting the table to the wilderness condition of God’s people. And God also has provided for His people now, so that wherever two or three are gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus, there they might break the bread, and drink of the cup in remembrance of Him.

Verse 27. “Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.” Thus especially connecting the rings and staves with the border. And are we not thus reminded that our exposed condition in such a wilderness as this, renders the border of great importance and necessary in every place? The border was to extend all round the table, from the middle, dividing loaf from loaf.

“And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay THEM with gold.” Both the human tenderness and sympathy of the Lord Jesus, as shewn by the shittim wood; and His divine grace and all sufficiency, as shewn by the gold, adapt Him to the wilderness need of His people in church communion here.

“That the table may be borne with them.” Neither the ark nor the table were to be carried, after the example of the Philistines, on a new cart. that is, both testimony to the Person of Christ, and union together in His Name, are to be matters of dual responsibility to God. The Vessels Of The Table

Verse 29. “And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover [pour out] withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.” All that is connected with the communion of saints, on the ground of the Person of the Lord Jesus, is to be of God, and done in the power of divine grace. Human will, human authority, human wisdom, have no place here. “If any man speak, let him speak as Oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1Pe 4:11). Let all things be done, not only decently and in order, but also by the grace of God, and to God’s glory. And however important these directions are in all manner of service, they are never more so than. in things connected with the table of the Lord. The Shewbread

Verse 30. “And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread [Hebrews bread of faces) before Me alway.”Lev 24:5-9. “And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes [pierced cakes] thereof: two-tenth deals shall be in one cake.” The fine flour is typical of the pure and sinless humanity of Jesus, for it was without leaven. The twelve pierced cakes, for so the Hebrew expresses, foreshadowed Christ as the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, for “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isa 52:14); and likewise His sufferings on the Cross. The Hebrew expression for shewbread is literally “bread of faces,” for these twelve cakes were the representation and remembrance of the twelve tribes of Israel before God continually; and they also typify Christ as God’s provision for all His people, the whole Israel of God (John 6.).

Two-tenth deals, or two omers to each cake. A double portion; a portion for time, and for eternity. As the provision of manna made on the sixth day, which was for that day, and also for the Sabbath. (See Exo 16:22-26).

Verse 6. “And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before Jehovah.” Christ, the bread of life, set forth a full provision believers. But it must be on a PURE table. A pure and holy Christ the basis of communion; and the Le guarded from defilement. And “before Jehovah,” for the eye of a jealous and holy God is ever resting on the communion of saints.

Verse 7. “And thou shalt put frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto Jehovah.” The frankincense, which is white and fragrant, is emblematic of the purity and excellency of the Lord Jesus, both in His life and in His death, especially in estimate of God His Father, so that His language the contemplation of Him was, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” It was to be an offering made by fire.” From this we learn that the shewbread was to be unleavened, for in Lev 2:11, we read, “Ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of Jehovah made by fire.”

Verse 8. “Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.” Renewed weekly. So on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread (Acts 20:7). And on the day of Christ’s resurrection, and the following Lord’s Day, Jesus Himself allowed His disciples to handle, in His own precious body, the sacred memorials of His sufferings and death (John 20). To the Church, the weekly period is not the seventh day, the token of creation rest; but the eighth day, the emblem of resurrection rest, and the rest of completed redemption, being the first day of the week, on which day also the Comforter was given.

“BEFORE JEHOVAH CONTINUALLY” This is repeated for it is important. The feast is not provided for the guests only, but in honour of the Father and of the Son. The table is not spread for the children alone; the Father takes His seat at the head. His language is, “Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and be merry.” For the full joy of communion is in the Father’s presence. We are but partakers at the altar: the first and best portion belongs to God.

Verse 9. “And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place.” “Aaron’s and his sons’.” The High Priest and His house. That is, to us, “Christ as a Son over His own house, Whose house are we” (Heb 3:6). By virtue of the anointing as a holy priesthood, our fellowship is not only with the Father, but also with His Son Jesus Christ. “If any man hear My voice,” says Jesus, “and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev 3:20). At the Lord’s table we have fellowship with Jesus, our High Priest above, in the remembrance of His sufferings and death.

“For it is most holy unto Him of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire.” How God guards the holiness of this feast of love! The very atmosphere of the place where it is eaten must be holy, for that which is here set forth, and on which the believer feeds, is “most holy.”

“A perpetual statute.” “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,” says the Apostle, “ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” It is of perpetual obligation till then. It is an ordinance peculiar to the present dispensation. After this, Jesus will drink the new wine with us in His Father’s kingdom. In the millennial period, the divinely appointed and restored sacrifices, which till then will never have fully accomplished their original intention, will take the place of the present simpler but grand memorials of a Saviour’s sufferings; and then “the mountain of Jehovah’s house” will be the centre of communion to the whole earth.

While in heaven the Lamb in the midst of the Throne—” a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes” —will be God’s memorial for the Universe, and for eternity.