What was the bread of the Presence (Exodus 25:30)?

Answer

The Bread of the Presence (also known as the showbread or shewbread in some translations) was a special type of bread always placed on a table in the tabernacle (and later in the temple). Leviticus 24:5–7 describes this bread:

“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, so that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion, as a food offering to the Lord.”

This Bread of the Presence was: 1) made of fine flour, 2) baked into 12 loaves, 3) arranged in two piles of six loaves each on a table of pure gold, 4) covered with frankincense, and 5) served as a memorial food offering to the Lord. This bread could only be consumed by Aaron and his sons in a sacred place and was displayed every Sabbath day (Leviticus 24:8-9).

The Bread of the Presence is first mentioned in Exodus 25:30. God instructed for it to be placed on the golden table in the tabernacle. The bread is also listed in the contributions for the tabernacle in Exodus 35:13 and noted as part of the completed tabernacle in Exodus 39:36. In Numbers 4, the Kohathites, who were sons of Levi, were given the responsibility for the care of the table of showbread.

First Chronicles 9:32 says, “Also some of their kinsmen of the Kohathites had charge of the showbread, to prepare it every Sabbath.” This bread was likely prepared every Friday and placed in the tabernacle every Sabbath in two piles of six. It was replenished weekly, allowing the priests to consume fresh bread in the sacred place.

At one point in David’s life, when he was fleeing from Saul, he requested food from the priest Ahimelech. The priest provided David with the Bread of the Presence, as it was the only bread available.ad available (1 Samuel 21:1-6). David was not a priest, so it was technically unlawful for him to eat the showbread. Jesus later refers to this event, using it as proof that the Law was designed for the benefit of humanity, and that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:25-27; Luke 6:3-5).

The Old Testament showbread placed on the table in the tabernacle provides a wonderful picture of Jesus, the Bread of Life. Jesus is holy before God, He provides true sustenance, and He is always present. “Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry’” «And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. », (John 6:35).

Another New Testament reference, Hebrews 9:1–2, mentions the table of showbread as one of the items in the first section of the tabernacle. Also included in that place was the lampstand. Verse 15 notes, “Therefore [Jesus] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.” The context explains that the important aspects of the Jewish law were no longer necessary since Christ has become the high priest once and for all.