We read about the Table in our last post. Now, we are going to see what God wanted on the Table and how He arranged the items. 

In Hebrew, this Table is called Table (Shulchan) of Bread (lechem) of Faces (paneem). It was the place where God would meet with the priests face-to-face. 

The recipe and instructions for the Bread are found in Leviticus 24:5-9. 

“And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6 You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.”

We will take these guidelines one by one for understanding and see what they represent. I’ve bolded the texts we will consider.

1. Leviticus 24:5 And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it.

First of all, the number twelve stands for Apostolic Fulness and Government. In John 6 we see Yeshua giving the bread to the disciples to feed the 5,000. Today, the church is still feeding the multitudes with living bread.

2. Leviticus 24:5 “Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake.” Two-tenths deal of flour is equal to the double portion He told the Israelites to gather for each person on the sixth day of the week. This freed them from gathering on the Sabbath day. Exodus 16:22-23

Also, there were two tables of stone for the ten commandments Exodus 31:18.  We find their fulfillment in the Two commandments given by Jesus in Matthew 22:34-40

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

3. Leviticus 24:6 – You shall set them in two rows, six in a row.  We see equality here—no favoritism. 

“ we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Romans 12:5

4. Leviticus 24:7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each row

Frankincense is part of the formula God gave to Moses for the altar of incense—the place of prayer in the Holy Place. 

Exodus 30:34 And the Lord said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.

In Romans 8:34 it says that Christ is at the right hand of God making intercession for us. 

Small bowls of incense rested on the top of each of the stacks of bread. 

5. Leviticus 24:7 …that it may be on the bread for a memorial  

Luke 22:19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

6. Leviticus 24:7 …an offering made by fire to the Lord.

Hebrews 12:29 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.” As God’s people, we are often put through fire but by His grace, we come forth as gold. 

Matthew 3:11  Speaking of Yeshua: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

7. Leviticus 24:8 – Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.

The priests looked forward to this Sabbath meeting at the Showbread Table. His Presence with them transformed them.

Yeshua is the true Sabbath rest. Only in His finished work is rest found. – John 19:30

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. 

The wine, also part of the meal, was a reminder of their Everlasting Covenant that foreshadowed the New Covenant in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Matthew 26:27-28

27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 

8. Leviticus 24:9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons,

So, only Aaron and his sons could eat the bread and only on Sabbath. The Bread on the Table, placed there the previous Sabbath, was their meal along with the wine. It is said that the Bread was still fresh. It was holy bread.

It was a weekly face-to-face time with Abba. It was a preview for the Passover mean. And it is much like the Sabbath meals celebrated today in Jewish and Messianic Jewish homes. The only difference is the bread has leaven. 

It is also the beginning glimpse of our Communion table. 

There is an interesting story about David in 1 Samuel 21:1-6.

David and his men were in Nob. They were hungry and David asked the priest for five loaves of bread to feed them. The only bread available was showbread. 

Verse 6 says, “So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.”

Since we are priests and the Bread and Wine are for us, we can partake daily.

 1 Peter 2:9-10 tells us: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

9. Leviticus 24:9  and they shall eat it in a holy place 

They could not take the bread out of the Holy Place. They were not to mix the holy with the common and outside of the Holy Place was the world, the common, or the ‘profane.’

10. While it doesn’t say it in these instructions, the bread was also pierced. There wasn’t any leaven (yeast) in the bread because leaven represented sin. So, to keep the flour and water dough from rising as it baked, it was pierced. (The picture with this post looks a little puffy but it’s the best I could find with all the elements. )

And there you have it. As you can see, Yeshua is through every part of this. We also see the Body of Christ. 

This Table and meal represent both the old and the new coming together as one.

The Bread symbolizes Israel and it also symbolizes the Body of Christ

The Wine symbolizes the Blood of the Mosaic Covenant and it also symbolizes the Blood of the New Covenant

The next time you take communion do your best to think about what we’ve shared today. May we come to appreciate Him even more.

Shalom ♥