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| http://www.mishkanministries.org/shewbread.php |
I’ve been reading about the
directions given for various aspects of the tabernacle and service there, and
the shewbread has sparked my interest.
And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. (Exodus 25:30)5 ¶And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord.
Exodus 25:30 has a footnote
for shewbread that says it was “bread of the faces” of “bread of the presence.” I started to wonder what
meaning might be taken from this, and eventually I realized it meant to
anticipate the sacrament when all covenant Israel would eat bread so that they
would “always have His Spirit to be with them.” In Moses’ day only the priests ate the shewbread. I think they ate it on the Sabbath as
they replenished the 12 loaves with new.
This corresponds with eating the sacrament every week.
The 12 loaves were like the
12 tribes of Israel. Jesus was of
Judah’s tribe.. but which loaf of the 12 is Judah’s? We aren’t to know.
Jesus was among Israel becoming mortal, like us. I think the bread was
also meant to symbolize the corporeal nature of Jehovah’s condescension to be
born as a mortal among us and sacrifice His body for us.
For a while I wondered why
the shewbread loaves were left for 7 days and then eaten and new loaves
provided. I thought, The bread must get stale after 7 days
sitting out! And the priests eat
that, and put out new bread?
And then I realized there’s a great lesson right there that corresponds
perfectly to why we need the sacrament every week. The fresh loaves perfectly represent our newness of life
after taking the sacrament. Then
we go throughout the week and our resolve gets staler and staler and our soul
kind of dries up, and by the end of the week we NEED to be renewed and refreshed! We need that staleness to be swallowed
up and we need to be made new again, just like fresh bread. Just like the priests ate the bread so
new bread can be put in its place, Christ as our high priest swallows up our
staleness in His mercy, and makes us new again. I can testify to that. I've seen it in my life over and over and over again and I am SO grateful for it.
I also think the shewbread
in the tabernacle gives us perspective as to the holiness of the sacrament,
even though we eat it in church and not in our temples. It is like a map of where we are. It makes me think that maybe when we
eat the sacrament we must imagine ourselves in the holy place of the
tabernacle, next to the veil.
I think we are to learn the Lord wants us to live at moral level as
though we are always so near to God that He can hear us through that veil and
we can hear Him. For we are
certainly promised the presence of a member of the Godhead.
1 comments:
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing your insight, I love reading your blog :)
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