Bible Dictionaries
Shewbread

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

* Note: The phrase rendered "the shewbread" is formed by the combination of the nouns prothesis, "a setting forth" (pro, "before," tithemi, "to place") and artos, "a loaf" (in the plural), each with the article, Matthew 12:4; Mark 2:26; Luke 6:4 , lit., "the loaves of the setting forth;" in Hebrews 9:2 , lit., "the setting forth of the loaves." The corresponding OT phrases are lit., "bread of the face," Exodus 25:30 , i.e., the presence, referring to the Presence of God (cp. Isaiah 63:9 with Exodus 33:14,15 ); "the bread of ordering," 1 Chronicles 9:32 , marg. In Numbers 4:7 it is called "the continual bread;" in 1 Samuel 21:4,6 , "holy bread" (AV, "hallowed"). In the Sept. of 1 Kings 7:48 , it is called "the bread of the offering" (prosphora, "a bearing towards"). The twelve loaves, representing the tribes of Israel, were set in order every Sabbath day before the Lord, "on the behalf of the children," Leviticus 24:8 , RV (marg., and AV, "from"), "an everlasting covenant." The loaves symbolized the fact that on the basis of the sacrificial atonement of the Cross, believers are accepted before God, and nourished by Him in the Person of Christ. The showbread was partaken of by the priests, as representatives of the nation. Priesthood now being coextensive with all who belong to Christ, 1 Peter 2:5,9 , He, the Living Bread, is the nourishment of all, and where He is, there, representatively, they are.