143. The Table of Show Bread The Golden Candlestick

Narrator: Chris Genthree
 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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Exodus 40:44And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. (Exodus 40:4). Thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof.
1. The “table of show-bread” was on the north side of the Holy Place (Ex. 26:3535And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side. (Exodus 26:35)). It was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, was two cubits long, one cubit wide, and a cubit and a half high. It had an ornamental cornice of gold around the top, and was furnished with rings of gold and gilded staves (Ex. 25:23-2823Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. 25And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. 26And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. 27Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. 28And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. (Exodus 25:23‑28)). On it were placed twelve loaves of bread in two rows or piles, and on each row frankincense was put. The bread was changed every Sabbath (Lev. 24:5-95And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 6And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. 7And 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. 8Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute. (Leviticus 24:5‑9)). There were also golden vessels of various kinds (Ex. 25:2929And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. (Exodus 25:29)), probably for the bread, frankincense, and wine.
The shape of the table of show-bread in Herod’s Temple is preserved to us in the celebrated triumphal arch erected in Rome to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Among the spoils of war represented on it are those taken from the Temple. These articles probably bore some general resemblance to one in Solomon’s Temple and in the Tabernacle.
2. The “candlestick” consisted of a standard with three branches on each side, thus affording room for seven lamps, which were supplied with olive oil. The candle’ stick stood on the south side of the Holy Place, and with its snuffers and tongs was made of gold (Ex. 25:31-4031And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. 32And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: 33Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. 34And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. 35And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 37And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 39Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. 40And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount. (Exodus 25:31‑40)). Nothing is known of its size, or of the formation of its base, or of the exact position of the six branches. Whether the tops of these branches were on a level, or in the form of an arch; and whether the branches extended in the same plane or in different planes is not known.