Exodus 25:23-3023Thou 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. 29And 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. 30And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway. (Exodus 25:23‑30). The Table.
WE pass out from the holy of holies into the first room. The first vessel that would meet our view would be the golden altar, but God does not mention it just now, and we shall see when we come to it, why it was that God left it out of this part of the account of the tabernacle, and gave the table next.
The table was made of the same materials as the ark, and we can say it brings Christ before us as the One who bears us up before God, for on the table were to be placed twelve loaves, and these represented the twelve tribes of Israel.
There were two crowns of gold, one on the outside of the table, and the other a hand breadth in from it, on the top, with the purpose evidently of holding the loaves of bread in their place, so they would not be laid in all kinds of ways on the table.
All this gives us a lesson of how we are before God, kept by the hand of the One who is crowned with glory and honor. God is ever bringing before us our need of having everything done for us, as we are not only unable to save ourselves, but unable to keep ourselves. It is the Lord who must do all for us.
The bread not only represented the twelve tribes, but it was also to be food for the priests; so the bread typified Christ, as food for all the saved people, but that food had to be eaten in God’s presence.
Remember, then, dear reader, you cannot be feeding upon Christ; that is, be occupied with Him, and find your joy in the world, too. If you feed upon Him, and find your delight in Him, as the perfect One, and the One who has all wisdom, you must learn these things in the presence of God. That food had to be eaten in the “holy,” and nowhere else. May you be enabled to say from your early day,
“Jesus! Thou art enough
The mind and heart to fill;
Thy patient life—to calm the soul:
Thy love—its fear dispel.”