Concise Bible Dictionary:
This was made of shittim wood overlaid with gold. For the tabernacle it was two cubits in length, one cubit in breadth, and a cubit and a half in height. It had an ornamental crown and border, with another crown around its edge. The table was put in the holy place on the north side. Besides the twelve loaves there were on the table, dishes, spoons, bowls, and covers (Ex. 37:10-16; 1 Kings 7:48). Frankincense was to be placed on the loaves, and this would need dishes; the spoons were for the incense, and probably the basins for the drink offerings.
This table was typical of Israel’s place before God in the acceptability of Christ, who, as the true Aaron, maintains them even now before God: it is a perpetual covenant (Lev. 24:8); and possibly also of God’s bounty to man through His people Israel. This was foreshadowed also in the Lord feeding the people through His twelve apostles, and in twelve baskets of fragments remaining.
From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
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. 26:35). 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. 25:23-28). 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. 24:5-9). There were also golden vessels of various kinds (Ex. 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. 25:31-40). 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.
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