Journey to Worship Pt. 2

BREAD OF THE PRESENCE (לֶחֶם הַפָּנִים, lechem happanim). Twelve loaves of bread arranged in two stacks of six on the Table of the Showbread, replaced weekly on the Sabbath (Lev 24:5–9). The Table of the Showbread was located in the holy place of the tabernacle and temple near Yahweh’s presence. Biblical Relevance The bread of the presence accompanied the “table of the presence” (שֻׁלְחַן הַפָּנִים, shulchan happanim; Num 4:7). These were located in the holy place of Israel’s central sanctuary (1 Sam 21:1–6; 1 Kgs 7:48; 1 Chr 9:32; 2 Chr 2:4; Neh 10:33). The Table of the Showbread was placed along the north side of the front room of the tabernacle, the Holy Place, in front of the veil that closed off the Holy of Holies (Exod 25:30; 26:35). The table required three coverings, paralleled by the ark of the covenant (Num 4:5–8). It symbolized one aspect of the covenantal relationship shared between Israel and Yahweh. Background The ritual presentation of bread before a deity was an ancient practice among many of Israel’s neighboring cultures. Priests regularly served bread and wine to local deities embodied in religious icons for their consumption. Such service contributed to a symbiotic relationship of mutual dependence between the people and their deities, each relying on the other for food and drink (Gane, “Bread of the Presence,” 190–92; see also Sommer, Bodies of God, 12–37). The presentation of the bread of the presence before Yahweh belongs to this bread-laying ritual but departs from it in several ways: • Israel’s worship, as prescribed in the Old Testament, was aniconic—the construction and veneration of religious icons representing Yahweh or any other deity was forbidden (Exod 20:4–5; Deut 4:15–19; 5:8–9). • The bread of the presence did not serve as food for Yahweh, but rather for the priests (Lev 24:9; see also 1 Sam 21:1–6). • The presentation of wine does not appear to have accompanied the presentation of the bread of the presence (Gane, “Bread of the Presence,” 183–90; Milgrom, Leviticus 23–27, 2092–93). • The presentation of the bread of the presence symbolized a relationship between Israel and Yahweh—one in which Yahweh was not dependent upon Israel for food and drink (compare Psa 50:12–13). • The bread likely represented Yahweh being Israel’s continual provider, like He was when they roamed in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. Vocabulary The Old Testament references the objects of Israel’s unique bread-laying ritual in two distinct ways. The first involves the vocabulary of presence: “bread of the presence” (לֶחֶם הַפָּנִים, lechem happanim), “table of the presence” (שֻׁלְחַן הַפָּנִים, shulchan happanim). While פָּנִים (panim) can refer to one’s “face,” or “head,” it often refers more generally to one’s physical presence. In Exodus, God instructed Moses to place the bread “before me” (לְפָנַי, lephanay)—before God’s presence in the most holy place (Exod 25:30). Such language assumes that a localized presence of the deity—often called God’s “glory” (כָּבוֹד, kavod)—was proximate to the ritual bread and the table on which it was arranged (Sommer, The Bodies of God, 12–57, 80–108). Some streams of Israelite tradition grew increasingly disconnected to the idea that the deity’s presence locally inhabited a sanctuary space (1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 66:1; Jer 23:24b; Sommer, Bodies of God, 58–79, 109–23). The second way in which the Old Testament references Israel’s bread-laying ritual avoids the anthropomorphic connotations of presence vocabulary. Chronicles and Nehemiah use vocabulary that reflects the bread’s arrangement in piles (מַעֲרֶכֶת, ma'arekheth) as prescribed in Lev 24:6: “the bread of the pile” and “the table of the pile.” Second Chronicles 4:19 is the only exception to this, though it is likely a quotation from 1 Kgs 7:48. Additionally, Numbers 4:7 and 2 Chr 2:3 describe the bread or pile as “regular” (תָּמִיד, tamid), referring to the prescription that it appear “regularly” (Exod 25:30). Theological Significance The theological significance of the bread of the presence is rooted in Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh, marked by the perpetual observance of the Sabbath. Designated a “perpetual covenant” (בְּרִית עוֹלָם, berith olam; Lev 24:8), the bread of the presence elicits a covenantal motif that surfaces seven other times in the Pentateuch (Gen 9:16; 17:7, 13, 19; Exod 31:16; Num 18:19; 25:13) and 10 times in the Prophets and writings (2 Sam 23:5; Isa 24:5; Jer 32:40; Ezek 16:60; Psa 105:10; 1 Chr 16:17). The “perpetual covenant” mentioned in Exod 31:12–17 is significant to the ritual presentation of the bread. It roots regular Sabbath observance to the identity of Yahweh as entering into the created order—into the midst of the camp of Israel—in order to sanctify the people (Exod 31:13) (Fretheim, God and World, 63). The prescription for the bread of the presence in Lev 24 corresponds with Exod 16—the connection of bread and Sabbath. In Exodus 16, Yahweh sustains the wandering Israelites each morning with bread from heaven. On the sixth day, in preparation for the Sabbath, the Israelites were to gather twice as much bread—two omers each (Exod 16:22). This measurement corresponds to the amount of flour prescribed for each loaf constituting the bread of the presence (Lev 24:5; see Exod 16:36). The regular arrangement of the 12 loaves—likely representing the 12 tribes of Israel—serves as a sign for Yahweh and all Israel (Lev 24:8b). The sign reminds Yahweh of His obligations to sustain Israel, while Israel is reminded of their obligation to observe all that Yahweh commands (Mason, “Eternal Covenant”). The observance of the commands of God and the blessings of grain in the land emphasize the nearness by which God interacts in their lives—to sanctify and to provide.

The lampstand is one of the sacred objects that Yahweh instructs the Israelites to build and place inside the tabernacle, along with the ark of the covenant and the table of showbread (Exod 25:31–35). The lampstand consisted of a base and shaft of hammered pure gold (likely wrapped around a wooden form; Meyers, Tabernacle Menorah, 32–33) with six branches going out from the sides (Exod 25:31–32). The lampstand would have served as a reminder of the brightness of Yahweh, who is “present and active among his people” (Durham, Exodus, 365).

Chad Michael Foster, “Lampstand,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

HOLY OF HOLIES (קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים, qodesh haqqodashim). The innermost room of the tabernacle and temple. Terminology In addition to “holy of holies,” some translations refer to the small cubic room in the rear of the tabernacle or temple with the phrase “most holy place” (e.g., NIV, NRSV, ESV). Once it is referred to as “your holy sanctuary” (Psa 28:2; דְּבִ֥יר קָדְשֶֽׁךָ, devir qodshekha). The temples of ancient Near Eastern cultures outside Israel also sometimes included areas that could be equated with the holy of holies. For example, the sanctuary at Arad included a raised cubicle measuring around 4 feet in the west wall (Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, 496). Holy of Holies in the Old Testament The holy of holies of the tabernacle was a 10-cubit cube separated from the rest of the sanctuary by a veil, which served to prohibit people from seeing and accessing God (Exod 26:31–35). This is reinforced by images of cherubim “skillfully worked into it” (Gurtner, “The Velum Scissum,” 150). The holy of holies contained the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. Two gold-plated olivewood cherubim guarded access to God’s presence, as they did in Eden (see Gen 3:24; compare Jubilees 8:19, where the holy of holies was in Eden). The holy of holies was the place where heaven and earth came together. The ark of the covenant within the holy of holies was also called “the footstool of the Lord” (Beale, “Eden, the Temple,” 17).

Phillip J. Long, “Holy of Holies,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).