Exodus 25 and Divine Worship, Lesson Two

Table of the bread of Presence (Exodus 25: 23-30). " I am the bread from heaven."

The table of Presence was one of three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place. It was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold on which twelve loaves of bread were placed. The table wit hits bread presented two sides of the same truth: a God ward side and a human side. First, it stood before God, reminding Israel that they were ever open to the all seeing eye and protection of God. Next, it was the place where the Priest served and found their bread. That bread pointed to Him who was the Bread that would come down from heaven and give men and women everlasting bread (cf. John 6).

23-28 – The “table” (v. 23) measured three feet long by one and a half feet wide by 27 inches high. For a modern look at this table, it is depicted on the Arch of Titus among the items the Romans took back to Rome in A.D. 70. The appearance of the table is similar to that of the ark. Overlaid with gold (v.24), with a molding or encircling rim (v. 25), and four gold rings (v. 26) to hold the transporting poles (vv. 27-28).

29 - “Its plates and dishes....its pitches and bowls” were not for the purpose of serving God food as in pagan nations. Even the sacrifices set apart for God were not to be boiled or roasted; they were to come up before Him as vapors and odors, not in substance or food. Of course, some of the offerings were to be shared with the priests, and fellowship offerings were shared in part with the people.

30. - “The bread of Presence” is referred to here and also in 1 Samuel 21:6 and 1 Kings 7:48. In this phrase “presence” (lit., “faces”) stands for the Divine Person Himself, just as the “angel of His presence” (lit., “faces[s]” in Isaiah 63:9, or in Exodus 33: 14-15, “ my Presence [lit. “my face”] shall go with you, is an OT designation of Christ. The twelve loaves symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel as constantly being under the scrutiny, care and preservation of God (cf. John 6:32-38). Just as the bread supplied the needs of the priest on the Sabbath in the Holy Place (see Lev. 24:5-9), so Jesus also meets the needs of His children in this generation (John 6: 32-35).

The Golden Lampstand (25: 31-40) "Jesus the Light of the World"

The third article in the Holy Place was the golden lampstand. The continuing use of the “lampstand” can be found in Zechariah 4 and Revelation 1: 12,30. Central to the teachings of the tabernacle is the One who is the light of the world. Thus, where God dwells, there is light.

31 – “A lampstand ['menorah'] of pure gold” was to be fashioned all in one piece. It was placed on the south or left side of the Holy Place. (KJV) is anachronistic since candles were not invented until Roman times.

The lampstand design - “flower like cups, buds and blossoms” - was patterned after an almond

(amygdalus) tree ( v. 33), the first tree of spring in the Near East, awakenings as early as mid-December and decking itself in radiant white blossoms before leafing. The triad of its parts cannot be identified with final certainty. The "cups" were either the calyx (outer covering of the flower; cf. the same word translated "cups" in Gen. 44:2) or the almond nut whose medical and cosmetic properties are described as perfect. The "bud" (so the Vul. LXX)is also rendered as the knop or bulb, the round object on the branch (same word as the capitals or chapiters on the pillars in Solomons Temple, 1 Kings 7:18). The "blossoms" of the almond tree render the same word as in Numbers 17:8, reported in connection with Aaron's almond rod budding and blossoming.

The expression "hammer it out" (miqsah) is different. Josephus (Antiq. III, 144 [v.6] claims it was "cast gold [and] hollow," made in a mold. The verb is used of fashioning the cherubim (v.18), the lampstand (vv. 31, 36; 37:17, 22; Numbers 8:4) and the two silver trumpets (Numbers 10:2). A.R.S. Kennedy (HDB, s.c. "Tabernacle") thinks this is repousse, or ornamentation on the reverse side, to get the design , while Unger (UBD, P. 1043), thinks it was hammered into sheets first. The verbal root means only "to be hard." The Greek word merely renders it "golden-turned work."

32-36 - The total number of ornaments - i.e. "six branches...three cups...on the lampstand...four cups... one bud," etc - would be 69 ( 6 branches times 3 sets times 3 figures plus 1 branch times 4 sets plus 3 buds under each set of branches equals 69). Josephus added 1 to make the number an even 70 while the Talmud (Men. 28b) has only 30. The arch of Titus has 42 ornaments.

37-39 - The ancient lamp was a kind of small, round (clay) saucer with the rim pinched together to form a spout from which protruded the top of the wick dipped in the oil of the saucer. Examples of seven-pinched-rim lamps come from the age of Moses (Late Bronze). Beth shan and Meggiddo have supplied examples of metal pedestals designed to carry a lamp, consisting of an upright three-foot-long shaft dividing into three feet and joined in a ring to be placed on the ground on top of which his a ledge for the lamp. "A talent of pure gold" (v. 39) was about seventy-five pounds.

40 - "According to the pattern" is once again a key word waring Moses and all subsequent readers that what He was really doing was building a model, not the real, or the archetype, which lay behind the model. Therefore, it was "only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves" (Hebrews 10: 1). The true Temple is in Heaven (Hebrews (9:24). Thus in this revelation and the models exhibited in the Tabernacle and its service as contained in Exodus 25 - Leviticus 9. The archetype remained with God while the earthly models merely pictured what was yet to come.

by Lane