Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 24:6
And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.
6. rows row ] rather, as R.V. mg., piles. So the word ‘shewbread’ should be rendered pile-bread in 1Ch 9:32 ; 1Ch 23:29; Neh 10:33.
the pure table ] i.e. overlaid with pure gold (Exo 25:24). For a reproduction of the familiar likeness of it as depicted on the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, see Driver ( C.B.) on Exod. at p. 272, or HDB. Art. Music, iii. 462.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Not one above another, but one beside another, as the frankincense put upon each, Lev 24:7, shows. The pure table was so called because it was covered with pure gold, Exo 25:24, and because it was always to be kept very pure and clean by the care of the priests.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And thou shalt set them in two rows,…. The twelve cakes:
six on a row; not by the side of each other, but six upon one another:
upon the pure table; the shewbread table, so called because overlaid with pure gold, and kept clean and bright, Ex 25:24;
before the Lord; for this stood in the holy place, in the same place as the candlestick did, which has the same position, Le 24:4; of the mystical and typical sense of these cakes, [See comments on Ex 25:30].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(6) In two rows, six on a row.Better, in two piles, six on a pile. The table on which the cakes are here ordered to be put stood along the northern or most sacred side of the holy place. Like all the sacred furniture, except the Ark of the Covenant, it was ranged lengthways of the sanctuary. It was one cubit and a half, or nine handbreadths high; the surface board or plate was two cubits, or twelve handbreadths long, and one cubit or six handbreadths broad. These twelve cakes were placed one upon another in two piles lengthwise on the breadth of the table. As the cakes were ten handbreadths long, and the table was only six handbreadths wide, the cakes projected two hand breadths at each side of the table.
Upon the pure table.According to the interpretation which obtained during the second Temple, this denotes that the cakes are to be put upon the table itself, and not upon the hollow golden rods which were on the table to allow the air to pass through to prevent the shewbread becoming mouldy during the week. These hollow tubes are to be placed between the cakes, whilst the cakes themselves are to be put on the table itself and not on the tubes, so as to be raised above the table.
Before the Lord.That is, the table which stood before the Lord, for it was placed in the sanctuary. The cakes, therefore, which were thus ranged upon it were constantly before God. Hence, not only is the table called the table of His Presence (Num. 4:7), but the cakes are called the bread of His Presence (Exo. 25:30; Exo. 35:13; Exo. 39:36). The rendering of the Authorised Version, table of shewbread, and shewbread, is taken from Luther, and does not express the import of the names. The names, the bread set in order, the sets of bread, and the table set in order, which were given to the cakes (1Ch. 9:32; 1Ch. 23:29; 2Ch. 13:11; Neh. 10:33) and to the table (2Ch. 29:18) in later times, and which are unjustifiably obliterated in the Authorised Version, are derived from this verse where the cakes are ordered to be ranged in two sets.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Pure table It was overlaid with pure gold; the term “pure” may mean more than this, and bear something of the force which it has in Mal 1:11. For its structure, see Exo 37:10-16.
Before the Lord Not in the holy of holies, but in the first tabernacle. Exo 40:24; Heb 9:2. This throws much light upon the significance of the showbread, or “bread of the face or faces.” The term “faces” denotes the presence not of the people, who were not admitted into the first tabernacle or court of the priests, but the presence of God. This view Bahr has elaborated with singular force and beauty. It is said in Exo 23:21, that God’s name is in the angel of his presence, (face or faces.) The presence and the name may therefore be taken as equivalent. Both, in reference to their context, indicate the manifestation of God to his creatures. As the name stands for God himself, so the face, wherein a man’s individual personality is seen, stands for the person of God. To see the face is to see the person. The bread of the face is therefore that bread through which God is seen, that is, with the participation of which the seeing of God is bound up. Whence it follows that we have not to think of bread merely as such, as the means of nourishing bodily life, but as spiritual food, as a means of appropriating and retaining that life which consists in seeing the face of God. The bread of the face on the table in the tabernacle, the symbolic heaven, is an emblem of the heavenly bread. This points to none other than Jesus Christ. “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” After this synopsis of Bahr’s Symbolik we cannot forbear to add one beautiful and instructive emblem in reference to the position of the showbread, which was opposite the candlestick, (Exo 40:24,) that its full light might fall upon it, prefiguring the precious truth that the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them to the believer.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 24:6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD.
Ver. 6. Six on a row. ] One by another, not one upon another, as they are commonly painted.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
rows = piles.
row = pile.
pure = purified or ceremonially cleansed. Compare Lev 24:4.
before the LORD: i.e. in the holy place. Hence called “the table of the presence” (Num 4:7), and the cakes called “the bread of the presence” (Exo 25:30; Exo 35:13; Exo 39:36). The word “shewbread” taken from the Vulgate, and Luther, does not correctly represent the Hebrew name. The use of this word quite hides the Hebrew expression “bread of ordering” (set in order), “the sets of bread”, “the table set in order”, in 1Ch 9:32; 1Ch 23:29. 2Ch 13:11. Neh 10:33; and the table in 2Ch 29:18. These Hebrew expressions are based on and derived from this verse.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
in two rows: 1Co 14:40
pure: Exo 25:23, Exo 25:24, Exo 37:10-16, Exo 39:36, Exo 40:22, Exo 40:23, 1Ki 7:48, 2Ch 4:19, 2Ch 13:11, Heb 9:2
Reciprocal: Exo 25:30 – General Exo 35:13 – General Exo 40:4 – the things that Lev 24:5 – General Eze 41:22 – This is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 24:6-7. In two rows One piled above another; and on the top of each row was set a golden dish, with a handful of the best frankincense therein. On the bread for a memorial That is, in order to be burned upon the altar at the weeks end, instead of the bread, in honour of God, or to commemorate his name.