The table of showbread represents Christ as the bread of life.
Just as the loaves were placed on the table in the sanctuary, so Christ is the provision for His people. Les Feldick connects this to Jesus' own words in John's Gospel where He calls Himself the living bread. The showbread thus depicts a unique aspect of His person and work.
Exodus 25:23-30 — These verses give the instructions for making the table of showbread, the piece of furniture in question.
The Bible records that God commanded the construction of a table of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, to be placed in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:23-30). On this table were to be set twelve loaves of bread, arranged in two rows of six, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The bread was to be changed regularly, and the old bread was to be eaten by the priests. This perpetual offering symbolized God's provision for His people and His presence among them.
Les Feldick teaches that the table of showbread is another aspect of the tabernacle that reveals Christ. He emphasizes that the sanctuary furnishings consistently point to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. Specifically, the showbread speaks of Jesus as the bread of life, as Jesus Himself declared in John's Gospel. Les connects this Old Testament type with the New Testament truth that Christ is our spiritual sustenance and provision.
Les Feldick explains that just as the golden candlestick portrays Christ as the light of the world, the table of showbread emphasizes Him as the bread of life. He notes that Jesus explicitly called Himself 'the living bread' in John's Gospel, and this Old Testament type was a foreshadowing of that New Testament truth. The table, holding the bread within the sanctuary, is thus a picture of Christ as the provision for God's people.
Les Feldick points out that bread and wine were never used together in Old Testament worship, yet they appear together in the meeting of Melchizedek and Abram (Genesis 14:18). For the believer today, bread and wine speak of the Lord's Supper, the communion table. Just as the bread in the tabernacle pictured Christ, so the bread in communion reminds us of His broken body. This shows how the Old Testament types find their fulfillment in the New Testament age of grace.
What the Tabernacle Reveals About Christ Most People Miss
In other words, it was just woven right into the fabric of all that beautiful linen. Now, if you can just imagine a little bit that the light coming from that candlestick, those seven candles, reflecting off of all this gold, and then against that pure white linen with the other colors running through it, and these cherubim, these little angelic beings, and it must have been beautiful beyond descr…
Jesus as High Priest: The Order of Melchizedek Explained
But another time they would have drink offerings of wine, and they would pour that out. But never was bread and wine ever associated in combination throughout the Old Testament economy. But for those of us of our day and age, the age of grace, what did bread and wine speak of? The Lord's Supper, the communion table.
Bread of Life
Les connects the manna and the showbread to Jesus' declaration that He is the bread of life and the living bread.
Why Israel Failed to Enter the Promised Land (Exodus 23 & Deut 1)
Well, anyway, then the table of showbread is next. Then they go over to the golden candlestick, and God gives instructions on how to build that, and it's going to be all out of beaten gold. And then as you come on through, you'll see that He just gradually keeps moving in the instructions all the way out until He meets with mankind.
What the Bible Really Says About the Lord's Table — 1 Corinthians 10:16
Umpteen kernels of wheat that were ground into flour of course, and then made into the bread. So the analogy still holds. What are we as members of the body of Christ? We�re just like that loaf of bread that has become a composite of all those individual kernels of grain.
Table of Showbread
Les describes the table of showbread as the next piece of furniture after the Ark, made of acacia wood, continuing the tabernacle's picture of Christ.
Jesus as High Priest: The Order of Melchizedek Explained
This do ye, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me. Now here's the explanation, verse 26. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until he come. Now this is the purpose of the Lord's Supper. It's nothing more and nothing less than a remembering of what Christ accomplished on the cross.
Old Testament Types
Les notes that the table of showbread was an Old Testament use of bread, showing how God foreshadowed later truths.
Exodus 25:23-30: Thou 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. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And 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. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And 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. And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
This passage gives the command to construct the table and place showbread on it, the very object in question.
John 6:51: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Jesus directly identifies Himself as the living bread, which Les connects to the showbread.
The showbread was a perpetual offering before God on the table inside the sanctuary. It was changed regularly, and the old loaves were eaten by the priests. It symbolized God's provision and presence with His people Israel.
There were twelve loaves, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. They were arranged in two rows of six, as described in Leviticus 24:5-6.
Yes, Les teaches that the table of showbread, like the other tabernacle furnishings, is a picture of Christ. He emphasizes that it portrays Christ as the bread of life.
Watch the Teaching: What the Tabernacle Reveals About Christ Most People Miss