The table of showbread was placed on the north side of the holy place and directly opposite the candlestick. It was made with a "border" and a "crown," terms which designate two different things; the border being the elevated edges running round the table, and the crown being another elevation within the top of the table. The first was intended to secure the golden vessels (Ex. 25:29) connected with it, and the other the twelve loaves.

The name, "table of showbread," is derived not so much from the table itself as from the bread placed on it. It was the Bread of Presence that is meant (Mat. 12:4). Its design was not an acknowl­edgement by the people of their dependence on God for their food, nor of their gratitude for their tem­poral supplies, though these ideas may be suggested by it, but it was a memorial before God continually (Lev. 24:7). In this verse it is expressly said that the frankincense which was spread over the loaves was "for a memorial." On the removal of the stale bread and the supply of fresh (which occurred every Sabbath), the frankincense was burned on the golden altar. The vessels of the table must have been used for this purpose, for none are here mentioned as belonging to the altar. This cere­mony connected the table and altar, and it shows, moreover, that the bread and the incense belonged peculiarly to God, and were not merely an expression of the gratitude of the people for their material supplies. The bread of presence was a perpetual memorial unto God of his chosen people. There were twelve loaves, one for each tribe. All were represented – little Benjamin as well as royal Judah, and Dan as certainly as the priestly Levi. No part of God's family was overlooked or forgotten. And they were always before him (Ex. 25:30). Never for a moment were they out of his sight the continuous reminder to him, as we may say, of his covenant relation to them, of his promises and mighty pledges to be their God and Redeemer.

Nor are they forgotten amid their national separation and dispersion and the sorrows of their exile. Their memorial has not perished. Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew according to the flesh, who died for that nation in a sense in which he died for no other (John 11:51, 52), is now their Bread of Re­membrance before the face of God continually. "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come," are Paul's noble words to King Agrippa. "Our twelve tribes hope to come"! Unbelief may stupidly stare about and ask, Where are the twelve tribes? Our answer is: Their memorial is on high, and in God's good time they will be restored: Jerusalem shall yet be the joy of the whole earth, the center of blessing for the world (cf. Rom. 11).

Furthermore, what the bread of presence was for Israel, Jesus Christ now is for all His people. He is all that the loaves symbolized. He is before God in his public character. The Father sees in Him not only His well-beloved Son, but likewise the Repre­sentative and Surety of the saved from among men. They are in Him, and as being united with Him they, too, are before the Father. All Israel was be­fore the face of God in the twelve loaves. All be­lievers are in his presence in the person of the Saviour. "For we being many are one bread, are one body" (1 Cor. 10:17). Christ in the glory is at once the pledge and the assurance that the inheritance is safe for believers, and they are safe for it (1 Peter 1:3-5).

Again, the bread, when removed from the table, was eaten by priests in the holy place (Lev. 24:9). This typifies our communion with the Father through the Son. But before the bread was eaten the frankincense was carefully gathered and burned as an offering to the Lord, probably on the altar of incense. Here, then, is the union of the table and the altar; that is, communion is grounded in interces­sion. We have fellowship with the Father through the Son, who is now in his presence for us. Besides, it must not be forgotten that the priests are always the type of the people of God, while the high priest that of Christ. Accordingly, we have in this rich symbol of the table the Lord Jesus as the True Bread for the sustenance of the family of God. He is God's infinite provision for our hungry souls. How appropriate, satisfying, and enriching he is for all who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved" (S. of S. 5:1).