Exodus 25:23

25:23-30 A table was to be made of wood, overlaid with gold, to stand in the outer tabernacle, to be always furnished with the shew-bread. This table, with the articles on it, and its use, seems to typify the communion which the Lord holds with his redeemed people in his ordinances, the provisions of his house, the feasts they are favoured with. Also the food for their souls, which they always find when they hunger after it; and the delight he takes in their persons and services, as presented before him in Christ.

Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood,.... As the sanctuary or tabernacle was an house for God to dwell in, he would have the proper furniture of an house, as a table, candlestick, &c. This table was to be in the same place with the ark and mercy seat; they were set in the holy of holies, where there were nothing else; but this in the holy place, on the north side of it, Exodus 26:35 its principal use was to set the shewbread on, as after mentioned, and was typical of Christ, and communion with him, both in this life, and that to come.

There is the table of the Lord, to which his people are now admitted, where he sits down with them, and they with him, to have fellowship with him in the ministration of the word and ordinances, of which he is the sum and substance; and this is very desirable and delightful, and an instance of his condescending grace, Sol 1:12, and he will have a table in his kingdom hereafter, where his saints shall eat and drink with him, in which their chief happiness will consist, Luke 22:30 This table may be considered as typical of Christ himself, for he is both table and provisions and everything to his people; and of him in both his natures; in his human nature, it being made of shittim wood, incorruptible; for though Christ died in, that nature, yet he saw no corruption, he rose again and lives for evermore; in his divine nature, by the gold it was covered with: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof; it was two Jewish square cubits in length, which are about six English square feet and above half, viz. ninety four inches, according to Bishop Cumberland (t).

THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD. (23-30) Thou shalt also make a table.—The ark and mercy seat, which covered it, constituted the entire furniture of the inner sanctuary, or “Holy of Holies” (Exodus 40:20-21). When this had been shown to Moses the next thing to be done was to set before him the furniture of the outer sanctuary, or holy place. This consisted of three articles—(1) The table of shewbread, described in the present passage; (2) the golden candlestick, described in Exodus 25:31-40; and (3) the altar of incense, described in Exodus 30:1-10. The “table of shewbread” was a receptacle for the twelve loaves, which were to be “set continually before the Lord” (Leviticus 24:8) as a thank-offering on the part of His people—a perpetual acknowledgment of His perpetual protection and favour. It was to be just large enough to contain the twelve loaves, set in two rows, being a yard long, and a foot and a-half broad. The vessels belonging to the table (Exodus 25:29) were not placed on it. (23) Of shittim wood.—See the last Note on Exodus 25:5. No other wood was to be employed, either for the sanctuary itself, or for its furniture.

(Compare Exodus 37:10-16 .) The table and the candlestick figured on the Arch of Titus at Rome are those of the Maccabaean times, but made as nearly as possible after the ancient models reproduced under the direction of Solomon and Zerubbabel. The details and size of the figure, and the description of Josephus, appear to agree very nearly with the directions here given to Moses, and to illustrate them in several particulars. Josephus says that the table was like the so-called Delphic tables, richly ornamented pieces of furniture in use amongst the Romans, which were sometimes, if not always, covered with gold or silver.

Verses 23-30. - THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. From the description of the ark, which constituted the sole furniture of the most holy place, God proceeded to describe the furniture of the holy place, or body of the tabernacle, which was to consist of three objects - 1. A table, called the table of shew-bread ("bread of presence" or "bread of setting-forth"). 2. A candelabrum, or lamp-stand; and 3. An altar for the offering of incense. Of these the table seems to have been regarded as of primary importance; and its description is therefore made to follow immediately on that of the ark. It was of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold, and was of the most ordinary shape - oblong-square, i.e. , with four legs, one at each corner. The only peculiar features of the table, besides its material, were the border, or edging, which surrounded it at the top, the framework which strengthened the legs (ver. 25), and the rings by which it was to be carried from place to place. Verse 23. - Two cubits shall be the length thereof, etc. The table was to be three feel long, one foot six inches broad, and two feet three inches high. It was thus quite a small table, narrow for its length, and about two inches below the ordinary height. Exodus 25:23

23. table of shittim wood—of the same material and decorations as the ark [see on [25]Ex 25:5], and like it, too, furnished with rings for the poles on which it was carried [Ex 25:26]. The staves, however, were taken out of it when stationary, in order not to encumber the priests while engaged in their services at the table. It was half a cubit less than the ark in length and breadth, but of the same height. [See on [26]Ex 25:10.]

The Table of Shew-Bread (cf. Exodus 37:10-16 ). - The table for the shew-bread ( Exodus 25:30 ) was to be made of acacia-wood, two cubits long, one broad, and one and a half high, and to be plated with pure gold, having a golden wreath round, and a "finish (מסגּרת) of a hand-breadth round about," i.e., a border of a hand-breadth in depth surrounding and enclosing the four sides, upon which the top of the table was laid, and into the four corners of which the feet of the table were inserted. A golden wreath was to be placed round this rim. As there is no article attached to זר־זהב in Exodus 25:25 (cf. Exodus 37:12 ), so as to connect it with the זר in Exodus 25:24 , we must conclude that there were two such ornamental wreaths, one round the slab of the table, the other round the rim which was under the slab. At the four corners of the four feet, near the point at which they joined the rim, four rings were to be fastened for בּתּים, i.e., to hold the poles with which the table was carried, as in the case of the ark.