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Summary
- The showbread, called the bread of the Presence in modern translations, was twelve loaves set out on a gold-covered table in the tabernacle and later the temple (Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5–6).
- Its Hebrew name, lechem panim, means bread of the face or presence. “Shewbread” was William Tyndale’s word in 1530.
- The table was acacia wood overlaid with gold, about 3 feet long, and stood on the north side of the Holy Place, outside the veil (Exodus 25:23–28; 40:22).
- The priests set out fresh loaves every Sabbath, with frankincense on each pile, and ate the old loaves in a holy place (Leviticus 24:7–9).
- David and his men ate the showbread at Nob (1 Samuel 21:1–6), and Jesus cited the story when his disciples were accused of breaking the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1–4; Mark 2:25–27).
- Antiochus took the second temple’s table (1 Maccabees 1:22), and Josephus lists a golden table among the spoils Rome carried off after AD 70.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (Exodus 25:30; 40:22–23; Leviticus 24:5–9; Numbers 4:7; 1 Samuel 21:4, 6; Matthew 12:4; Mark 2:26, 27; 1 Kings 7:48; 1 Chronicles 9:32; 2 Chronicles 4:19; 13:11; John 6:35; Hebrews 9:2). Other passages described: Exodus 25:23–29; 26:35; 30:6; 1 Samuel 21:1–3, 5; 22:20; Matthew 12:1–3; Mark 2:23–25; Luke 6:4; 2 Chronicles 13:4. https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/English-Standard-Version-ESV-Bible/
- Exodus 25:30 in the King James Version (“shewbread”) and the New King James Version (“showbread”). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+25%3A30&version=KJV;NKJV
- 1 Maccabees 1:20–22; 4:36, 49–51, Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Maccabees+1%3A20-23&version=RSVCE
- “Shewbread,” Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/shewbread
- Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War, book 7, chapter 5, sections 5 and 7, translated by William Whiston. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-7.html
- “Cubit,” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/cubit
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