shewbread

shewbread, any of the 12 loaves of bread that stood for the 12 tribes of Israel, presented and shown in the Temple of Jerusalem in the Presence of God. The loaves were a symbolic acknowledgment that God was the resource for Israel’s life and nourishment and also served as Israel’s act of thanksgiving to God. The arrangement of the bread on a table in two rows of six (Leviticus 24) was an important aspect of the presentation because some verses in the Bible literally speak of “the bread of the arrangement” (1 Chronicles 9:32, 23:29; Nehemiah 10:33). The table, which stood at the west end of the “holy place” of the Temple, next to the Holy of Holies, was also important. The bread was changed every sabbath, and the priests ate that which had been displayed. Once, in an emergency, it was given to King David to feed his hungry men. Many aspects of the Christian Eucharist show that it was influenced by Israel’s shewbread.