eat. There were spoons also, by which to place frankincense upon each
pile of bread; and "flagons and bowls to pour out withal." What was thus
to be poured we do not read, but there is no doubt that it was wine,
second only to bread as a requisite of Jewish life, and forming, like
the frankincense, a link between this weekly presentation and the
meal-offerings. But all these were subordinate to the twelve loaves, one
for each tribe, which were laid in two piles upon the table. It is clear
that their presentation was the essence of the rite, and not their
consumption by the priests, which was possibly little more than a
safeguard against irreverent treatment. For the word shewbread is
literally bread of the face or presence, which word is used of the
presence of God, in the famous prayer "If Thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence" (xxxiii. 15). And of whom, other than God, can it
here be reasonably understood? Now Jacob, long before, had vowed "Of all
that Thou givest me, I will surely give the tenth to Thee" (Gen.
xxviii. 22). And it was an edifying ordinance that a regular offering
should be made to God of the staple necessaries of existence, as a
confession that all came from Him, and an appeal, clearly expressed by
covering it with frankincense, which typified prayer (Lev. xxiv. 7) that
He would continue to supply their need.

Nor is it overstrained to add, that when this bread was given to their
priestly representatives to eat, with all reverence and in a holy place,
God responded, and gave back to His people that which represented the
necessary maintenance of the tribes. Thus it was, "on the behalf of the
children of Israel, an everlasting covenant" (Lev. xxiv. 8).

The form has perished. But as long as we confess in the Lord's Prayer
that the wealthiest does not possess one day's bread ungiven--as long,
also, as Christian families connect every meal with a due acknowledgment
of dependence and of gratitude--so long will the Church of Christ
continue to make the same confession and appeal which were offered in
the shewbread upon the table.

The next article of furniture was the golden candlestick (vers. 31-40).
And this presents the curious phenomenon that it is extremely clear in
its typical import, and in its material outline; but the details of the
description are most obscure, and impossible to be gathered from the
Authorised Version. Strictly speaking, it was not a lamp, but only a
gorgeous lamp