Continuing: we ended yesterday with a brief mention of the show-bread (shewbread), and it being used by the LORD to tell of breaking the fast. In using this one word (written as two words), and our exploring it, is found a much deeper understanding of our purpose. (Warning: Deep waters ahead!)
In yesterday’s post was included, with the Matthew 12:4 mention of the “show-bread,” this bracketed statement of definition, “the presence of the LORD who supplies all our needs (even in the fires).”
The first time the shewbread is spoken of is in Exodus 25:30 in the instructions the LORD gave to Moses for building the tabernacle. It tells of the all the utensils that prepare the table for the shewbread to be placed, and there is where we are told the shewbread is before the LORD always. “30 And you shall set upon the table shewbread before Me always.” (Psalms 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.)
This table is in the chamber before the Holy of Holies. This first outer chamber was where all the priests did their service, and the Holy of Holies was where only the high priest was allowed, to meet with the LORD.
The Hebrew words translated “shewbread before Me always” are lechem paneh paneh tamiyd. The literal translation of the words are, bread face face perpetuity. Lechem is the same word making up the name Bethlehem, meaning house of bread. It is the same word used to tell us that man shall not live by “bread” alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The word paneh literally means to turn and is used for the face as the part of the body that turns independent of the body. Tamiyd is telling of something that stretches (unbroken forever).
The phrase it telling of the word of God as what nourishes our mind, and what prepares us by tuning us to face the LORD with a mind inclined toward Him. This being true and lasting into perpetuity is what the LORD meant when he said, (Matthew 24:35) “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
The idea being explained is of our being turned to the LORD as our minds are awakened by His word at breaking the fast (breakfast).
John 14
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas says unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not my, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe.
This is what we are being warned of and enlightened to in Deuteronomy 8 where in verse 3 we are told of our life being found in the word of the LORD, and prosperity found in a mind (overwritten) inclined toward His commandments.
Deuteronomy 8
1 All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers.
2 And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.
4 Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.
5 You shall also consider in your heart, that, as a man chastens [corrects] his son, so the LORD your God chastens [corrects] you.
6 Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the LORD your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
9 A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig brass.
10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which he has given you.
11 Beware that you forget not the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you this day:
12 Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;
14 Then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
15 Who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint;
16 Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers knew not [what it was – bread from the mouth of God – angel’s food], that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end;
17 And you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
18 But you shall remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto your fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if you do at all forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
20 As the nations which the LORD destroyed before your face, so shall you perish; because you would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.
Hebrews 8 & 9 are very specific in telling us it is the word from the mouth of God that we are meant to hear and thereby incline our purpose toward His will. We know that Hebrews 12 tells us of God as our perfect Father corrects us (overwriting our minds) into the way of life, as does Deuteronomy 8:5. Hebrews 8 quotes from Exodus 24:8 in telling of the sprinkling of the blood of the Covenant concerning these words. The “words” it concerns are what is quoted in Exodus 24:7 (“All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient.”), after in verse 6 we are told of half the blood being sprinkled on the alter and of Moses reading from the book of the Covenant and sprinkles blood on the People.
The deeper meaning is what we are told of in Hebrews 12 of our arriving in the presence of the LORD.
Hebrew 12
22 But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
This is referring to (Exodus 24) when after the people and the leaders heard the word, and the sprinkling of the blood, said, “All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient.” What follows in Exodus 24 tells of those being enjoined in Covenant in this way then seeing God and seeing/perceiving where they were standing. In Hebrews 12 this same perceiving is being explained when we are warned to not refuse the One speaking from heaven, where those being corrected then perceive they have entering (the Holy of Holies defined in Hebrews 12 as Heavenly Jerusalem).
Exodus 24
4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.
6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, “All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient.”
8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words.”
9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:
10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.
11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Hebrews 8:5 quoted from Exodus 25:40 in telling of being sure to make all things according to the pattern shown in the mount. This is where Moses went after the events described above in Exodus 24. It is the pattern of our meeting with the LORD in cloud at His coming, and our hearing His voice as we are told in Hebrews 12.
Exodus 24
12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give you tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that you may teach them.
13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.
14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry you here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.
15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.
16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
Hebrews 8:8 thru 12 then go on to describe the teaching and the correction. It is summed up in verse 11: “And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.”
As you may know, these verses are quoted from Jeremiah 31:31 thru 34. Before going further a quick look at the word “shewbread” in Hebrews 9:2. Here it is also translated from two words, prothesis and artos. The phrase is only used here, and three times in the Gospels as the LORD tells of David doing what wasn’t lawful for anyone but the priest to do. The offense was giving the loaves (artos) to the hungry masses, as the LORD did by dividing the few loaves to feed all. (Of course we are not talking about loaves, but teaching (expanding/dividing) the word of God.)
The greater point is found in the word prothesis, which is used eight times other than the four already mentioned. Each of the other times it is translated “purpose” and is telling of the LORD’s purpose shown (shew) in His word, and this understanding by Divine inspiration/teaching.
Hebrews 8
1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the LORD pitched, and not man.
3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, says he, that you make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount.
6 But now has he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the LORD.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 9
1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5 And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God [sanctifying the mind]?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined unto you.
21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the age has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for [expecting] him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
