Show Me the Bread

Reading:   Exodus 25

This chapter was filled with instruction about building a tabernacle, the ark of testimony, a table, and a candlestick.  There were a whole lot of cubits (about 18") peppering the text and a lot of other terms that I wasn't too familiar with.  One in particular was, "shewbread."  I have an idea as to the meaning but decided to put the proverbial microscope on the word.

EXODUS 25:30

30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. 

My brain hurts!  Invariably, whenever I start to search for answers, I find articles that simply blow my mind.  Here again, in researching shewbread, I have discovered some intense narratives.  The lengths that people go in order to understand the relevancies of things...hmmm.  Anyway, one site (Hope of Israel Ministries, edited by John D. Keyser) calls the bread "enigmatic" and even goes as far as to state, "The mystery of the showbread has never been adequately explained, or revealed." Of course they spout their theory as to the bread but, added to some of the other hypothesis I read, the singular purpose and definition is somewhat muddled.  

There is also an article by Barry Carter, Cone Shaped "Shewbread" that really dirties the water by documenting the evidences from Egyptian writings and hyroglyphs showing that shewbread was in fact not an edible substance at all but most likely a type of gold.  The article was interesting and I do think there may very well be some truth to it but I'm not convinced.

Frankly, I'm overwhelmed by the sources and knowledge out there and simply don't care to debate or spend any excess time trying to understand it all.  My existence, my salvation, my eternal soul, is not hanging in the balance because I can't come to the bottom of "shewbread." It's fun to look things up and read from various opinionites but, ultimately, to dig into mysteries is to avoid realities and  ignore the importance of living.

As for the definition of "shewbread;" this is what I'm going with (thank you Bible Dictionary):

 (lit. "bread of the face" or "presence bread"). The name given to 12 unleavened cakes placed in two piles on the Table of Shewbread, which was made of acacia wood and stood on the north side of the altar of incense in the holy place (Ex. 25: 23-30). Frankincense as put upon each row (Lev. 24: 7). The shewbread was changed every Sabbath day and the old loaves were eaten by the priests in a holy place (Lev. 24: 9). In the shewbread the 12 tribes were perpetually presented before God; yet it was wholly consumed by man; thus it provided both a sacrifice and a communion. On one occasion the shewbread was given to David to eat (1 Sam. 21: 6); the Lord drew from this incident the lesson that the law of charity overrides every ritual law (Matt. 12: 4; Mark 2: 26; Luke 6: 4). 

There you have it...

~Kipling