As you may have begun to notice, the second half of Exodus divides fairly easily into major sections. Chapters 20-23 saw the first giving of the law through the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant. Chapter 24 primarily described the ratification ceremony of the Yahweh’s covenant with Israel, but it also concluded with Moses ascending the mountain, where he would stay in the cloud of God’s presence for forty days and forty nights. Chapters 25-31 are the instructions for building the tabernacle that the LORD gave to Moses during that time on Sinai. After these chapters, 32-34 will form another section, and 35-40 concludes the book by describing the actual construction of the tabernacle.

Last week, our dive into the instructions of the tabernacle began with the contributions that Moses was to collect from the people for building the tent as well as the plans for the ark of the testimony. As the next chapter will make clear, God was beginning with the most holy item in the entire structure, for the ark was the place of God’s presence where Moses would speak with God and where atonement for the Israel’s sins would be made. The next two furnishings that are described in our present chapter are not within the Most Holy Place alongside the ark but where held in the Holy Place.

THE BREAD OF THE PRESENCE // VERSES 23-30

You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

We begin with the table which held the bread of the Presence. We should note that the description of this table is somewhat similar to the description of the ark: “Both were made of acacia wood, both were covered with gold, and both were crowned with molding. Both pieces of furniture had rings and poles for carrying. The difference was that unlike the ark, the carrying poles for the table were removable. Although the table was holy, it was not as holy as the ark” (Exodus, 783).

Yet like the ark, what the table held was somewhat more significant than the table itself. Golden plates and vessels were made for incense and drink offerings. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly. This bread is given no more description here, but it will be further detailed in Leviticus 24:5-9:

You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before  the LORD regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the LORD’s food offerings, a perpetual due.

Of course, perhaps the most well-known mention of the bread of the Presence (or the showbread, as it is often called) comes in 1 Samuel 21. In that chapter, David and his men are on the run from Saul, and they come to the city of Nob, where he asks for bread from Ahimelech the priest. Having nothing on hand except the showbread, “the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away” (v. 6).

Jesus later used this passage to rebuke the Pharisees for their rebuke of His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath. Jesus’ point was that if even the bread of the Presence could have been given to David in his dire need, how much more should the man-made regulations of the Pharisees give way to people’s needs?

But what was the meaning and purpose of this bread? Douglas Stuart argues that it was a “special bread symbolically offered to Yahweh as his food” (Exodus, 574). But I do not think that is the case. Even done symbolically, “feeding bread to God makes him in our image and thus contradicts everything the Bible teaches about his divine character. The true and living God does not need our help,” as Ryken notes (Exodus, 785).

One commentator suggests that “the laying out of these loaves assumed the form of a bloodless sacrifice, in which the congregation brought the fruit of its life and labour before the face of the Lord [which, by the way, is the literal reading of the bread being in God’s presence], and presented itself to its God as a nation diligent in sanctification to good works” (452). That is perhaps true. Baking requires skill and effort, and the loaf for each tribe could represent the dedication of their works to God supremely.

Again, however, I find Ryken’s take that the bread represented God’s provision for Israel to be most likely. Our Lord rightly taught us to pray for our daily bread because for most of the ancient world, bread was the staple food of their diet. For all but the wealthy, meat would have rarely been eaten beyond festivals and feasts, and even fruits and vegetables were limited by harvest seasons. Bread, of all food, was the most consistent. Therefore, it represented basic sustenance.

Even so, for most of history, it was not a daily guarantee. In the 1600s, the Puritan Thomas Watson still defined wealthy persons as those who possessed an abundance and had little fear of what they would eat tomorrow, which means that nearly all of our ancestors would call each one of us unbelievably wealthy.

Thus, since daily bread was an ever-present need, it seems best to take the bread as being a symbol of Israel’s most basic needs that sits always before the face of Yahweh, almost as an enacted prayer. Indeed, like all prayer, our Father knows what we need before we ask, but we ourselves are benefited through the asking. So it was that the LORD did not need to be reminded that Israel required bread to live, but the people certainly needed to be reminded that their need of daily bread was always before God’s face.

We should also note that the table had vessels to hold the drink offerings (likely wine) that sat beside the twelve loaves of bread (one for each tribe) and that Leviticus 24 tied the bread with God’s covenant with Israel. As we noted in the previous chapter, ancient covenants were sealed over a meal where the two parties would eat with one another, which is exactly what Moses and the elders did in the presence of Yahweh. These breads and cups likely conveyed the same message throughout Israel’s time as a nation. Yahweh, the only true and living God, had chosen them to be His people, to be His treasured possession in all the earth, and to have restored fellowship with Him.

THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND // VERSES 31-40

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work: its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out from the lampstand. Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it. Its tongs and their trays shall be of pure gold. It shall be made, with all these utensils, out of a talent of pure gold. And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain.

Also, within the Holy Place stood the golden lampstand, which you may also find called the candelabrum or the menorah. Its most basic function was a practical one. As we shall observe next week, the tabernacle itself had multiple layers for forming the tent itself, meaning that the inside would have been quite dark. The lampstand, therefore, was a practical feature so that the priests could have light within the tabernacle.

Of course, as with every furnishing of the tent, the meaning of the lampstand ran deeper than being a simple lamp. Ryken notes:

The lampstand stood for life because it was made in the shape of a tree. Its central shaft formed the trunk, from which the branches spread that were covered with beautiful buds, blossoms, and fruit. This botanical motif was not merely decorative but also symbolic. As the lampstand branched out, it was budding, blooming, and ripening with fruit. In other words, the three stages in the life cycle of a tree were occurring simultaneously. This made the lampstand a potent symbol of God’s life-giving power. (Exodus, 792)

The almond blossoms were clearly intended to be beautiful to behold, but they may have also represented hope since they were the first to appear in spring. Stuart also suggests that the trunk of the lampstand may have been made to resemble an olive tree, drawing from Psalm 52:8, Zechariah 4:11-12, and Revelation 11:4. If that were true, Stuart notes that the lampstand would signify three things at once: “God’s provision, Israel’s nationhood, and miraculous divine deliverance” (Exodus, 580).

Most significantly seems to be the lampstands overall design as a tree, which as with the cherubim above the mercy seat was meant to remind the Israelites of Eden. Not only was Eden filled with trees for eating; it also held the tree of life. Indeed, it was because of the tree of life that God exiled Adam and Eve from Eden. However, with the tree-shaped lampstand, Yahweh was showing His people of glimpse of Eden again. G. K. Beale calls it “a stylized tree of life, looking back to the tree of life in Eden” (God Dwells Among Us, 42). It is fitting that the lampstand should represent life because throughout Scripture light and life are closely associated with one another, while darkness and death also go hand in hand.

THE BREAD OF LIFE & THE LIGHT OF MEN

In verse 40, we find another command for Moses to make everything after the pattern for them, which is being shown you on the mountain. This should again remind us that the tabernacle was being created to reflect a marvelous heavenly reality. As the author of Hebrews told us, these earthly items, however beautiful and glorious, were only shadows and copies of a heavenly reality, and that reality is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the most important question that we can ask about the tabernacle and its furnishings is how they reveal Christ. Indeed, the table represented provision and communion, and the lampstand signified light and life. Yet they both stood within the Holy Places, where only the priests were permitted to enter, and the bread of the Presence was only eaten by the priests. Again, this was a come-but-stay-away covenant. But in Christ, “we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat” (Hebrews 13:10).

Indeed, for provision, we know that Jesus has taught to cast all of our cares and anxieties upon Him. In His Sermon on the Mount, He assures us that God as our heavenly Father will provide for us just as He provides for the birds of the air and the flowers in the field.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:30–33)

Yet we can confidently trust in God’s daily provision for us as our Father only because of Jesus’ ultimate and final provision for our sins. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” (Isaiah 53:4). Each day we walk down the same path that Adam and Eve laid out for us, rejecting the goodness of God and following our own whims and desires. Yet Yahweh is our shepherd, and He came down to us, becoming one of us, and laid down His life for us His wandering sheep. Since our sin is against the Eternal One, the debt of death it has accumulated is also eternal, yet Christ, who is the Eternal One, has paid that debt with His own undeserved death. Just as bread must be broken by the hand and crushed by the teeth in order to sustain our bodies, so was the body of Christ broken and crushed as the Father laid the penalty of our sins upon Him in our place. This is why, after Jesus fed the 5000 and had large crowds hoping to receive more free food, He said to them:

Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:32–35)

Indeed, it is right that bread should be connected with life, since we must be sustained through food in order to live. However, Jesus is also for us the tree of life, bringing us back to the garden. To Martha, before bringing her brother Lazarus to life, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25-26)? To His disciples at their last supper together, He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And while praying to His Father, Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Indeed, since Colossians 1:16 says that all things were made by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ, it is right that life can only properly be found in Christ, for He is “the Author of life” (Acts 3:15).

Of course, as we noted earlier, life and light are often closely entwined in Scripture. The world begins as utterly dark and void of life, yet its everlasting state will be brimming with life and with darkness forever cast aside. We live between those two points, where the light and darkness are still at war. Even so, we can rest confidently that Jesus has secured His ultimate victory, for we read in John 1:1-5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The burning bush, the storm of glory upon Sinai, and the riches of the tabernacle were all illuminations of God into a world darkened by sin, yet Jesus Christ is God’s most glorious revelation by far. Just as “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5), Jesus is “the true light, which gives light to everyone” (John 1:9). He is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact imprint of His nature, and the image of the invisible God. And even though Christ has ascended to the right hand of the Father, His light still shines out to us as His Spirit reveals Christ through His Word, which as the psalmist says is “a lamp to my feet and light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).

Yet perhaps one of the strangest marvels is that Jesus, the true light, has also said of us: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). We no longer have a tabernacle or temple for worship because, since the Spirit now dwells within God’s people, we are His living tabernacle, the body of Christ upon the earth. It was grace that the tabernacle was in the midst of Israel, but it is grace upon grace that we now are God’s tabernacle! And although only the priests were permitted to enter that holy tent, we now proclaim that all may enter God’s presence through faith in His Son.

Although the exact layout of the Holy Place is not described here, Sam Emadi notes that the lampstand would have been placed opposite the table for the bread, so that the immediate effect upon entering the tabernacle would have been that the light was being cast upon the table, which he sees as a picture of the blessedness of God’s people dwelling in the light of God’s face (remember that the bread of the Presence is literally the bread of the Face). Indeed, God’s shining face upon us is the picture of restored communion with Him that we find in the blessing that Aaron was commanded to place upon the people. And it is the same blessing that Psalm 67 says will one day fill all the world.

Upon that table sat twelves loaves, one for each of Israel’s tribes, to testify that all of Israel has a place at God’s covenantal table of fellowship. However, at the Lord’s Table, Paul notes that there is spiritual significance in their being only one loaf of bread: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). All who are in Christ are united together in Him and have a common fellowship with the Father. Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, all are now invited to return to the garden through the true tree of life and true bread of the Presence, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, let us taste and see the goodness of our God that has come to us through Christ our Lord.