Unexpectedly we find information here about the “shewbread” (using the name for it popularized in the Book of Exodus) that is not supplied anywhere else in Scripture! (Called “shewbread/showbread” because it was to be placed “before the FACE of Almighty God” within the Tabernacle’s Holy Place! So He could SEE it and be delighted in it! This Bread undoubtedly represents Jesus as the BREAD OF LIFE! That’s why God so pleased with it, so intent in gazing upon it!)
Yet … Numbers 24:5-9 (today’s Text) does NOT use the term “shewbread” at all! Here we simply have “twelve cakes!”
“5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake TWELVE CAKES thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 8 Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.”
Let’s study …
Twelve cakes … representative of the Twelve Tribes of Israel … enough Food to meet everyone’s needs! Enough Jesus! (Same idea as the twelve stones on the High Priest’s Breastplate … enough Love (worn on the Priest’s chest, over his heart) to go around to everyone!
“Two tenth deals” … in verse 5 above … equals about two gallons of flour, fine flour! Pretty big loaves! Implying that Jesus is more than enough for all our needs!
Amen!
“Set in rows,” two rows in fact … a picture of Jesus being organized (no chaos) and aesthetically (spiritually too) pleasing to His Father’s Eyes! (“Altogether Lovely,” so says Song of Solomon!)
And the “frankincense” … typified the sweet Aroma Jesus brought to His Father’s Nostrils! A “sweet savour” Offering if you will recall Leviticus chapters 1 through 3, those Offerings. When frankincense is burned (gets hot as in an oven) it emits the sweetest smell imaginable!
This Bread was also to be “always fresh” being changed every week, every Sabbath! (Verse 8 above.) And need I even say it? Jesus too is always Fresh, never Stale!
Then, last of all, Aaron and his sons (the priests) could EAT that bread every week! (Verse 9 above.) Feeding upon Jesus our Lord! As is depicted in Psalm 34:3 … “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
What a paragraph today, instructing the Priests of ancient Israel how to respect the Bread of God!
By the way, if you are saved … you too in God’s Eyes are a priest! Enjoy Jesus then … all day long!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Yes, Revelation 1:6 says God … “hath made us kings and PRIESTS unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
Wow!
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