laying out' (set in order), which latter most nearly corresponds to the term used in the

New Testament (Matt 12:4; Luke 6:4; Heb 9:2). The placing and weekly renewal of the

'Bread of the Presence' was evidently among the principal Temple services (2 Chron

13:10,11). The 'table of shewbread' stood along the northern, or most sacred side of the

Holy Place, being ranged lengthways of the Temple, as all its furniture was, except the

Ark of the Covenant, which stood broadways.

As described by the Rabbis, and represented on the triumphal Arch of Titus at Rome,

the table of shewbread was two cubits long (two cubits = three feet), one cubit broad,

and one and a half high. 105

It was made of pure gold, the feet being turned out and shaped to represent those of

animals, and the legs connected, about the middle, by a golden plate, which was

surrounded by a 'crown,' or wreath, while another wreath ran round the top of the table.

Thus far its form was the same as that made at the first for the tabernacle (Exo 25:23,

etc.), which was of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold. The 'table' originally provided for

the second Temple had been taken away by Antiochus Epiphanes (about 170 BC); but

another was supplied by the Maccabees. Josephus tells a story (Anti. xii. 2, 8) about the

gift of yet another and most splendid one by Ptolemy Philadelphus. But as its

description does not tally with the delineations on the Arch of Titus, we infer that at the

time of Christ the 'table' of the Maccabees stood in the Holy Place.

Considerable doubt exists as to the precise meaning of the terms used in Scripture to

describe the golden vessels connected with the 'table of shewbread' (Exo 25:29). The

'dishes' are generally regarded as those on which the 'shewbread' was either carried or

placed, the 'spoons' as destined for the incense, and the 'covers,' or rather 'flagons,' and

the 'bowls' for the wine of the drink-offering. On the Arch of Titus there are also two

urns. But all this does not prove, in the silence of Scripture, and against the unanimous

testimony of tradition, that either flagons, or bowls, or urns were placed on the table of

shewbread, nor that drink-offerings were ever brought into the 'Holy Place.' On the other

hand, the Rabbis regard the Hebrew terms, rendered 'covers' and 'bowls,' as referring to

hollow golden tubes which were placed between the shewbread so as to allow the air to

circulate between them; three of these tubes being always put under each, except the

highest, under which there were only two, while the lowest rested on the table itself, or,

rather, on a golden dish upon it. Thus they calculate that there were, in all, twenty-eight

of these tubes to support the twelve loaves. The 'tubes' were drawn out each Friday,

and again inserted between the new shewbread each Sunday, since the task of removing

and reinserting them was not among those labours which made 'void the Sabbath.'

Golden dishes, in which the shewbread was carried, and golden lateral plates, further to

protect it on the stand, are also mentioned by the Rabbis.

The 'shewbread' was made of the finest wheaten flour, that had been passed through

eleven sieves. There were twelve of these cakes, according to the number of the tribes

of Israel, ranged in two piles, each of six cakes. Each cake was made of two omers of

wheat (the omer = about five pints). Between the two rows, not upon them (as according

to the Rabbis) (Menach. xi. 5), two bowls with pure incense were placed, and, according

to Egyptian tradition (LXX Lev 24:7; Philo ii. 151), also salt. The cakes were anointed in