Exodus 25:23-30 You shall also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof… I. The first lesson we learn here is taught us by THE NATURE OF THE BREAD UPON THE TABLE. This we know, on the very best authority, was a symbol of Christ. Jesus taught us this distinctly and clearly when He said, "I am the Bread of Life." That bread upon the table points to Jesus. How apt a type, or emblem of Him, it was! The bread was a prepared substance. A compound substance. A necessary substance. As suitable as necessary. II. Our second lesson is furnished by observing THE WAY IN WHICH THIS BREAD WAS MANIFESTED. Two things were required to this end, viz., the light which shone from the golden candlestick, and the table to lift up, or elevate the bread so that it could be distinctly seen. If the candlestick were not lighted, and casting forth its illuminating beams, the bread might be upon the table, but darkness would envelope it. The officiating priest could never see it. And so it is only the light of revelation, the illuminating influence of the Holy Ghost, which can make manifest Christ, the true bread from heaven, to the souls of famishing sinners. III. The third lesson it teaches us is suggested by THE ABUNDANCE OF THE SUPPLY placed upon it. The table bore twelve loaves. There was one for each of the tribes. No part of God's family was overlooked, or neglected, in the symbolical provision thus made for their necessities. And what was true, in this respect, of the symbol, is equally true of the thing symbolized. Jesus, whom the bread upon the golden table represented, is an infinite Saviour. The resources of His sufficiency are exhaustless. IV. We are taught a lesson by the TIME FOR THE RENEWING of the bread upon it. By an ordinance of God this was always to be done upon the Sabbath. Thus God would put honour upon the Sabbath, and associate it, in the minds of His people, with the thought of obtaining the supply of their spiritual necessities. V. We learn a lesson from the continual FRESHNESS of the bread set out upon it. Christ never grows old. His people are often weary of other things; they grow weary of themselves — weary of their sins and sorrows, and weary of the world and its vanities — but they never, never grow weary of Jesus. Having once eaten of the bread which He gives, which He constitutes, it is literally true that they "never hunger" for the husks the world can offer. VI. We gather our sixth and last lesson from THE COVERING OF FRANKINCENSE WHICH WE SEE SPREAD OUT OVER THE TOP OF THE BREAD. When we remember that these loaves were a figure of Christ, and that frankincense is a token of that which is pleasing, or grateful, we seem to have exhibited, in beautiful symbol before us, the acceptableness of Christ and His work to the Father. (R. Newton, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. |
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