Bible Study Evangelista - ”How”: Presence Bread

Notes and References

Exodus 25:23-30, Table of “presence bread,” also translated “bread of the Face”; “bread of propitiation”; “loaves of setting forth”; or “showbread.” Directly across from the golden lampstand in the tabernacle sanctuary, outside the holy of holies, it was a crowned, gold table, set to the right.

Leviticus 24:5-9, 12 loaves of Presence Bread on the table for 12 tribes, a communal offering rather than a sacrificial one. Because the bread belonged to God, it was to be eaten by the priests every Sabbath “in the sacred place,” the sanctuary, as they replaced the previous week’s bread with fresh each week. Along with the bread, there were also offerings of incense, wine and oil.

Other “types” of Old Testament bread

Genesis 14:18, The first priest in the scriptures, Melchizedek, offers bread and wine
Exodus 12, unleavened Passover bread
Exodus 16:14-31, manna, “bread from heaven”; angels’ food “suited to each man’s taste” (Wis 16:20-21).

The Eucharist – the anti-type of all Old Testament breads

Matthew 4:4, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.” As a spiritual being, man cannot live only in the physical realm.

John 6, Jesus teaches on the Eucharist before He institutes it for the first time, “I am the bread of life.”

John 6:63, “the spirit gives life, flesh profits nothing.” Jesus means our flesh, not His flesh, which gives eternal life (John 6:54). The “spirituality” of the teaching does not make it merely symbolic. To be spiritual does not necessitate a “symbolic” meaning. In fact, in this case the exact opposite is true, according to Jesus in this chapter.

Episode Resources

Fulfilled, Uncovering the Biblical Foundations of Catholicism, Part Two, Chapter 9, The Bread of Life

Ignite, Chapters 6 & 7, The How of the Bible

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