Bread of the Presence

 When I first started reading the Old Testament, one of the curious things I came across was the reference to the "showbread" in Exodus 25.  Even before Moses was given instructions for the Tent of Meeting , or Tabernacle, he was instructed about three things which were to be placed inside it:  

The Ark of the Covenant, a golden box held up by carved angels on either side;
A menorah, for permanent light within the tabernacle; and
A golden table for wine/libations and "showbread."

Showbread?  What was the bread showing?  and to whom?  Why was it called "showbread"? 

Fortunately, modern translations of the Bible have transcribed the actual Hebrew expression lehem ha panim as "Bread of the Presence."  Some scholars argue that the expression should be translated as literally as possible, because the Hebrew word panim is actually the word for face.  Therefore, the most literal translation of the Hebrew is the Bread of the Face.  In this view, The Bread of the Presence is somehow a visible sign of the face of God.

In the desert Tent of Meeting and later in Solomon's temple, the Bread of the Presence was to be on display at all times, even though only the priests were actually allowed in the inner chamber of the Temple.  However, three times a year, all the Jewish men living in Israel were commanded to "appear before God" in the Temple -- but, again, the literal Hebrew reads, Three times a year shall all your males see the face of the Lord, the Lord God of Israel" (Exodus 34:23 and 23:17).  In this commandment, the Hebrew word used is panim, the same word used for the Bread of the Presence, or the Bread of the Face.

During those three feastdays, in order to fulfill the commandment, the priests used to remove the Golden Table of the Bread of the Presence from within the Holy Place so that the Jewish pilgrims could see it.  They would lift the Golden Table up and exhibit the Bread of the Presence on it to those who came up to the festival, saying to them, Behold, God's love for you! (Babylonian Talmud, Menahoth 29A).

God is nothing if not patient; we are talking about 3500 years of lessons here.  C. S. Lewis says that symbols teach us what the mind is not yet ready to absorb.  The Jewish people knew God's Presence in their midst from the very beginning of their liberation from slavery.  The forty years they spent in the desert liberated them from pagan symbols and sacrifices and prepared them to know and obey the God Who Cared for them as a Shepherd.  

Every Catholic church today still holds the Tabernacle, the Menorah / sanctuary lamp, and the Bread of the Presence, or the Face, of God.  Our "Tent of Meeting" tells us that there is a Living Presence in our midst:  Behold, God's love for you!