The Showbread (Leviticus 24:5-9).
The showbread consisted of twelve large cakes placed on the table in the Holy Place. It was the responsibility of the sons of Kohath (1 Chronicles 9:32). The number twelve suggests that the cakes represented in one way or another the twelve tribes of Israel. But the fact that they are eaten by the priests is against literal identification with the twelve tribes (although the argument could be used that once the new replaced the old the symbolism ceased for the old so that they could be disposed of conveniently).
To interpret their significance we need to look at the situation carefully. They were twelve, they were placed on the golden table, they were before Yahweh for seven days, part was then offered as a sacrifice made by fire (and thus had not ceased to be symbolic), and the remainder was eaten by the priests.
Twelve connects them with the twelve tribes, their being brought in and placed on the golden table suggests that they were a kind of grain offering, that they were before Yahweh for seven days (a divine period) suggests that they were being drawn to His attention, that part was offered as an offering made by fire confirms that they are an offering, and that part is eaten by the priests as most holy confirms His acceptance of that offering. It would appear then that we are to see in these twelve loaves a symbol of the whole of God's physical provision for His people, and of the people's gratitude for it, a perpetual grain offering before Yahweh. As ever the eating is not even hinted at as being intended to be by God, it is by the priests.
But we need not doubt that they would also be a reminder of the Manna. That was the bread on which God had fed His people continually. Pieces of it lay within the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh (Exodus 16:33). Here in the ante-room, as with the light, was its visible reminder.
“And you shall take milled grain, and bake twelve cakes with it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Yahweh.”
Like the lampstand the table is also ‘pure' (compare 2 Chronicles 13:11). It receives on God's behalf this continual offering of the twelve baked cakes which symbolise God's provision for His people in the grain, the people's activity in the milling and the baking, and their worship in the frankincense. They are a continual grain offering, and are a continual reminder to Him of His people.
“And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh.”
On the bread is placed the frankincense. This is primarily intended to be a pleasing odour to Yahweh, an act of worship and homage (compare Psalms 141:2; Malachi 1:11; Jeremiah 6:20; Jeremiah 18:15), but it may also represent the outside world from which it comes (this is not the product of His people, but of Arabia - Jeremiah 6:20) who are also to be seen as under His overlordship. See notes on Leviticus 2:1-2. It is a memorial to be offered by fire to Yahweh while the bread will be eaten by the priests.
“Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually; it is on the behalf of the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant.”
Again the continuity of time is emphasised. It is to be set before Yahweh every Sabbath day, it is set on behalf of the children of Israel, and it is for an everlasting covenant. It represents the oneness of Yahweh with His people in their lives in continuity and emphasises their covenant responsibility. The aim is a continual act of worship and that it will result in His provision of their needs as promised in the covenant, for ever.
“And it shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire by a perpetual statute.”
And in the end, like all grain offerings, once the memorial has been offered by fire to Yahweh, the remainder is for the priests as a most holy thing. It is indeed the most holy of the offerings made by fire to Yahweh. And this too is for a perpetual statute like the non-eating of fat and blood (Leviticus 3:17); the priesthood (Exodus 29:9); and the sprinkling of the water of purification for those who have been in contact with a dead human being (Numbers 19:21).
So the stress with regard to the lampstand and the showbread is on their continual nature day by day and Sabbath by Sabbath before Yahweh, representing Yahweh's presence with His people as their covenant God and His continual dealings with them over time as His covenant people, and His continual provision for them, into the far distant future. But both depend on His people's response.
But we who are more privileged enjoy a greater blessing. We walk in His light (1 John 1:7) because we have the light of life (John 8:12) and have His light continually in our hearts. We are the children of light (John 12:36). And we partake continually of Him as the Bread of Life (John 6:35).