23. Thou shalt also make a table. The sentiment of a certain ancient bishop (134) is deservedly praised, who, when he sold the sacred vessels in the time of a famine, to relieve the distress of the poor, thus excused himself to the Church: “Our God, who does not eat or drink, has no need of patens and chalices;” and yet this seems little in accordance with this His command, that bread should be offered to Him. I answer, that if, under that pretext, the bishop had stripped the sacred table of its ornaments under the Law, he would have spoken unseasonably, what, under the Gospel, he spoke piously and wisely; because at the coming of Christ the shadows of the Law ceased. But God would then have the loaves, which were offered to Him, deposited among the golden dishes and censers, and spoons placed with them, not that He had need of meat and drink, but that He might prescribe the duty of temperance to His people, by deigning to have His table among them; for, when they ate of the same wheat, of which the sacred loaves were made, they were reminded by that symbol that their meat and drink was to be taken, as if they sat before God, and were His guests. Finally, they were taught that the food, by which man’s life is sustained, is in a manner sacred to God; that thus they might be contented with simple and sober food, and might not profane the things which were dedicated to His service. Although, therefore, this offering might appear to be gross and rude, yet it had a just object, i.e., that believers might acknowledge that God presided over their tables, because the loaves were presented in the temple before God in the name of all the people. The same was the intention of the first-fruits, in which the produce of the whole year was consecrated; that even in their feasts they might cherish a recollection of God, who fed them as a father does his children. They are called “the bread of faces” (135) by Moses, because they always appeared before God, in which sense the Greeks called them the bread προθέσεως, because they were always in His presence; for it was not permitted them to remove the precious offering, until others were substituted in their place. I now pass over many points, because what I now omit will soon have to be treated of.
(134) This was Acacius, bishop of Amida, who sold the treasures of the Church for the redemption of 7000 Persian slaves, who were perishing by famine in the hands of some Roman soldiers. Vide Socrates, lib. 7-121, quoted in Bingham, book 5-100; 6-6 ̔Ο Θεός ἡμῶν ὔτε δίσκων ὄυτε ποτηρίων χρὠβει· οὔτε γὰρ ἐσθίει, ὔτε πίνει, ἐπεὶ μὴ προσδεής ἐστιν, seem to be the words referred to by C
(135) A.V., shew-bread. “ In Hebrew called bread of faces or presence; because they were to be set before the face, or in the presence of God continually. The Hebrew doctors give also another reason, because every cake was made square, and so had as it were many faces.” — Ainsworth, in loco.