The Passover was a reminder of redemption, the unleavened bread of the bondage

endured and the exodus effected, together with the need to "purge out the old leaven of

wickedness". The name "Jehovah Elohim of your fathers" was a sufficient reminder for

God to "remember His covenant" (Lev. 26: 42, 45). The frankincense upon the twelve

loaves was a reminder. A reminder of what? Before we can answer that question we

must answer another: "What did the twelve loaves typify?"

It is good to see in books dealing with the tabernacle and its typical teaching that

every opportunity is seized to bring forward the fullness of Christ, but there may be even

in this, zeal without knowledge. We refer to the interpretation that speaks of the

twelve loaves as typical of Christ as "the bread of life". In John 6: the Lord says,

"Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead . . . . . I am the living bread"

(John 6: 49, 51). It will be seen that lying upon the ground outside the tabernacle

morning by morning was to be found the type of Christ as the bread of life. That

therefore can scarcely be the meaning of these twelve loaves also. This "bread of

presence" before the Lord "always" (Exod. 25: 30), the "continual bread" (Numb. 4: 7),

like the names engraved upon the stones of the ephod and the stones of the breastplate,

represented the twelve tribes of Israel.

The table of shewbread is mentioned in II Chron. 4: 19 under Solomon, and again in

II Chron. 13: 11 it is mentioned in king Abijah's appeal to the ten tribes when he

pleaded for the true unity of Israel, also in Hezekiah's reign (II Chron. 29: 18). When

the captivity returned under Nehemiah, even though called by their enemies "these feeble

Jews" (Neh. 4: 2), and even though the restored temple was in the eyes of those who

knew the Lord's house in its first glory "as nothing" (Hag. 2: 3), there is not the remotest

suggestion either by Abijah, Hezekiah, or Nehemiah that any number of loaves than

twelve should be used, or that the frankincense should be omitted. The twelve loaves set

forth Israel as viewed in Christ, not as viewed in themselves. "He hath not beheld

iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel" (Numb. 23: 21). This

was no "legal fiction", but based upon the offering of their Messiah:--

Whatever the personal state of Israel may have been whether united as one nation or

divided into two, whether humbly seeking God or wickedly departing from His

commandment, one thing remained "always" and "continual". That was the "everlasting

covenant" or the "covenant of the ages". This it will be remembered is connected with

the command concerning the shewbread in Lev. 24: 5-9. Just as the memorial in the

offering for jealousy was to bring "iniquity to remembrance" (Numb. 5: 15), so the

memorial upon the shewbread was to bring the sweet savour of Christ to remembrance.