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The Shewbread
Lev 24:5-6 "And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. "You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD.
* Fine Flour (from the earth)
* Baked (agony and suffering)
* Unleavened (nothing artificial)
* Two-tenths (two deals of ten)
* Sprinkled with pure frankincense
Lev 24:7 "And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
Fine Flour
It was baked from a special type of flour known as 'fine flour'. This flour was used in the preparation of food for honored guests. Abraham had Sarah bake cakes when he had three unique visitors come to his tent.
Spices
Spices for the oil and incense (Sweet smelling fragrance to God)
There were three spices to be added to the frankincense and oil:
Ex 30:34 And the LORD said to Moses: "Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, and pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each.
a) Stacte - A powder from the hardened drops of the fragrant resin found in the bark of the Myrrh bush. The word
means "a drop".
b) Onycha - A powder from the horny shell cover of a clam-like mollusk found in the Red Sea. When burnt, this powder emits a penetrating aroma. The Hebrew word means- "aromatic shell". The Red Sea is an isolated warm water pocket of the Indian ocean and is known for its peculiar subspecies of mollusks.
c) Galbanum - A brownish pungent resin that exudes from the lower part of the stem of a Ferula plant. This herb plant is found at the Mediterranean Sea and has thick stalks, yellow flowers, and fern-like green foliage. It has a musky, pungent smell and is valuable because it preserves the scent of a mixed perfume, and allows of its distribution over a long period of time.
In these spices or perfumes we see Jesus as the sweet smelling aroma bringing joy to the Father's heart. When mixed with the olive oil we see the sweet illuminating work of the Spirit of Christ, and when mixed with frank-incense we see the sweetness of prayer as a "sweet smelling aroma in God's nostrils". How fitting that these perfumes would point to Christ.
Jn 8:29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
2Cor 2:15-16 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
Frankincense
The word "frankincense" is "lebonah" in Hebrew and means "to be white". The word Lebanon is derived from the same root, because of its snowy white summits. And also the Hebrew word for "moon" is from the same root, because of its silvery whiteness.
Frankincense was poured on the bread as it lay there, being kept in a golden bowl alongside the table, together with other golden dishes and vessels for use in a drink offering. It was a resin obtained from Boswellia trees, one of the most highly valued incense gums with a beautiful fragrance of balsam. This frankincense constantly gave a pleasant fragrance to the Holy Place.
Pure Frankincense. The word "pure" here (tahor) is a different word than the one used with the gold (zachar). Zachar signifies the "intrinsic purity of nature, as contracted with uncleanness of nature; it is therefore used to designate beasts that are clean". Our word "tahor" indicates "a purity practically developed and manifested". Therefore pure gold speaks of purity of nature, where pure frankincense speaks of purity of ways.
Lev 24:7 "And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the LORD."
Wine
How was wine made in ancient times?
Evidence shows that the Hebrews made wine in a similar way as their sophisticated neighbors. The basic structure of the winepress was a pair of large pits or cisterns cut into the rock, one above the other. Workers crushed the grapes in the upper chamber with their feet. The juice ran through a channel to the lower pit, where it was then left to ferment in the late summer heat.
Fine Linen
Fine Linen (Purity)
The linen was most interesting. Made from Egyptian flax, it was finely woven, brilliantly white, and bore a special name, "byssus". This material was used for garments for royalty and persons of rank and has been found in the tombs of the Pharaohs. Linen in one tomb was found to have 152 threads per inch in the warp and 72 threads per inch in the woof. The fine-twined, white linen speaks of righteousness and typifies Jesus, the Son of Man, spotless, pure, and sinless.
Dishes
Heb. Qe`ara, something "deep," the gold "dishes" of the Tabernacle:
Exod 25:29 "You shall make its dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold.
Colors And Numbers and Types
Four
Many have thought that in the Tabernacle the number four represents the four gospel accounts that teach us what we need to know about Christ to enter by faith:
Matthew- Portrays Jesus as KING (Purple) Jews (Lion)
Mark- Portrays Jesus as SERVANT (Scarlet) Romans (Ox)
Luke- Portrays Jesus as MAN (White) Greeks (Man)
John- Portrays Jesus as GOD (Blue) Christians (Eagle)
(See The Number 4)
Blue
Blue (Heaven)
Woven into or embroidered on the linen were blue, purple, and scarlet threads. The Hebrew word for blue means shellfish. A brilliant dye was excreted from this mollusk. This bright color is always mentioned first. Man needed something something to suggest the idea of heaven as a place from which God reveals Himself more fully than on earth. Therefore the color blue represents heaven, the color of the sky. We see the loveliness of the blue in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ who was not only heavenly in His origin but in His very nature and ways.
Jn 3:31 "He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
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