SHEW-BREAD

SHEW'-BREAD was unleavened bread prepared anew every Sabbath, and presented hot on the golden table set in the sanctuary, in twelve loaves of a square or oblong shape, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. Ex 25:30. Salt and frankincense were put on each row. The loaves were placed either in two piles or in two rows, with six loaves in each, and it was called "shewbread," or "bread of the face," or the "bread of setting before," because it stood continually before the Lord; later "bread of ordering." 1 Chr 9:32; marg.; Neh 10:33. Table of Shew-bread. The incense having been burnt, the old loaves were removed every Sabbath, Lev 24:8. and, as a general rule, were to be eaten by the priests alone, and by them only in the court of the sanctuary. 1 Sam 21:1-6; Matt 12:3, etc.