Leviticus 24

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:06utc

The Lampstand and the Show Bread Ch. 24:1-9

Strictly speaking this paragraph is not part of the feasts. Yet, there is something festive in the care for the lampstand and the preparation of the showbread. The lampstand had a unique function in the service of God. Light is the loveliest expression we know of God's holy presence. John says: "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."[ 1 ] This is the message the lampstand proclaims. The lampstand is also the perfect image of the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Zechariah sees in a vision a lampstand which is fed organically by two living olive trees, which conveys the message: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."[ 2 ] And in the book of Revelation Jesus reveals Himself to John as Lord of the lampstands.[ 3 ] There, too, the lampstand stands for the testimony of the Holy Spirit. We gather this from the Lord's warning to the church in Ephesus: "If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."[ 4 ] This same conclusion can be drawn from what John writes in Revelation where we read: "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth." [ 5 ]

God does not need human hands to keep His lamps burning. Yet, this is the topic of these verses. The lampstand in the tabernacle, and later in the temple, was an earthly image of a heavenly reality. It is man's task to keep the image pure. What we do on earth has to be the perfect shadow of the original in Heaven. There is a heavenly antitype of all human relationships and responsibilities-- beginning with our birth, our marriage, our procreation, our relationships with our children and with our fellow human beings to our actions and responsibilities. All we do on earth is an expression of a heavenly antitype. It is our responsibility to see to it that our type does not become a caricature but that it is a pure expression of the heavenly reality.

So it is with the lampstand. The Israelite who picked and crushed the olives and who brought the oil to the tabernacle and the priest who filled the lamps and trimmed the wicks, did work on earth that had eternal significance. What he did was meaningful, and it made him a human being who had meaning.

At the same time this work is more than a mere copy of something in Heaven. The lampstand is an image of the witness of the Holy Spirit, not apart from man, but through him. What is done on earth is a strange mixture of type and antitype, of image and reality. We find fulfillment in life if we follow the pattern that God shows us. God said to Moses: "Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."[ 6 ] We see the practical application of this principle in Jesus' life. He gave the Jews this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."[ 7 ]

We know what the lampstand must have looked like, since a copy of it is still visible on Titus' arch in Rome. It is one of the two objects used in the Old Testament worship service of which we have a picture, the second one being the table for the showbread, which is also depicted on Titus' arch.

The second task of the Israelites consisted of the baking of twelve loaves of showbread, or bread of the Presence, as the NIV calls it. Smith's Bible Dictionary observes correctly that the ritual of the showbread is one of the mysteries of the Old Testament. No further explanation as to the use and purpose are given, but we find ample instructions regarding the making of the table which was made especially to display the loaves of bread. [ 8 ]

The showbread or bread of the Presence was baked fresh every Sabbath using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf which is, according to a footnote in the NIV, "probably about 4 quarts (about 4.5 liters)." The loaves from the previous week were eaten by the priests. We are not looking at little cakes, but large loaves of bread, weighing several pounds or kilos each. We read nowhere whether this was to be unleavened bread or whether yeast was to be used. It probably was not. Leavened bread would not have lasted for a week or two. The older loaves would be eaten two weeks after they had been baked.

The incense that had been on the loaves was burned on the altar the moment the loaves were exchanged. Opinions differ among scholars as to the meaning of all this. The Dutch Encyclopedia, which has strong liberal tendencies, sees in this ceremony with the bread a leftover from previous customs in which bread was sacrificed to idols. We will not comment on such "form historical" nonsense. MacIntosh, in his Notes on Exodus, believes that this is a clear picture of Christ in His human nature.

Just as in the preparation of the oil, so here in the baking of the bread, we see the product of human effort which has a spiritual significance. It was, first of all, a promise of the entrance into the promised land. Without wheat harvest there would be no bread. Bread symbolizes man's daily need for food. "Give us today our daily bread,"[ 9 ] pertains to the needs of our physical life. The showbread has, clearly, a more earthly character than the lampstand. Yet the loaves are placed on a table of pure gold and incense is placed on top of them. This gives an aura of glory to these loaves as they are placed before the Lord.

It is stated emphatically that "the bread [is] to be an offering made to the LORD by fire." Only the incense was burned every week but this was, obviously, done as a symbolic gesture for the whole. And so, although the bread was not burned upon the altar, it was considered by the Lord to be an offering made by fire.

We have to see this ritual in the light of Jesus' majestic sermon about the bread of life.[ 10 ] When Jesus calls Himself "the bread of life," He refers to His death on the cross. Here also is the bread part of the offerings made by fire. MacIntosh puts it correctly when he says that this bread represent the nourishment God provides for us in the most inclusive sense of the word. Moses reminded the people "that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."[ 11 ] Jesus quotes these words to Satan during His temptation. This "word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" is Jesus Himself. The showbread on the table of gold is an image of the real bread, it is a picture of reality.

We are reminded of the incident in David's life when he ate five of the loaves of this bread during his flight from Saul.[ 12 ] Jesus uses this story as an argument in His discussion with the Pharisees in Matthew.[ 13 ] It is clear that what David did was unlawful. Otherwise, Jesus' quotation of this Scripture would not have refuted the accusation of the Pharisees. The bread was for the priests alone, and David was not a priest. But David was, as Jesus, one anointed by God, and he was about to lose his life. We could put it negatively and say that the death of David would have been a greater evil than the eating of the showbread. But we can also say, positively, that there are emergency situations in which a higher law kicks in which temporarily overrules other laws. God's intention was that the whole world would be kept alive by His bread of life. Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."[ 14 ] The law which stated that only Aaron and his sons were allowed to eat this bread was a temporary one. When God says that this is a "lasting covenant," He did not refer to the fact that consumption of the bread was limited to Aaron and his descendants, but to the day when the whole of mankind would consist of priests. Some of this eternal feature broke through in David's trespass and in the disciples' eating of the grains of wheat on the Sabbath.

IV. Punishment for Blasphemy An Object Lesson 24:10-23

This section is one of the most difficult parts of the Bible. We tend to revolt morally and emotionally against what we read here, and our aversion is based on what the Bible, as a whole, teaches! This kind of "witch-burning" seems to be contrary to the whole message of the Bible, especially the New Testament. Does not Jesus react against the kind of doctrine that is taught in this lesson in the Sermon on the Mount, when He said: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also?"[ 15 ] If people who cursed would be executed in our day and age, the world population would be decimated.

First of all, we have to realize that this law was made within the framework of a theocracy, not in a democratic republic or a monarchy. There are countries, in our time also, where one risks facing the firing squad when one slanders the government. As a matter of fact, there are not many places where one is free to do so. We should, therefore, be careful, as twentieth century people, not to lose our balance in our criticism of the event reported here. Obviously, this law could not be applied in our present society. We can hardly imagine the impact of this law upon a theocratic society. Our thinking has been conditioned in such a way by the secular world in which we live that we cannot envision ourselves in a society where God would occupy the central place. Even for Christians who believe that God created the universe in an open system, God often stands at the edge of life. But the majority of twentieth century men live in a closed system, independently from God, without God and without hope. A theocracy can function only if God occupies the center of every individual life. If the son of Shelomith had gone unpunished, the theocratic system would have collapsed. So, much more was involved than a person using strong language. That is why the whole nation had to be involved in this execution. The fact that the offender was taken outside the camp symbolically cut him off from his people. Those who had heard him pronounce the curse had to place their hands on the head of the accused, and du curse he had uttered came back upon his own head. Then he was stoned to death by all the people. God did not take his life, the people did.

We have to understand that the curse was not considered to be the utterance of words that would, eventually, lose their meaning, as is the case in our time. The curse this young man pronounced was taken literally as the statement of a principle. Cursing and blaspheming means, literally, that the speaker wants good to be conquered by evil: that God would be dethroned by Satan.

In our contemporary society, we tend to emphasize the rights of the offender. While this can be good, this Scripture portion stresses the rights of society. The keyword is found in vs. 22, "You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born." Both the alien and the native had the same right to be protected against evil, violence, and those influences that can unhinge society.

Cursing the Name of the Lord was viewed as an attack upon the basis of ethics. If God does no longer occupy the central place in society and if He is no longer honored and served then the foundation for man to act ethically is gone. That is why cursing is mentioned in the same breath with murder, theft, and violence. Man's right relationship with God protects him and society against evil. Everyone who does not allow God to occupy the central place in his life opens the door to all kinds of immorality. On the other hand, we can say that a society in which injustice is prevalent is a society that has cursed God, and the death sentence has already been pronounced upon it. In the course of history, Israel has not managed to protect itself against corruption, but that does not detract from the fact that the verdict and the execution of the sentence which are described in this section are basically correct.

[ 1 ] I John 1:5

[ 2 ] Zech. 4:6

[ 3 ] Rev. 1:12,13

[ 4 ] Rev. 2:5

[ 5 ] Rev. 11:4

[ 6 ] Ex. 25:9. See also Ex. 25:40; 26:30; 27:8; Heb. 8:5

[ 7 ] John 5:19

[ 8 ] See Ex. 25:23-30; 37:10-16

[ 9 ] Matt. 6:11

[ 10 ] John 6:22-59

[ 11 ] Deut. 8:3

[ 12 ] I Sam. 21:1-6

[ 13 ] Matt. 12:3,4

[ 14 ] John 6:51

[ 15 ] Matt. 5:38,39