Exodus 25:23, commentary and pictures

The direction was given to Moses on the mountain after the giving of the law, as one of the specifications from Christ and from God for building the tabernacle and for the service of Israel. The verse itself lays down the material of shittim wood and the measures of length, breadth and height, with no further explanation added to those details. It describes the table of showbread in the first apartment, the holy place, as one of the furnishings of the sacred apartments, standing on the north side.

It was overlaid with pure gold and finished with an ornamental crown. Each Sabbath twelve cakes were set upon it in two piles and sprinkled with frankincense, and the bread taken from it was holy and was eaten by the priests. The same table stands in the first apartment, the holy place, of the heavenly sanctuary. There it holds the shewbread and stands with the candlestick with seven lamps, the altar of incense, and the censer.

In the windowless rooms all the furniture of that apartment looks like purest gold, glittering like burnished gold and reflecting the image of the one who enters, lit by the continually burning golden candlestick as part of a scene of magnificence and glory. Paul repeated this specification together with chapters from Exodus 24, Exodus 26, and Exodus 27, chapter after chapter, to his fellow workers while laboring skillfully with his hands in tentmaking, for his own and their benefit. It teaches that supreme honor is to be given to God, that the skill, genius, and wisdom brought into building the tabernacle were given by God to be used for His glory, and it stands as an example of being diligent in business, fervent in spirit, and serving the Lord.