Leviticus 24:1 - Meaning and Application

Care was taken here, and orders were given, to furnish the lampstand and table in God’s house in a proper way.

The lamps were to keep burning all the time. The law for this had already been given (Exodus 27:20, 21), and it is repeated here, probably because it was now being put into practice after other matters had been settled. The people were to supply the oil, and it had to be the best kind, pure olive oil, likely well strained or beaten clean (Leviticus 24:2). This oil was to make the lamp burn. In the Hebrew text, the word is singular in Leviticus 24:2, “to cause the lamp to burn,” but plural in Leviticus 24:4, “he shall arrange the lamps.” The seven lamps made one lampstand, and in that way the Holy Spirit is pictured as seven lamps of fire before the throne (Revelation 4:5), for there are different gifts, but one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4).

Ministers are like burning and shining lights in Christ’s church, but it is the duty of the people to support them well, just as Israel supplied oil for the lamps. Poor support brings dishonor on the ministry. The priests were also to care for the lamps. They had to trim them, clean the lampstand, and refill them with oil morning and evening (Leviticus 24:3, 4). In the same way, ministers of the gospel are to hold out the word of life, not to invent new light, but to make the light of God’s word clearer and reach farther by explaining and preaching it.

This was the regular way the lamps stayed lit. But when the church was poor and under pressure, we find its lamps kept burning by oil that came straight from the olive trees, without the help of priest or people (Zechariah 4:2, 3). God has tied us to means, but he has not tied himself to them. He can make sure his lamp never goes out in the world for lack of oil.

The table was also to be kept always spread. This had been set down before (Exodus 25:30). Here too, the table was supplied with bread, not rich foods or many kinds of delicacies meant to satisfy a selfish appetite, but twelve loaves or cakes (Leviticus 24:5, 6). Where there is bread enough, there is no famine. Where there is no bread, there is no real feast. There was one loaf for each tribe, showing that in our Father’s house there is enough for all. All were provided for by God’s goodness, and all were welcome to his grace. Even after the ten tribes turned away, this number of loaves continued (2 Chronicles 13:11), for the sake of the few from each tribe who still loved the temple and kept coming to it.

A handful of frankincense was also put in a golden dish, alongside each row or on top of it (Leviticus 24:7). When the bread was removed and given to the priests, this frankincense was burned on the golden altar, likely in addition to the daily incense. It served as a memorial in place of the bread, an offering made by fire, just as the handful from the grain offering that was burned on the altar is called its memorial (Leviticus 2:2). In this way, a little was accepted as a humble gift, and all the loaves were assigned to the priests. All God’s spiritual Israel, pictured by the twelve loaves, are made through Christ to be a sweet smell to him, and their prayers are said to come up before God as a memorial (Acts 10:4). That word comes from the ceremonial law.

The bread was renewed every sabbath. After the loaves had stood for a week, the priests ate them along with other holy things that were to be eaten in the holy place (Leviticus 24:9). New loaves were then provided at public expense and put in their place (Leviticus 24:8). The Jews say that the hands of the priests who took the old loaves off were mixed with the hands of those who put the new ones on, so the table would never be empty, and the bread would always be before the Lord. God is never unprepared to receive and feed those who come to him, as people often are (Luke 11:5).

Each cake contained two tenths of an ephah, that is, two omers of fine flour, the same amount of manna each Israelite gathered on the sixth day for the sabbath (Exodus 16:22). Some take this to mean that the showbread, set on the table each sabbath, was meant to remember the manna with which they had been fed in the wilderness. Christ’s ministers should also bring fresh bread to his house every sabbath day, meaning fresh teaching from their new study of Scripture, so that their progress may be plain to all (1 Timothy 4:1, 5).