Numbers 4:7-9

7, 9. The table of show-bread This is minutely described in Exodus 25:23-30. The literal Hebrew here is show table, or, more exactly, table of faces or face, referring to the presence of Jehovah, not of the people, for they were not permitted to see it. It sets forth in a sensible manner the great truth that the unseen Jesus is the bread of life for the believing soul. It, with all its furniture, and the continual bread, was to be prepared for removal. The bread was called “continual” or perpetual, because loaves were always to be on the table, the new always taking the place of the old. The table was to be spread with a cloth of blue, or purple blue, and then, after all the furniture and show-bread were put upon it, was to be covered with a scarlet cloth. Could we authoritatively interpret the significance of this colour, as some assume to do, we should not hesitate to enlighten the reader. In this case the coloured cloth is not for ornament, since it is covered with the tachash skin. The same may be said of the golden candlestick, and all the utensils appertaining to it. This was the symbol of that illumination which is afforded by the Holy Spirit, dispelling doubts, and giving to the believer a sense of the reality of spiritual truth. Hence the Holy Ghost is called by Jesus the Spirit of Truth, or the Spirit of Reality, because he makes real to our spiritual intuition the truth which is dark to our reason.

Snuffdishes The same word is elsewhere rendered censer.

Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 16:6. The one was used for trimming the lamps, and the other for carrying live coals for the purpose of burning incense.