6/23/2023 0 Comments Bread of presence![]() Typically, by this time, this bread was only eaten by the priests. Escaping from the threats of King Saul, David and his soldiers are given the holy bread of the Tent of Meeting to eat. The showbread makes an earlier appearance in the life of David and his troops. When you and I are at Eucharistic Adoration, we are looking at the True “Bread” of the Presence, the Face of God. The old bread that was replaced would be consumed by the priests. The priests would bake bread with incense mixed into it, and then pass it through the Holy of Holies before leaving it on a table in the sanctuary next to the tabernacle for the next week. That priestly sacrificial offering of bread and wine was repeated in the Temple liturgy on a weekly basis. Melchizedek feeds God’s pilgrim people in the persons of Abraham and his companions with a sacrificial offering of bread and wine. Melchizedek is that mysterious priest, king of Salem (“salem” means peace-you and I know this priest-king’s town as Jerusalem). The showbread of the Temple has a very interesting history in itself that may date back to Melchizedek (see Brant Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist, 127). The priests are lifting up the holy bread (known also as “showbread”) on a golden table for everyone to see, saying, “Behold God’s love for you.” As you approach the outside of the temple, you notice a commotion. Imagine that you are on pilgrimage to Jerusalem during one of the high feast days during the first century.
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