THE BREAD of HIS FACES ! . . . THE ELOHIM

The Bread of HIS FACES !

And thou shalt set upon the table

shewbread before me alway.

 * None of these highlighted words are in the literal text.

Exodus 25:30

In Exodus 25:30 stands one of the most curious, most fascinating PLURALS in Scripture verses regarding The ELOHIM . Yet, it is only found when translating the Hebrew text literally.

This verse is ill-translated into the English and that un-grammatical translation ( which seems to be agreed-upon by many English translators ) hides a most salient feature of the ESSENCE of The ELOHIM.

Examining closely this verse in the Masoretic Hebrew text, let us look at the first part of that verse:

 “ You shall give ( set ) upon the table . . .”

The opening word in this verse is a verb.

Root = NTN, Qal stem, Affix form, beginning with a Vav Reversive ( following Kittel’s grammar ) which informs us that the past tense rendering of this Affix verb form is reversed into a future, and in this case, a future command . This verb is also : 2^nd person masculine singular, pg. 570 , Davidson’s Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon. Some textbooks call this a “Perfect” tense form because it usually is translated as a completed action. 

This command was given to Moses in The LORD’S very explicit directions for making the furnishings of the Tabernacle.

These “explicit” directives for the furnishing of the Tabernacle were given to Moses on Mount Sinai in Arabia, perhaps during those 40 long days and nights Moses spent on the Mount when he was receiving the Commandments. 

According to all that  I   [ The LORD ] shew thee,

after the pattern of the Tabernacle,

and the pattern of all the instruments thereof,

even so shall ye make it.

Exodus 25:9

And look that thou make them after their pattern,

which was shewed thee in the Mount.

Exodus 25:40

The important fact was that Moses was admonished by The LORD to over-see the making of the furnishings of the Tabernacle to make certain the furnishings were according to the exact pattern which The LORD had shown to Moses.

This admonishment was SO IMPORTANT that it was re-iterated in the book of Hebrews in the New Covenant: 

“. . . Who serve unto the example and shadow of Heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of GOD when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith HE, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” Hebrews 8:5

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Now, back to Exodus 25:30  . . . And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. 

 

 

“Upon the Table. . .” this Shulchan ( table ) was not simply a nice sanctuary table; no, rather, it was a very Special Table, a PURE Table according to Leviticus 24, overlaid in gold, with dishes, spoons, and bowls made of pure gold sitting upon this Table . . . along with the MAIN FEATURE of this magnificent setting.

The MAIN feature upon this Special Gold-covered PURE Table was

BREAD . . . Lechem.

( In Hebrew grammar, “Lechem” is a singular noun in the Construct form. This word is quite familiar to us as seen in Beth-Lechem, the House of Bread, the little town where Y’SHU+ the M’SHIKHA+ was born of the House of David, of the Tribe of Judah.)

Information from Leviticus 24 fills out more details about this BREAD:

There were 12 loaves or cakes of BREAD set upon this Table, one for each of the Tribes of Israel. These cakes of BREAD were held in High Esteem by The LORD.

Renewed every Sabbath, the 12 loaves were placed in two rows upon the Pure Table after each row was anointed with PURE Frankincense.

This BREAD was to be before The LORD continually.

Not only that, but This BREAD was made on behalf of the children of Israel as an 

EVERLASTING COVENANT.

In addition, This BREAD was THE most HOLY of the offerings made by fire unto The LORD.  And . . .

it was by a PERPETUAL Statute. . . a ChoK- OLaM

 

Leviticus 24: 5-9

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Now, back to Exodus 25:30 . . . And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. 

 

“PaNiM” is the second noun and is in the absolute form, in this “of” phrase which starts with the construct form of BREAD, ( Lechem ). [ This is grammatically labeled a “Construct Chain” with the first word in the Construct form and the “of” noun-object in the Absolute form. ]

Interestingly, this absolute noun, PaNiM, is the plural for :

Faces .

Literally, then, we read: BREAD of Faces.

After that most curious literal rendition of that Hebrew Construct Chain, we discover  a second Construct Chain, a Construct-Absolute phrase in that very verse ! 

A Construct Chain is  normally translated as an “of” phrase. 

 

The first word is     .   

It is a plural construct form of the word “faces.” See Benjamin Davidson’s Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, page 628. Thus, it is the first word in the Construct Chain.

Furthermore,

it has the 1^st person singular suffix on it ,

meaning “my.”

 The Lamed at the beginning of this word can carry a VARIETY of prepositional meanings: to, unto, towards, for, on, by, at, belonging to, of , etc., as we have seen in the example above. With a plural noun, it can even carry a distributive function, as “every  xxx”, according to Davidson’s Lexicon, page 399.

                                                                    

The last word in this Construct Chain is        

 ( TaMiYD ), which is a noun in the absolute form. 

Because of being in the Construct Chain,

TaMiYD must be used as a noun, not an adverb.

It can NOT grammatically be used as an adverb here although English translations have made it such. 

The Lexicons have TaMiYD listed as both absolute noun and as an adverb . . .  but because TaMiYD is in the Construct Chain grammatically, it must be used as the noun. Translators have traditionally ignored this grammatical fact.

In this second Construct Chain, the literal rendering is

" belonging to 

( towards, into, for, of, belonging to, etc. )

My Faces of CONTINUITY”

( i.e, forever, everlasting, continuance ).

Thus, the literal rendering of the entire verse of Exodus 25:30 is:

And you shall set upon The Table

BREAD of Faces,

belonging to My Faces of Continuity.

[ Keep in mind: “continuity” or “continuance” of existence is also seen in the word “Olam” . . . the unknown eternity, forever. ]

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Yes, we can see some unusual plurals

when reading about The ELOHIM

. . . if we read the Masoretic literally.

One might logically think that This Anointed “BREAD” would be the plural in the first “of” phrase because the BREAD was FOR all 12 tribes of Israel. However, BREAD is definitely SINGULAR and it was to be shared by all the 12 tribes: 

ONE BREAD flour, divided into 12 cakes.

Thus, BREAD is not the plural here. 

So . . . 

WHOSE   Faces 

are rendered in the plural

in the Hebrew Text ?

To discover to Whom the “Faces” belong, we must look at Leviticus 24:6 literally also, a passage which adds details to this mysterious Showbread, the Bread of Faces. 

Leviticus 24:6, in English:

 

And thou shalt set them [ the showbread cakes ]

 in two rows, six on a row,

upon the pure table before the LORD.

Leviticus 24:6 in Literal Hebrew: 

And you shall set them in two rows,

six on a row, upon the pure Table . . .

 

belonging to The Faces of YHWH. 

[ “The” is correct in this Construct Chain because YHWH is a proper noun.]

FURTHERMORE . . .

Leviticus 24:8 binds the Faces of YHWH with the Everlasting COVENANT . . . that Covenant which lasts forever and does NOT have to be renewed year by year on Yom Kippur . . . The Day of The (Divine) Covering. 

Here is Leviticus 24:8 from the standard English translation:  

Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 

 * These words are not in the text and are thrust in solely by interpretation.

Here it is from the Masoretic text: 

 

 

Leviticus 24:8 , now, from the literal Masoretic Hebrew: 

In the days of the Sabbath, in the days of the Sabbath ,

he will set HIM in order,

of The Faces of YHWH continually,

out of the Sons of Israel, 

 a Covenant Eternal.

[ WHY is "HIM" , a masculine singular suffix, used to refer to THE BREAD . . . instead of a FEMININE singular suffix, which is what BREAD is in the Hebrew ? ]

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Here’s why:

John 6:33

For the BREAD OF GOD is HE+

 

which cometh down from Heaven,

and giveth Life unto the world.

John 6:35

And Y’SHU+ said unto them,

I+ am The BREAD OF LIFE:

he that cometh to ME+ shall never hunger;

 and he that believeth on ME+ shall never thirst.

John 6:48

I+ AM THAT BREAD of LIFE.

John 6:51

I+ AM  The Living BREAD which came down from Heaven:

if any man eat of THIS BREAD, he shall live for ever:

and THE BREAD that I+ will give is MY+  FLESH,

which I+ will give for the life of the world.

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KJV texts courtesy of E-Sword and Biblegateway.com

The Masoretic Text used in this post is by the courtesy of :  Bibles.org.uk . See below.