1. Numbers 4:7 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why is the table of the showbread referred to as “the table of the bread of the Presence”?

Numbers 4:7 (ESV)

7 And over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a cloth of blue and put on it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink offering; the regular showbread also shall be on it.

The phrase is a translator’s expansion of the Hebrew, which simply reads the table of the Presence. The Presence refers to God’s own presence, serving here to underline the high rank of this particular piece amongst the holy furniture.