Numbers 4:7

shewbread Presence-bread, i.e. bread that is placed in the divine Presence. 1 Samuel 21:6 is evidence that the practice was observed in early times. It was probably a relic of the primitive heathen notion that gods actually partook of bread that was offered to them.

the continual bread The expression is not found elsewhere. Cf. -continual meal-offering" (Numbers 4:16; Nehemiah 10:33 only), -continual [R.V. perpetual] incense" (Exodus 30:8 (P)), and frequently -continual burnt-offering" (Numbers 28:29). It connotes the regularity with which a ritual act is performed at stated intervals.

The bread also came to be known as pile bread(R.V. -shewbread," 1 Chronicles 9:32; 1 Chronicles 23:29; Nehemiah 10:33) owing to the arrangement of the loaves in two piles (Leviticus 24:6, R.V. marg.). And since the root of the word מֲערֶכֶת (-pile") denotes to -set out" or -arrange" [a meal], the name appears in the N.T. as ἄρτοι τῆς προθέσεως (lit. -bread of the setting out," Matthew 12:4; Mark 2:26; Luke 6:4) and ἡ πρόθεσις τῶν ἄρτων (lit. -the setting out of the loaves," Hebrews 9:2).