Showbread - Origin

Origin

Although, according to textual scholars, the only source texts among those comprising the Torah which mention the showbread are the Holiness Code and later additions to the priestly source, the antiquity of the practise is shown by its mention in the Books of Samuel which textual scholars generally view as predating the priestly source. In the Books of Samuel, Ahimelek is described as asking for an assurance that David's men were in a ritually pure state, namely that they had not been involved in sexual activity with women, before handing over the old showbread; biblical scholars view this as suggesting that the showbread was originally a sacrificial meal which was viewed as being shared with the deity, hence the need to be ritually pure, and the bread not being burnt but instead consumed.

The custom seems to have been widespread in the region, an example being the Babylonian practice of offering to their gods a number of different kinds of cakes/bread (akalu); the Hebrew term for the showbread, Lehem haPanim, is exactly translated by the Assyrian phrase akal pגnu, which refers to the Babylonian cake/bread offerings. In the Israelite case, a number of biblical scholars connect the use of showbread directly to the ancient cult of the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark being seen as the home of the deity, and the bread being an offering of food, ready for consumption whenever the deity chose to make an appearance.

Like the biblical showbread, the Babylonians and Assyrians generally laid twelve cakes/loaves, or an integer multiple of twelve cakes/loaves, on tables in front of images of their deities; the number twelve, which is so prominent in the showbread rite, has always borne mysterious religious significance, and with the Assyrian practice of laying out twelve cakes/loaves, was directly connected with the Zodiac. The Babylonian cakes/bread were also required to be sweet (i.e. unleavened), and like the biblical showbread were baked from wheat flour.