And Solomon made all the vessels that pertained unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, on which was the showbread,
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Bede
AD 735
The table of gold is the sacred Scripture, rich in the light of spiritual understanding of which the psalmist says to the Lord, “You have prepared a table before me in the presence of those who afflict me.” For lest our enemies who afflict us should divert us into the path of error, our Creator has prepared for us a table of knowledge to strengthen us in the true faith. For the loaves of proposition are the holy teachers whose salutary words or works, anyone who searches in the divine pages will find proposed to us as a model for living. Hence it was prescribed in Exodus that twelve of these loaves be made, that is, on account of the twelve apostles through whose ministry both the New Testament Scripture was written and the mysteries of the Old Testament revealed by the condescension of the Lord. That is to say, this number designates not only these apostles but also all who, by proclaiming the word, administer the nourishment of life to the faithful, because, of course, all follow the same norm of teaching as the apostles received from the Lord.
