SHOWBREAD

(n.) Bread of exhibition; loaves to set before God; -- the term used in translating the various phrases used in the Hebrew and Greek to designate the loaves of bread which the priest of the week placed before the Lord on the golden table in the sanctuary. They were made of fine flour unleavened, and were changed every Sabbath. The loaves, twelve in number, represented the twelve tribes of Israel. They were to be eaten by the priests only, and in the Holy Place.