“you are to construct a table.” Shmos 25, 23
It has already been demonstrated that there was a real need for the Ark seeing that it served to house the Tablets. The kapporet was also essential as it served as the lid for the Ark. The word כפורת is also derived from וכפרת אותה “you shall cover it,” used in connection with waterproofing the boards of the Ark of Noach (Genesis 6,14). The cherubs on top of the kapporet were needed to demonstrate that there are such beings as angels. This leaves the question of what need did the presence of the table actually fill? The question is equally relevant to the presence of the table in the Tabernacle as to its presence in the Temple.
According to the plain meaning of the text the table was needed in order that the show-breads which the Torah commanded to be ever-present in the Tabernacle (Temple) could be placed upon it. These show-breads were necessary as the basic minimum to which G’d’s bounty could attach itself. The weekly offerings of these show-breads were consumed by the priests who performed the service in the Tabernacle or Temple during the week in question. A small part of this bread was sufficient for many priests. Our sages in Yuma 39 illustrated this point when they said that if a priest received as little as the size of a bean of that bread this would suffice to still his hunger. This then is the reason that this structure was called “table,” seeing G’d provided His blessing for the bread which was placed upon it. From this table G’d’s blessing for the food of the Jewish people would proliferate to all parts of the country, indeed to all parts of the earth. This blessing was in the nature of a יש מיש , “something based on something else.” It was of the same category as that demonstrated by such prophets as Elijah and Elisha who were able to make a minute amount of flour or oil grow into huge amounts. It was a precondition for these prophets to have something, i.e. a “יש” to work with (compare Kings II 4,2 and Kings I 17,16). Creating something out of nothing is something reserved for G’d Himself and such power has not been given to any prophet. In fact, we do not know that a type of יש מאין creative activity ever occurred again after G’d commenced creating His universe in such a fashion.
A Midrashic approach: the word שטים in the phrase ועשית שלחן עצי שטים, “you are to construct a table out of shittim wood,” may be understood as an acrostic of the first letters of the words שלום, טובה, ישועה, מחילה; we also find similar acrostics in connection with the Ark and the Altar, i.e. that these furnishings of the Tabernacle contained within them the essence of all the principal blessings man is in need of. In fact, the table (in each man’s house) symbolises the altar, the instrument through which man is able to achieve atonement for his errors. The bread on the table is considered as a surrogate for animal sacrifice on the altar provided man is generous and shares his blessings (food, etc.) with the poor. This is the deeper meaning of what the sages said (Berachos 55) when they commented on Ezekiel 41,22 והמזבח עץ שלוש אמות......וידבר אלי זה השלחן אשר לפני ה', “and the altar, a wooden block, three cubits high,.....and He said to me: ‘this is the table before Hashem.” The remarkable thing in that vision is that it commenced with the altar and concluded with the table. The message to Ezekiel was that as long as the Temple was standing and the altar was functioning, man’s atonement was achieved through the sacrifices offered on the altar. When there is no altar upon which to offer sacrifices, man must achieve his atonement by means of his table. ...
It became an accepted practice amongst the pious Jews of France to construct their caskets out of the wood of their tables in order to demonstrate the idea that their table become the means of their atonement just as death is the means to achieve our ultimate atonement. It also was to signify that man does not take with him any of the material things he enjoyed on earth. The only thing he can take with him is the evidence of the charitable deeds he performed while alive. The table was a prime symbol of such charitable deeds. This is also why the sages (Berachos 54) said that he who spends a long time over his meal will have his life extended.” [The idea is that the poor may come to his door while he is still eating and they will be invited to share.]
