Keluaran 29:2-3

29:2 and ¹  bread made without yeast, and perforated cakes without yeast mixed with oil, and wafers without yeast spread ²  with oil – you are to make them using ³  fine wheat flour. 29:3 You are to put them in one basket and present ⁴  them in the basket, along with ⁵  the bull and the two rams.

Keluaran 29:23

29:23 and one round flat cake of bread, one perforated cake of oiled bread, and one wafer from the basket of bread made without yeast that is before the Lord.

Matius 12:4

12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate ⁶  the sacred bread, ⁷  which was against the law ⁸  for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? ⁹ 

[29:2]  ¹ sn This will be for the minkhah (מִנְחָה) offering (Lev 2), which was to accompany the animal sacrifices.

[29:2]  ² tn Or “anointed” (KJV, ASV).

[29:2]  ³ tn The “fine flour” is here an adverbial accusative, explaining the material from which these items were made. The flour is to be finely sifted, and from the wheat, not the barley, which was often the material used by the poor. Fine flour, no leaven, and perfect animals, without blemishes, were to be gathered for this service.

[29:3]  ⁴ tn The verb קָרַב (qarav) in the Hiphil means to “bring near” to the altar, or, to offer something to God. These gifts will, therefore, be offered to him for the service of this ritual.

[29:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and with.”

[12:4]  ⁶ tc The Greek verb ἔφαγεν (efagen, “he ate”) is found in a majority of witnesses (Ì⁷⁰ C D L W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt sy co) in place of ἔφαγον (efagon, “they ate”), the wording found in א B pc. ἔφαγεν is most likely motivated by the parallels in Mark and Luke (both of which have the singular).

[12:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “the bread of presentation.”

[12:4]  sn The sacred bread refers to the “bread of presentation,” “showbread,” or “bread of the Presence,” twelve loaves prepared weekly for the tabernacle and later, the temple. See Exod 25:30; 35:13; 39:36; Lev 24:5-9. Each loaf was made from 3 quarts (3.5 liters; Heb “two tenths of an ephah”) of fine flour. The loaves were placed on a table in the holy place of the tabernacle, on the north side opposite the lampstand (Exod 26:35). It was the duty of the priest each Sabbath to place fresh bread on the table; the loaves from the previous week were then given to Aaron and his descendants, who ate them in the holy place, because they were considered sacred (Lev 24:9). See also Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5.

[12:4]  ⁸ sn Jesus’ response to the charge that what his disciples were doing was against the law is one of analogy: “If David did it for his troops in a time of need, then so can I with my disciples.” Jesus is clear that on the surface there was a violation here. What is not as clear is whether he is arguing a “greater need” makes this permissible or that this was within the intention of the law all along.

[12:4]  ⁹ sn See 1 Sam 21:1-6.