Consecrated bread is bread that has been set apart for a particular purpose. In this case, it was bread that was placed in the tabernacle on the Sabbath (Exodus 25:30; Exodus 35:13; Leviticus 24:5–9; 1 Chronicles 9:32).1 Ordinarily, only the priests were allowed to eat the bread of the presence (Leviticus 24:5–9) and they were meant to do so in a holy place.2 Human needs, however, take priority over ceremonial law3 and so with David having been on a holy
mission, he was permitted to eat the holy
bread. Indeed, the symbolism of the bread is well served by giving it to a man in need. In this the law was fulfilled and not superseded (see Matthew 12:3–4; Mark 2:25–26; Luke 6:3–4).4
4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women.”