Three who sit by a table & don't speak Torah are as if they're eating from sacrificial offerings to an idol. But if there was Torah its like eating from a korbon l'Hashem.
is this Mishnah just another step above the last one - where 2 people sit & don't discuss Torah they're a moshav leitzim etc.?
Why specifically three - just a littler 'bigger & better' or something DIFFERENT?
Why must the mishnah talk about a table & food if it's just to bring home a similar point of impotance of Torah as above?
The mishnah sounds almost like a 'guzmah' - an exxagerated espression of importance of Torah - to say zivchei meisim or korban...
Korbanos need designation or consecration to create a new spiritual effect upon the item, which redefines its mundane existance. How or why does the Torah or its bitul create a physical change to the food on the table?
Rabeinu Yonah metions a new componant to this mishnah which I believe clarifies all of the above. He says that three people coming together for a common desire - in this case, food, is called a chaburah.
