diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetadataTable.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetadataTable.java
index c279f7de4c41..d8ebb69aca21 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetadataTable.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseMetadataTable.java
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ static Map<Integer, PartitionSpec> transformSpecs(
 
   abstract MetadataTableType metadataTableType();
 
-  public BaseTable table() {
+  protected BaseTable table() {
     return table;
   }