Exodus 30:13

_AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, SAYING,_ When thou takest ... Moses did so twice, and doubtless observed the law here prescribed. The tax was not levied from women, minors, old men (Numbers 1:42; Numbers 1:45), and the Levites (Numbers 1:47), they being not numbered. It is evident that this taxing implies the taking of a census, for otherwise the impost could not have been collected (cf. Exodus 38:25). Since the people were divided into a distinct classification by tribes and families, the means of procuring a muster-roll were at hand; and from Moses' familiar acquaintance with the Egyptian practice of keeping an exact registe

11-16 The tribute was half a shekel, about fifteen pence of our money. The rich were not to give more, nor the poor less; the souls of the rich and poor are alike precious, and God is no respecter of persons, Acts 10:34; Job 34:19. In other offerings men were to give according to their wordly ability; but this, which was the ransom of the soul, must be alike for all. The souls of all are of equal value, equally in danger, and all equally need a ransom. The money raised was to be used in the service of the tabernacle. Those who have the benefit, must not grudge the necessary charges of God's public worship. Money cannot make atonement for the soul, but it may be used for the honour of Him who has made the atonement, and for the maintenance of the gospel by which the atonement is applied....

Verse Exodus 30:13. _HALF A SHEKEL_] Each of the Israelites was ordered to give as a ransom for his soul (i.e., for his life) half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. From this we may learn, 1. That the life of every man was considered as being forfeited to Divine justice. 2. That the redemption money given, which was doubtless used in the service of the sanctuary, was ultimately devoted to the use and profit of those who gave it. 3. That the _standard_ by which the value of coin was ascertained, was kept in the sanctuary; for this appears to be the meaning of the words, _after the shekel of the sanctuary_. 4. The shekel is here said to be _twenty gerahs_. A gerah, according to Maimonides, weighed _sixteen_ barleycorns, a shekel _three hundred and twenty_ of _pure_ _silver_. The shekel is generally c

THE RANSOM OF SOULS. - Exodus 38:25. On comparing these words with those of Numbers 1:1, we may perhaps infer that the first passage relates to a mere counting of the adult Israelites at the time when the money was taken from each, and that what the latter passage enjoins was a formal enrolment of them according to their genealogies and their order of military service. A RANSOM FOR HIS SOUL - What the sincere worshipper thus paid was at once the fruit and the sign of his faith in the goodness of Yahweh, who had redeemed him and brought him into the covenant. Hence, the payment is rightly called a ransom inasmuch as it involved a personal appropriation of the fact of his redemption. On the word soul, see...

EXPOSITION THE RANSOM OF SOULS. The various commands given with respect to the tabernacle and its furniture would necessarily involve a very considerable outlay; and it was important that Moses should receive directions as to the source, or sources, whence this expenditure was to come. In Exodus 25:2, one source had been indicated, viz; the voluntary contributions of the people. To this is now added a second source. On occasion of rite numbering of the people—an event which is spoken of as impending (Exodus 25:12)—Moses was told to exact from each of them, as atonement money, the sum of half a shekel of silver. The produce of this tax was to be applied to the work of the sanctuary ...

THIS THEY SHALL GIVE, EVERYONE THAT PASSETH AMONG THEM THAT ARE NUMBERED,.... And their number, according to Jarchi, was known by what was paid; for he says the sum was taken not by heads, but everyone gave the half shekel, and by counting them the number was known, as follows: HALF A SHEKEL AFTER THE SHEKEL OF THE SANCTUARY; that is, after the standard of a shekel kept in the sanctuary as a rule for all; and so Jarchi paraphrases it, "according to the weight of a shekel, which I have fixed for thee to weigh, the shekel of the sanctuary.'' It was about fourteen pence: a shekel is twenty gerahs; a gerah being the twentieth part of a shekel, it was not quite three halfpence of our money: AN HALF SHEKEL [SHALL BE] THE OFFERING OF THE LORD; which was to be offered to him for the ransom of souls, whose lives were forfeited by sin; and of the redemption of which this was an acknowledgment;...

THIS THEY SHALL GIVE Compare (Exodus 38:25). Silver thus becomes a type of redemption. (_ See Scofield) - (Exodus 26:19). _...

CHAPTER 30 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE AND THE WORSHIPPERS _ 1. The altar (Exodus 30:1)_ 2. The atonement money (Exodus 30:11) 3. The brazen laver and the unction of the Spirit (Exodus 30:22) 4. The incense (Exodus 30:34) This is a beautiful chapter, filled with blessed lessons. We have before us instructions concerning true, priestly worship. The brazen altar was of shittim wood, but this altar is of shittim wood covered with pure gold. The altar of brass tells of the work of Christ on the cross when judgment fell upon Him. There we learn in faith that our sins and guilt were fully met. The golden alta

EXODUS 30-31. P S. PRIESTLY SUPPLEMENTS. These two Chapter s form an appendix to Exodus 25-29. The golden incense altar finds no place in Exodus 25 or Exodus 26:33 or Leviticus 16 (where the annual rite of Exodus 30:10 is ignored). Instead we hear of censers in Leviticus 16:12 and Numbers 16:6 f., while the great altar in the court is called the altar, as if no other were recognised. Similarly Exodus 30:30, requiring the unction of Aaron's sons, betrays itself as later than the series of passages in which the High Priest alone receives it, being often

SHEKEL OF THE SANCTUARY. See App-51. Compare Matthew 17:24. GERAH,. measure of weight. See App-51. OFFERING. Hebrew. _terurnah._ See App-43....