A question about Exodus 30:15

[ultra.immaculate]

Hi,

I don't understand the bold part of Exodus 30:15:

The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves


Thank you

 

[BrotherJJ]

Hi,

I don't understand the bold part of Exodus 30:15:

The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves


Thank you

God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34, Eph 6:9, Rom 2:11)

Therefore, every soul carried the same value.

In context:
11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
(MY NOTE: The were required to give Silver as a redeeming/ransom. Scripture symbols: Gold = purity, Silver = redemption, bronze = Judgment. Gold/Christ was pure, Silver/He redeemed us from the curse of sin, Bronze/He took the judgment for all the believers sins)

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

This was a yearly contribution every Jew had to pay toward Temple operating costs. Half a silver shekel equaled 160 grains of barley.

That would = about eight grams of silver. No way to know how much silver was worth any given yr. Today 8 gm of silver would = a little over $7.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Peter and His Master Pay Their Taxes

Matthew 17:

24 When they had come to [h]Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”

25 He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”

26 Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.

27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a [j]piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”

 

[Friedrich Rubinstein]

Back in the time of Moses the people didn't have Jesus as sacrifice for their sins. They couldn't just say to God "please forgive me my wrongdoings and wash my cloth in the blood of your Son". Instead the Israelites had to sacrifice offerings as a symbol for the "real offering" to come, Jesus Christ.

Sacrificing lambs, rams and so on, as well as giving money to the priests, was the way of receiving forgiveness for sins before the time of Jesus.

 

[Joyous Song]

God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34, Eph 6:9, Rom 2:11)

Therefore, every soul carried the same value.

In context:
11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

This was a yearly contribution every Jew had to pay toward Temple operating costs. Half a silver shekel equaled 160 grains of barley.

That would = about eight grams of silver. No way to know how much silver was worth any given yr. Today 8 gm of silver would = a little over $7.

Clearly Christ saw things differently. In the example of the wealthy man and the poor woman giving two pennies, its clear, her lesser offering was sufficient because she gave from her need not her excess. The wealthy man could give of his excess so his gift was meaningless.

Thus that passage in exodus needs to be understood in context of this passage in the New Testament.

 

[BrotherJJ]

Clearly Christ saw things differently. In the example of the wealthy man and the poor woman giving two pennies, its clear, her lesser offering was sufficient because she gave from her need not her excess. The wealthy man could give of his excess so his gift was meaningless.

Thus that passage in exodus needs to be understood in context of this passage in the New Testament.

I disagree, The OP question was about Exodus 30:15

I gave the full context in post #2. I'll paraphrase here:
Vs 11, The Lord tells Moses
Vs 12, When you count the people
Vs 13, you will collect 1/2 shekel (tax) for the offering at the sanctuary.
Vs 14, males only 20 yrs old & up. BTW: Men 20 were considered grown-up. Levites began there service & at 20 all other normal males were required to served in the military.
Vs 15, all souls were considered equal value
Vs 16, monies went toward sacrifice expenses.

This collection/tax was unrelated to tithes or offerings. And in my opinion unrelated to the widows offering in Mark 12:41-44. A souls value isn't the context here.

Example: A man has a million $. Gives $400,000 (600k left over). She gives some change, he mocks the size of her gift.

Jesus say's because she gave ALL that she had & you had 600k left over. Her personal sacrifice (not her souls value) was greater then yours.

 

[Joyous Song]

I disagree, The OP question was about Exodus 30:15

I gave the full context in post #2. I'll paraphrase here:
Vs 11, The Lord tells Moses
Vs 12, When you count the people
Vs 13, you will collect 1/2 shekel (tax) for the offering at the sanctuary.
Vs 14, males only 20 yrs old & up. BTW: Men 20 were considered grown-up. Levites began there service & at 20 all other normal males were required to served in the military.
Vs 15, all souls were considered equal value
Vs 16, monies went toward sacrifice expenses.

This collection/tax was unrelated to tithes or offerings. And in my opinion unrelated to the widows offering in Mark 12:41-44. A souls value isn't the context here.

Example: A man has a million $. Gives $400,000 (600k left over). She gives some change, he mocks the size of her gift.

Jesus say's because she gave ALL that she had & you had 600k left over. Her personal sacrifice (not her souls value) was greater then yours.

All true but what if one does not have 1/2 a shekel of silver to give? How does the word speak for those so poor they cannot afford to give anything but themselves. Isn't service freely given a potential payment one could make to the sanctuary?

 

[BrotherJJ]

All true but what if one does not have 1/2 a shekel of silver to give? How does the word speak for those so poor they cannot afford to give anything but themselves. Isn't service freely given a potential payment one could make to the sanctuary?

Honestly, I didn't make the decree & don't have the answer to your question.

 

[Joyous Song]

Honestly, I didn't make the decree & don't have the answer to your question.

I guess we'll have to wait till He returns and then we can ask Him but my suspicions is those that have should help out those that have not. Acts 3 (?) speaks of a time and place in early Christianity where poverty ceased to exists sue to a caring community. The disciples were still alive then and the feeling of Christ soon return made many put a distance on wealth and comfort.

Christ said poverty would always be with us and yet that example clearly shows. If we Christians actually walked the walk as those first disciples and their followers did, that would not be true. Of Course being the Moshiach He knew already that example would not be emulated.

 

[Mr. M]

Hi,

I don't understand the bold part of Exodus 30:15:

The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves


Thank you

Exodus 30:12 When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.

Censuses were commanded by the Lord in the wilderness (BeMidbar)=book of Numbers.
If a king ordered a census, it was not simply a numerical total, but an assessment of
abilities. This would provoke wrath for looking to "their own strength".

Why Did King David's Census Provoke the Wrath of God?
Visitation: The Lord's Assessment

Exodus 30:16 And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall
appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the
children of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.

This was not a regular form of taxation. Censuses would not have been a part of national
life before the kings. David did not collect the ransom for each soul, and incurred wrath
upon the people.
When every person pays the atonement money, the census is turned into
a blessing, as each name is presented before the Lord as a Memorial.

Acts 10:
1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,
2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously
to the people, and prayed to God always.
3 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and
saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him,
Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.