Exodus 30:11 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.
Often times we find God reminded the people He was speaking to that He was speaking to them. We often go to II Timothy 3:16 to speak of the inspiration of Scripture.
II Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
God often reminds us that He is the Author of all Scripture. God did that in our text. All Scripture is pure because It is God’s Word. Moses did not doubt God’s Word. However, God saw it important to remind Moses Who was speaking to Him. We all need to be reminded of Who owns the Scriptures. The people involved in the perversions would never tamper with the Word of God if they believed that God is the Author of the Scriptures.
Moses needed to be sure that he passed on God’s Word exactly as It was given. If we stick to God’s Word, we can have confidence in our lives. New Evangelicalism has promoted “gray” areas when it comes to Bible doctrine. New Evangelicalism cannot even give a sure answer to what salvation is. Their simple answer is “believe in Jesus”. However, when you begin to question what that means, they are all over the board. They claim you can be a sodomite and be a Christian. You can be into drinking and smoking and other sins and still be a Christian. Rock music is not sin to them, etc.
Too many pastors are intimidated and will not speak plainly on many issues facing our world today. They are scared because they need the money of the people in order to keep up their lifestyle.
True Christians do not allow money to dictate their theology. True Christians serve God faithfully and trust Him to supply their needs. The apostle Paul had to take a secular job while serving in Corinth because they did not want to support him the way they should have. He did not cave in to try to get money from them. Money was not his priority. Certainly we need money to live. God knows that better than we do.
In our text the LORD instructed Moses on the matter of finances. This was at a time when the nation of Israel was “unemployed”. They were wandering in the wilderness. They did not plant crops nor harvest crops. They could not set up shops and sell their goods. They were not producing any goods.
God was teaching them the need of every Jew over the age of twenty to give a sum of money to the Tabernacle. God called this the giving a ransom for their soul. This was not a matter of paying to be saved. First of all, people die before the age of twenty at times. God does not say that a person is innocent until a certain age. Some Mennonite groups hold to that lie. The “age of accountability” is a false doctrine that has no basis in Scripture. When you talk to different people about this, different people have different ideas on this. There is no Biblical support for such teaching.
Some people use circumcision as their excuse. Circumcision was never salvation. Others use the fact that Jesus went to the Temple first when He was twelve years old. Jesus was never lost. The Jews were required to teach God’s Word in their homes and young children could believe in the true God just as well as older people.
We do not live under the Old Testament system today. The Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. Jesus Christ established the local church. There was only one Temple in the entire land of Israel. The people established Synagogues in towns and cities. However, they could not bring their sacrifices to the Synagogues. They needed to bring that to the Temple.
In the Gospels Jesus taught that He was the true Temple. He established the church, which is designed by God to be local churches throughout the world. In heaven there will be one true church because all saints will be in heaven one day.
In our text God prescribed what the sum per person should be. God explained that the obedience to this law would keep plagues away from the people. Moses was to number the people. It was required that each person pay this sum when they turned twenty. The amount required for this was half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary. God decreed what the “religious” shekel was worth. The value of that money could be different from the secular shekel. This does not in anyway give licence for “sharia law” or the “jizya”.
It is important to note as well that this sum was required of the Jews. This was part of God’s way to provide funding for the priests and for any upkeep that needed to be made to the Tabernacle.
We see in verse 15 that this sum was not seeking more from the rich and less from the poor. God expected every person to pay half a shekel. This sum was separate from the tithe that would be required.
One important Bible truth is that God does not rob people of the ability to meet their needs. God does not want His people to starve or be unable to pay their bills because they are giving to His work. God provides a way for His people to be able to live and serve Him faithfully.
We read as well that this sum was part of the way that the children of Israel could make an atonement for their souls. We must remind ourselves that atonement was different than salvation in Jesus Christ. Atonement was to cover for sin. Salvation is the only way to remove the guilt of sin. The lost person is washed clean through the blood of Jesus Christ when they get saved. After salvation, confession of sin is required to be forgiven of sins committed after salvation.
Forgiveness of sin does not mean that the murderer does not need to pay the consequences for murder, etc. The thief on the cross was saved on the cross. His sins were erased through the blood of Jesus Christ. He still died on that cross. Salvation is a precious gift of God.
God was teaching Moses, and by extension the children of Israel, the importance of submitting to His will.
We do not pay money in a local church as a ransom for our soul. Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood there. He paid the ransom for the soul of those who turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. True Christians pay the tithe to the local church. They can also give other offerings as God prospers them. Churches should never set up gimmicks to try to get money from those who attend. Arm twisting is not the way to get money for the local church.
The Bible teaches that saved people need to give to the work of the local church. The pastor is to be supported through the local church. Malachi 3:10 teaches us to bring the tithes into the storehouse. From the storehouse, which in our time would be the true, Bible-believing church, they can be distributed to wherever the local church deems it necessary. There are people who do not have a local church and they give to other places. It is important to have discernment as to where you give your money. There are many smooth talkers who try to deceive people into giving to their “cause”.
True Bible teaching is important and if that is done properly, there will be opportunities to teach God’s design on giving. Many churches today have put themselves so far into debt that they have to walk on egg shells in order to keep people coming and giving so that they can pay their debts. Doctrine is being pushed away so as not to offend the listeners.
Many people have no idea what a true church should be. They think there have to be many programs and activities in the local church. The apostle Paul was directed by God to warn Timothy of the fact that the time would come when people would not endure sound doctrine. We are living in that time now. Most professing Christians believe they need to have much more than just “preach the word in season and out of season”. Most want entertainment, not sound doctrine. We are seeing the fruit of that view. We have many very weak Christians, if they are even saved.
Be sure you know the Lord as Saviour first of all and then be sure you attend a true, Bible-believing local church. If you are not able to attend a true, Bible-believing church, then you need to ask God to direct you to a true, Bible-believing church. You need good food for your soul.
Pastor Bartel
