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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 30:11 - 30:16
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The Church Tax
v. 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 12. When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, whenever a census of the people was taken, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, a sum of money by which they were to redeem themselves from the personal service which they really owed to the Lord in the house of worship; that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. The refusal or the neglect to pay this assessment would make a person liable to the punishment of God.
v. 13. This they shall give, everyone that passeth among them that are numbered, everyone that is included in the census, half a shekel after the shekel of the Sanctuary; (a shekel is twenty gerahs;) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every male Israelite was to be enrolled in the army of Jehovah after he had reached the age of twenty years and be obliged to pay this assessment of half a shekel standard weight, that is, about 32 cents annually. This tax was used for the maintenance of the sacrificial service, since the expenses connected with the Jewish form of worship must have been quite large. The payment of this fee distinguished the people of the Lord from the heathen that knew nothing of Him.
v. 14. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord.
v. 15. The rich shall not give more, as they might have felt tempted to do, in order to display their wealth, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, for even the poorest could afford that much for the Lord, when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. Free-will offerings were acceptable at all other times, and were made in large quantities for the purpose of building the Tabernacle, but here the sum was definitely fixed.
v. 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, for the perpetual service of God in the building devoted to His worship; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. They were ever to be reminded of the fact that they owed their souls to the Lord, that they were in His debt to the extent of their souls: in this sense the assessment was a ransom, money paid in atonement. To this day the Christians give evidence of the thankfulness of their hearts to God for the perfect atonement which was assured to them through Jesus Christ, also through their gifts and sacrifices.