RANSOM
READER
469
or, what is at bottom the same idea, as satisfaction for a life. Tlius in Is 43^ ^ Jehovah is metaphorically said to have given Egypt, Ethiopia, and Seba as a random for (' instead of ') Israel. Hofniann, in his SchriJ'tbeweis (ii. p. 234, 2iid ed.), has a differ- ent interpretation. He takes the notion of ' covering' in this word to apply to ' covering in value ' (one thing covering the worth of another), and so imports into "igil the idea of strict equivalence. It is true that ' ransom ' in the OT usually includes the idea of rendering what may be termed an eciuivalent ; but it is more than doubtful whether this can be read into the etymological signification. The term has, on the other hand, in nearly every case the direct meaning of a redemption-price for another, or for one's own life. (1) In illustration of the latter sense, we have it declared in Nu 35^. •« that in no cir- cumstances is a ' ransom ' to be taken for the life of a murderer. Again, in Ex 21^0 it is provided that if, through its owner's carelessness, an ox gore a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and the owner shall pay ' for the ransom of his life ' what is laid on hhn (in the case of a slave, 30 shekels, v. 32). So at the taking of a census (Ex 3012), each Israelite above twenty years had to pay half a shekel — ' atonement-money ' (v.i''') — as ' a ransom for his soul (or life).' (2) In illustration of the former sense — redemption-price for another (cf. Is 43-' above) — two instances stand out conspicuously. One is Ps 49? ' None of them [the rich in this life] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ' (cf. v.st) ; the other is Job 3324 ' Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.' ns3, in both of these passages, has clearly the sense of something given in exchange for a life, which redeems it from death.
In the above cases in the Law, the ransom is a sum of money ; in the case of the firstborn, though the word nS3 is not used, it is a sacrifice — a life for a life (cf. Nu IS''''- it>). Here the fact is to be noticed — of interest in the NT connexion — that in all this range of meanings the word ' ransom ' is never in the OT directly connected with the propitiatory sacrifices. It is connected with propitiatory payments (cf. Ex 3012 above), and in 2 S 21''-7 the idea, if not the word, is connected with the propitiatory delivering up of Saul's seven sons to the Gibeonites (after refusal of a money-satisfaction, v. 4). But the victim, even in sin- and trespass-offerings, is never spoken of as ' ransoming ' the offerer. Its blood propitiates, atones for his sin, but the term ' ransom ' is not employed. Yet it must be held that the connexion be- tween the two ideas of sacrifice offered for the removal of sin (to make propitiation, nj?) and of ' ransom ' (nsi)) is very close ; and that, whether the word is used or not, the expiatorj' sacrifice was also, in its own way, a "153 for the life of the offerer (the LXX in Ps 498 as in 1 S 12-' renders the word by £|<Xay^«). Ritschl's generalization of the meaning of the term (applied also to the sacrifice) into 'a means of protection' {Scliutz- inittel), ignores the essential point of redemption (not simply protection) by the payment of a price, or offerfcig of an expia- tion.
The way is now clearer for the understanding of the NT passages. There can be little difficulty, Avhen his words are taken in the general connexion of his thought, in apprehending what St. Paul meant when he spoke in 1 Ti 2^ of Christ's having given Hini.self as an avriKvrpov for all. ' Ransom ' has here its true and proper sense of ' a price paid in exchange,' and the ideas of 'ransom' and ex- piatory sacrifice flow together in the unity of the thought of redemption through Christ's reconcil- ing death (see Redemption). In St. Paul's view, Christ has given Himself up as a sin-ofFering for the world upon the Cross (Ro 83, 2 Co 5"- 21, Gal 3'^ etc. ). He has redeemed the world by Himself dying for it (Ro 5^- "• ^"l. His death, reconciling us to God (Ro 3-^-25, Eph 2'«, Col po etc.), brings life and salvation to mankind. St. Paul's mind is not troubled by the monetary analogy : it is not of a money price he is tliinking, but of a great ethical reparation rendered to God's broken law of right- eousness. It is to God the ' ransom ' is paid, not to another. The Son of God, in humanity, renders it for the world.
If, tlierefore, St. Paul knew of the saying of Jesus recorded in Matthew and Mark, there can be little doubt how lie would liave interpreted it. Alike in his thought and that of St. Peter (cf. 1 P P^' '"), tlie idea of a Xvrpov is involved in the conception of airoKi'iTpwcm. Redemption h.as the two aspects, which can never be separated — re- demption by 'ransom,' i.e. from sins guilt and condemnation ; and redemption by power, from sin's bondage and otlier evil ettects. The Apostolic gospel comprehended both. But what of Christ's own thought? The genuineness of the saying in