EXPOSITION. Vers. 11-16.-TnE BA.NBOlll OF SOULS. The if they had been too proud to lll8Jl:e it, would various commands given with respect to the have been punished by some " plague " or tabernacle e.nd its furniture would necessarily other (ver. 12). involve a very considerable outlay; e.nd it W88 important that Moses should receive directions Ver.12.-When thou takeat the sum. The as to the source, or sources, whence this ex• sum had been taken roughly at the time of the exodus (eh. xii. 37). Moses was now, it pend.iture W88 to come. In eh. xxv. 2-7, would seem, about to take it again, more ac- one source had been indicated, viz., the volun- curately. No command had ever been g:iven tary contributions of the people. To this is that the people should not be numbered ; and now added a second source. On occasion of the Egyptian habit of compiling exact sta- the numbering of the people-an event which tistics naturally clung to one who had had an Egyptian training. (See tbe " Statistical is spoken of as impending (ver. 12)-Moses Tables of Karnak," in the " Rerords of the was told to exact from each of them, as atone- Past," vol. ii. pp. 19--28.) A ra.nsom. Ra- ment money, the sum of half e. shekel of silver. ther" an expiation," "an atonement "-{as in The produce of this tax was to be applied to eh. xxix. 33, 36}-something to show that the work of the sanctuary (ver. 16), and it he was conscious of sin, and of his not de- serving to be numbered among God's people. is found to have formed an important ele- That there be no plague. " That they be ment in the provision for the cost, since the not r,unished for undue pride and presump- total amount was above a hundred talents, or, tion. ' There is no thought of such a " plague" more exactly, 301,775 shekels (eh. xxxviii. 25). as was provoked by David's numbering (2 Sam. The reqwrement of atonement money seems xxiv. 15). to have been based on the idea, that formal Ver. 13.-HaJf a shekel The shekel of enrolment in the number of God's faithful later times was a silver coin, about the size round of our shilling, but considerably thicker, people necessarily brought home to every man and worth about one shilling and eightpence. his unworthiness to belong to that holy com- But at the date of tbe exodus coins were un- pany, a.nd so made him feel the need of known, and the "shekel" meant a certain making atonement in some way or other. weight. The burthen imposed by the ta..x The payment of the half-shekel was appointed was evidently a light one. The shekel of the 1anotuary. A standard weight in the posses- as the legal mode nnder those circumstances. sion of the priests, equal probably to about It was an acknowledgment of sin, equally 220 grains troy. Twenty gerah.s. The word binding upon all, and so made equal for all; "gerah "means" a bean;" and the gerah must lllld it saved from God's vengeance those who, have been a weight equal to about eleven EXODUS-II. ~ 306 THE BOOK OF EXODlTR. [rn. nx. 12-lG.
grains troy. It reme.ined in uee to the time of lifo w&R jn!lt.ly forfeit. As each BOul that he the r-11pti,·ity (Ezek. xiv. 12). he.s cree.ted is eque.lly preeioll8 in his sight., Ver. 14.-From twenty yea.n old 1.na up- e.nd e.s be designs eque.Ily the ealve.tion of all ward. Twenty WBB the age e.t which e.n -it wa.s fitting tbe.t the ea.me exact sum Israelite we.s reckoned e. man ; at twenty he should be pe.id in every ca.se. became liable to aerve in the wars (2 Chron. Ver. 16.-The e.pplication of the "e.tone- xxv. 5), e.nd entered otherwise on the duties ment money" is stated more distinctly in eh. of citizenship. At twenty the Levites began xxxviii. 27, 28. It WBB employed for the their aervice in the temple (l Chron. xxiii. 24, silver sockets the.t supported the boanle of the 2i ; 2 Chron. xxxi. 17 ; Ezra iii. 8). te.berne.cle, e.nd for the books, capitals, and Ver. 15.-The rioh llhall not gin more, connecting rods of the pillars which eur- aaa the poor ■h&ll not give 1-. This is rounded the court. Thll8 employed, it w&R a very emphatic testimony to the equal T&l.ne of continual "memorie.l" in the eyes of the ■ouls in God's sight. The payment was " the people, reminding each me.n of his privilege• ransom of a soul·• (ver. 12)-n a.cknowledg- a.nd duties ment of God's mercy in sparing those whose