Exodus 30:15

Exo 30:15 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.

Ver. 15. The rich shall not give more.] They are both of a price, because in spirituals they are equal. {2Pe 1:1}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exodus

RANSOM FOR SOULS-II.

Exo 30:15.

This tax was exacted on numbering the people. It was a very small amount, about fifteen pence, so it was clearly symbolical in its significance. Notice-

I. The broad principle of equality of all souls in the sight of God. Contrast the reign of caste and class in heathendom with the democracy of Judaism and of Christianity.

II. The universal sinfulness. Payment of the tax was a confession that all were alike in this: not that all were equally sinful, but all were sinful, whatever variations of degree might exist.

‘There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’

III. The one ransom. It was a prophecy of which we know the meaning. Recall the incident of the ‘stater’ in the fish’s mouth.

Christ declares His exemption from the tax. Yet He voluntarily comes under it, and He provides the payment of it for Himself and for Peter.

He does so by a miracle.

The Apostle has to ‘take and give it’; so faith is called into exercise.

Thus there is but one Sacrifice for all; and the poorest can exercise faith and the richest can do no more. ‘None other name.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That God should be merciful unto you.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(15) The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less.—See Note 2 on Exo_30:12.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. Rich and poor are to contribute alike, for both stand in the same relation towards Jehovah.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel,.... Which shows that the Israelites were alike in the esteem of God, their worldly circumstances making no difference; their souls being alike, the same ransom price was given for them; and that they were all to have an equal share in the service and sanctuary of God, and the price was set so low, that the poorest man might be able to pay it: and even Maimonides (y) says, if he lived on alms, he was to beg it of others, or sell his clothes from off his back to pay it. This shows the equality of the redeemed and ransomed of the Lord; for though some sins and sinners are greater than others, and some are redeemed from more sins than others, yet all sins being infinite, as committed against an infinite God, but one price is paid for all, and that is the precious blood of Christ, the Son of God, an infinite and divine Person; hence all the ransomed ones have the same faith, righteousness, salvation, and eternal life:

when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make atonement for your souls; which have sinned, are liable to death for it, are the more excellent part of men, and require a great price for the redemption and ransom of them; and hence it is so great a blessing to be ransomed, because it is the ransom of the soul: and such is the efficacy of Christ's ransom, that it is a full atonement for the souls of men, and their sins, and completely delivers from sin, Satan, the law, death, and hell.

(y) Hilchot Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rich. The life of every man is equal in the sight of God, and He will not give the rich occasion to despise his poor neighbour. Thus also the number of people would be ascertained. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This was partly to teach them that all souls are of equal worth in themselves and price with God; that there is no respect of persons with God, and in God’s worship and service, but gospel graces, ordinances, and privileges are common and equal to all, Exo 12; 16:18; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11; that all persons are alike obnoxious to Divine justice, and are redeemed by one and the same price: partly to check the arrogance and vanity of the rich, who are very apt to despise the poor; and partly that by this means the number of the people might be exactly known when occasion required it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. The rich shall not give more — This apportioning the same amount to rich and poor showed that in the meeting of Jehovah at the sanctuary all stood upon the same level. It is well to have some forms of offering which will impress this lesson. In making an atonement for souls the rich have no advantage over the poor.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less. This is very emphatic testimony to the equal value of souls in God"s sight. The payment was "the ransom of a soul" (ver. 12) an acknowledgment of God"s mercy in sparing those whose life was justly forfeit. As each soul that he has created is equally precious in his sight, and as he designs equally the salvation of all it was fitting that the same exact sum should be paid in every case.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues to tell Moses what the people must do.

the people

Only the men made this offering.

the half shekel

Translators may use a unit of measure that people understand and a round number: "the 5.5 grams of silver" or "the 6 grams of silver." See how you translated this in Exodus 3:13. (See: Biblical Money and Biblical Weight and Fractions)

It must be a reminder to the Israelites before me, to make atonement for your lives

Possible meanings are 1) "It will remind the Israelites to make atonement for their lives" or 2) "It will remind the Israelites that they have made atonement for their lives."

translationWords

sacrifice

atonement

receive

Israel

tent of meeting

sign

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

לכפר על נפשתיכם TO MAKE AN EXPIATION FOR YOUR SOULS — in order that you may not be liable to the plague in consequence of the census. Another explanation of לכפר על נפשתיכם is that it was really an atonement for their sins: because Scripture alludes here to three different heave offerings since it uses the expression תרומת ה׳ three times (twice in vv. 14 and 15, ‘תרומת ה, and once in vers 13, ‘תרומה לה). One mention is an allusion to the heave offering that was to be used for the making of the sockets, for he (Moses) counted them when they began to contribute towards the building of the Tabernacle, when each gave half a shekel, the total amounting to a hundred talents, as it is said, (Exodus 38:25) “and the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents”, and of these the sockets were made, as it is stated, (Exodus 38:27) “And of the hundred talents of silver [were cast the sockets of the Sanctuary etc.]”. The second heave offering was also levied by way of census, for he numbered them again after the Tabernacle was erected; that is the census referred to in the beginning of the Book of Numbers: (Numbers 1:1) “[And the Lord spake unto Moses] … on the first day of the second month in the second year … [Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel]”, and on that occasion, too, each of them gave half a shekel. These were employed in purchasing the communal sacrifices for each year. Rich and poor were made alike in regard to these half shekels; and it is with reference to this heave offering that Scripture uses here the expression לכפר על נפשתיכם, “to make expiation for your souls”, for sacrifices were brought in order to make atonement. The third heave offering was that offered for the building of the Tabernacle, as it is said, (Exodus 35:24) “Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass…”. In this heave offering, however, they did not all participate alike, but each one brought whatever his heart prompted him to give (Talmud Yerushalmi Shekalim 1:1; cf. Rashi on Exodus 25:1).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

THE RICH SHALL NOT GIVE MORE, AND THE POOR SHALL NOT GIVE LESS. The meaning of this is that they should all bring the specified amount of money in equality. It would appear from this verse that if the poor man gave as his shekel-dues less than the half-shekel [prescribed by the Torah], he transgresses this negative commandment, since this verse constitutes a prohibition. For even if we were to say that the phrase the rich shall not give more constitutes a mere negation, Note 71. meaning that it is enough for him to give the half-shekel, we could not so interpret and the poor shall not give less. If so, they must both be prohibitions: thus if the individual rich man gave more, or the poor man gave less, he transgressed this negative commandment. Perhaps the reason why the Temple — officers used to take up the shekel-dues in baskets [out of the shekel-chamber], with the intention also to cover the shekels lost and those still to be collected, was to rectify this matter, for if the poor gave less, the balance was destined to be collected from him, but as for the rich who gave more, the Temple-officers would not “take up” his surplus, for they would not take possession of these surpluses [on anyone’s behalf]. However, I have noticed that neither the author of the Hilchoth Gedoloth nor all other scholars who counted the commandments [including the Rambam in his Sefer Hamitzvoth], have mentioned this as one of the negative commandments.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.