Exodus 30:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 30:13
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.
a gerah or small weight (and coin) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
half
מַחֲצִ֣יתma.cha.Tzit
H4276
a halving or the middle · noun, common feminine singular construct
shekel
הַשֶּׁ֔קֶלha.She.kel
H8255
probably a weight · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
offering
תְּרוּמָ֖הte.ru.Mah
H8641
a present (as offered up) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
LORD
לַֽיהוָֽהla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 27:25 And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.
Numbers 3:47 Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:)
Ezekiel 45:12 And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.
Exodus 38:26 A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years…
Matthew 17:24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 30:11-16
Some observe that the repetition of those words, The Lord spoke unto Moses, here and afterwards (Exo 30:17, Exo 30:22, Exo 30:34), intimates that God did not deliver these precepts to Moses in the mount, in a continued discourse, but with many intermissions, giving him time either to write what was said to him or at least to charge his memory with it. Christ gave instructions to his disciples as they were able to hear them. Moses is here ordered to levy money upon the people by way of poll, so much a head, for the service of the tabernacle. This he must do when he numbered the people. Some think that it refers only to the first numbering of them, now when the tabernacle was set up; and that…
When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, &c.--Moses did so twice, and doubtless observed the law here prescribed. The tax was not levied from women, minors, old men (Num 1:42, Num 1:45), and the Levites (Num 1:47), they being not numbered. Assuming the shekel of the sanctuary to be about half an ounce troy, though nothing certain is known about it, the sum payable by each individual was two and four pence. This was not a voluntary contribution, but a ransom for the soul or lives of the people. It was required from all classes alike, and a refusal to pay implied a wilful exclusion from the privileges of the sanctuary, as well as exposure to divine judgments. It was probably the sam…
Half a shekel - Each of the Israelites was ordered to give as a ransom for his soul (i.e., for his life) half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. From this we may learn,
1. That the life of every man was considered as being forfeited to Divine justice.
2. That the redemption money given, which was doubtless used in the service of the sanctuary, was ultimately devoted to the use and profit of those who gave it.
3. That the standard by which the value of coin was ascertained, was kept in the sanctuary; for this appears to be the meaning of the words, after the shekel of the sanctuary.
4. The shekel is here said to be twenty gerahs. A gerah, according to Maimonides, weighed sixt…
Dictionary and topics
Gerah — A bean, probably of the carob tree, the smallest weight, and also the smallest piece of money, among the Hebrews, equal to the twentieth part of a shekel (Ex. 30:13; Lev. 27:25; Num. 3:47). This word…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Money-changer — (Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15). Every Israelite from twenty years and upwards had to pay (Ex. 30:13-15) into the sacred treasury half a shekel every year as an offering to Jehovah, and that in…
Moneychangers — (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15) According to (Exodus 30:13-15) every Israelite who had reached or passed the age of twenty must pay into the sacred treasury, whenever the nation was numbered,…
Shekel — Weight, the common standard both of weight and value among the Hebrews. It is estimated at 220 English grains, or a little more than half an ounce avoirdupois. The “shekel of the sanctuary” (Ex.…
Spices — Aromatic substances, of which several are named in Ex. 30. They were used in the sacred anointing oil (Ex. 25:6; 35:8; 1 Chr. 9:29), and in embalming the dead (2 Chr. 16:14; Luke 23:56; 24:1; John…
Taxes — First mentioned in the command (Ex. 30:11-16) that every Jew from twenty years and upward should pay an annual tax of “half a shekel for an offering to the Lord.” This enactment was faithfully…
Tribute — A tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2 Sam. 20:24; 1 Kings 4:6; Rom. 13:6). In Matt. 17:24-27 the word denotes the temple rate (the “didrachma,” the “half-shekel,” as rendered by the R.V.) which…
Weights — Reduced to English troy-weight, the Hebrew weights were: (1.) The gerah (Lev. 27:25; Num. 3:47), a Hebrew word, meaning a grain or kernel, and hence a small weight. It was the twentieth part of a…
This they shall give, everyone that passeth among them that are numbered,.... And their number, according to Jarchi, was known by what was paid; for he says the sum was taken not by heads, but everyone gave the half shekel, and by counting them the number was known, as follows:
half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; that is, after the standard of a shekel kept in the sanctuary as a rule for all; and so Jarchi paraphrases it,"according to the weight of a shekel, which I have fixed for thee to weigh, the shekel of the sanctuary.''It was about fourteen pence: a shekel is twenty gerahs; a gerah being the twentieth part of a shekel, it was not quite three halfpence of our money:
an ha…
Exodus 30:11-13, 15, 16
11. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
11. Loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo,
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.
12. Subduces summam filiorum Israel, prout numerati fuerint inter eos: dabunt singuli redemptionem animae suae Jehovae quum numeraveris eos, et non erit in eis plaga quum numeraveris eos.
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…
The Atonement-Money, which every Israelite had to pay at the numbering of the people, has the first place among the supplementary instructions concerning the erection and furnishing of the sanctuary, and serves to complete the demand for freewill-offerings for the sanctuary (Exo 25:1-9).
Exo 30:12-15
"When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel according to them that are numbered, they shall give every one an expiation for his soul to the Lord at their numbering, that a plague may not strike them (happen to them) at their numbering." פּקד, lit., adspexit, then inspexit explorandi causa, hence to review, or number an army or a nation, for the purpose of enrolling for military service.…
no plague: Cp. 2 Sam 24, when a plague followed upon David’s unauthorized census. Perhaps a census was often taken for reasons of pride and domination. Here the people are giving God a ransom for themselves. This standard payment would go into the Tabernacle treasury and initially be used in the construction of the Tabernacle (see Exod 38:25-26).
Rashi on Exodus 30:13
זה יתנו THIS SHALL THEY GIVE — He (God) showed him (Moses) a kind of fiery coin the weight of which was half a shekel and said to him, “Like this shall they give” (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 9).
העבר על הפקדים [EVERY ONE] THAT PASSETH AMONG THEM THAT ARE MUSTERED — Scripture uses the expression כל העבר על הפקדים instead of merely saying כל הפקדים because it is the practice of those who count animate beings to make these pass before them one after the other, counting them as they pass. Similar are: (Leviticus 27:32) “whatever passeth (יעבר) under the rod”; (Jeremiah 33:13) “the flock shall pass again (תעברנה) under the hands of him that counteth them”.
מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש THE HALF OF A SHEK…
Religion · .Supported by taxes — .Supported by taxes
Shekel · A weight, equal to twenty gerahs — A weight, equal to twenty gerahs
Tax · Poll — Poll
Weights · Mentioned in scripture: Gerah — Mentioned in scripture: Gerah
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
