exodus 30:11-16, triennial ki tisa (adar II), “when you take”

Read Exodus 30:11-16 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Exodus 30:11-16 {p} The atonement money for the tabernacle

Exo 30:11-16 reverse parallelism:

The translation is the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) 1917, with verb forms modernized (it brings out the matching elements better than my traditional NKJV English translation):

1a) Exo 30:11-12, When you number the children of Israel, then every man shall give a ransom for his soul to the LORD;

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ‘When you take the sum of the children of Israel, according to their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to the LORD, when you number them; that there be no plague among them, when you number them.’

1b) Exo 30:13, They shall give, every one who is numbered, a half shekel for an offering to the LORD;

‘This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary—the shekel is twenty gerahs—half a shekel for an offering to the LORD.’

2b) Exo 30:14-15a, Every one who is numbered shall give the offering of the LORD – a half shekel;

‘Every one that passes among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD,’

2a) Exo 30:15b-16 {p} The atonement money from the children of Israel appointed, to make atonement for your souls.

1a) Exo 30:15b, To make atonement for your souls;
1b) Exo 30:16a, And you shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel;
central axis) Exo 30:16b, And shall appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting;
2b) Exo 30:16c, That it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD;
2a) Exo 30:16d, To make atonement for your souls.

“Ransom” and “atonement” are paired, and for good reason:

ransom: Strong’s H3724, kopher, kaph + pey + resh, A COVER; from the primitive root (H3722 kaphar “to cover”). Concretely (a noun as a material thing), it is a village, as that which covers the families; pitch or bitumen, as that which covers something to waterproof or seal it; or dye from a henna plant, as that which women would use to cover their nails to paint them. Abstractly (a noun as an immaterial concept), it is the redemption price.

atonement: Strong’s H3722, kaphar, kap + pey + resh, TO COVER. This is the primitive root from which the other forms are derived. It is the verb form.

The primitive three- letter root is the same for both “ransom” and “atonement:” כָּפַר, kaph + pey + resh. In the ancient Hebrew pictographs, the kaph was the open palm, so also open or allow. The pey was the mouth, so also edge or wound (as an opening of the body). The resh was the head of a man, so also man, head, first, top. Remember that the father covered his son’s head with his open palm when transferring the blessing of the firstborn? The picture the ancient Hebrew pictographs are painting, then, of atonement, is of covering the wound of man. The Lexicons say it means to cover over or to make atonement. I cannot help but think of Noah’s two sons, who “covered over” their father’s nakedness and so preserved his honor and dignity. And whenever I think of Noah’s two sons doing that, I cannot help but think of Pro 17:9, “He who covers a transgression seeks love.”