Today's passage involves the subject of atonement. We pick up where we left off yesterday---discussing the altar of incense---and we move on into what is called the atonement money.
Regarding the altar of incense the Lord says, "Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns. This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord." (Exodus 30:10) This annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the one day a year the high priest would go behind the curtain and anoint the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant with blood from the sacrifice for sin. Once he had done that, he was to emerge and anoint the altar of incense with some of the same blood. We find more details about this in Leviticus 16, "Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites." (Leviticus 16:18-19)
Why does the altar of incense need to be cleansed? I think perhaps for the same reason we speculated the altar for sacrifice needed to be cleansed: it was made by human hands and it was used by human hands. The incense placed upon this altar was mixed by human hands. I tried to find commentaries and opinions regarding the need for cleansing and didn't come up with anything, so I can't say for certain what the reason was, but since the Bible says it must be consecrated "from the uncleanness of the Israelites" we can safely conclude that it somehow became tainted by its proximity to human beings. And if, as we discussed yesterday, the incense burned on this altar symbolizes prayer, we must consider the fact that human beings sometimes pray in the wrong attitude and with selfish motives. The Apostle James once stated that the reason we don't always receive affirmative answers to our prayers is because we "ask with wrong motives". (James 4:3) Prayers prayed in the wrong spirit may have polluted the altar of incense, causing it to need reconsecrating once a year.
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay to the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them." (Exodus 30:11-12) When we arrive at the book of Numbers we will find two incidences of this type of census taking place. There is also an account of a census in 2 Samuel 24 that occurs when King David sinfully takes a census of the people. David does it not for the purpose of each person giving half a shekel to the tabernacle for the Lord's use but to number how many able-bodied men were available to fight in Israel's army. As a result of David's sin, three days of plague fell on the nation.
David sinned in at least two ways in 2 Samuel 24. First, the reason for taking a census was not to estimate how many men were available for the army. David displayed a lack of faith in the protection of the Lord when he felt compelled to count and take comfort in the number of men able to take up a sword and fight for the nation. Second, when a census was being taken it was to number the people belonging to the Lord, for no king or priest or prophet or anyone else "owned" the citizens of Israel. David counted these men as though they were his and he did it in a spirit that discounted the value of their souls and reduced them (in his mind) to nothing but soldiers who were expendable if necessary. But these were not David's people; they were the Lord's people. The purpose of the census is to count the Lord's people, and each person counted will be required to pay half a shekel to the tabernacle to "redeem" his life; in other words, to acknowledge that he belongs completely to the Lord and that he owes the Lord his all but that he has failed to perfectly devote himself to the Lord. The Apostle Peter alluded to the atonement money of the census when he compared paying this ransom (a thing which would occur over and over) to the eternal once-and-for-all ransom Christ paid for us: "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." (1 Peter 1:18-19) The atonement money paid following a census foreshadowed the atonement Christ would make on the cross; therefore the practice of taking the census and paying the atonement money was to be done reverently and exactly in the manner the Lord prescribed. David failed to obey the Lord and as a result the plague the Lord warned about in Exodus 30:12 fell on the nation.
As each person is counted for the census, he pays his ransom. "Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the Lord. The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives." (Exodus 30:13-15) Each person pays the same amount because each person is equally valuable in the Lord's eyes. The rich aren't worth more to Him than the poor, so throwing more money into the offering plate isn't going to make the rich "more saved" or "more worthy" than their poor neighbor who can only bring half a shekel. Redemption costs the same for each human soul, whether rich or poor, so each person is to bring the same offering to the tabernacle. In this same way, the redemption of our souls through Christ was obtained by the same price: His blood. The same blood that saves you also saves me. The same blood that saves somebody listed on the Forbes 500 saves somebody who is barely scraping by from week to week. We have all sinned. We all need redemption. Redemption is offered to us all by the same method.
"Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, making atonement for your lives." (Exodus 30:16) This money goes to the Lord's house, which is a place we should regularly bring our offerings.
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