Message 153
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:11-16; 38:25-28; Num. 1:45-46; 2:32
In this message we come to a new item — the propitiation silver. Apparently this is easy to understand. Actually, the matter of the propitiation silver is not simple. In order to see into the depths of the truth related to the propitiation silver, we need to find out the reason this item is mentioned in Exodus 30 immediately after the record concerning the incense altar.
In understanding any kind of writing we need to consider the context. If we would understand a particular paragraph, we need to know what precedes this paragraph and what follows it. We should not try to understand the paragraph merely as a unit in itself. We need to follow this principle in seeking to understand the significance of the propitiation silver.
It is not easy to understand how the incense altar and the propitiation silver are related. In a simple way we may say that the relationship between them indicates that Christ’s ministry of intercession is based upon His redemption. But even this explanation is mysterious and difficult to understand, for many things are implied by it. Therefore, we need to find out the relationship between the incense altar and the propitiation silver.
We also need to ask why, at this juncture, the children of Israel needed a ransom, or why they needed the propitiation silver. Had they not already been redeemed? Yes, they certainly had been redeemed. Their redemption had taken place nearly a year before. Not too long after the children of Israel had been redeemed by the Passover lamb, they came to Mount Sinai. It is not easy to explain why the children of Israel needed the propitiation silver in Exodus 30 since they had already been redeemed.
Not long after I was saved, I read an article that said that the propitiation silver, the ransom silver, was a type of Christ’s redemption. This is correct; however, this understanding is superficial. The propitiation silver is related to the redemption of Christ. But why did God’s redeemed people need something further related to redemption? They had been redeemed in Egypt by the Passover lamb less than a year before. Why, after such a short time, did they need something further?
The redemption of God’s people in Egypt was accomplished by the blood of the Passover lamb. The lamb was slain, and the blood was applied to the doorpost. In this way the children of Israel experienced the Passover and were redeemed. However, in Exodus 30 redemption is not related to the blood; neither is it related to anything of the animal life. Rather, in this chapter redemption is related to silver, which is a mineral.
Christ’s life has three basic elements: the animal life, the vegetable life, and the minerals. Christ is a lamb. Here we have the element of the animal life. Christ is also wheat. Here we have the element of the vegetable life. Furthermore, Christ is the minerals, for with Him there are gold, silver, and precious stones.
Why is the redemption in chapter thirty not related to the blood of the animal life but rather related to silver? Some would say that the silver signifies the price paid for our redemption. According to their understanding, the silver in Exodus 30 signifies the preciousness in the sight of God of the blood of Christ shed for our redemption. Christ paid a high price to redeem us — the price of His own blood. In the sight of God, this price is precious and thus it is signified by silver. However, we need to see something further.
Another important question related to the propitiation silver is why it is called a heave offering. Verse 13 speaks of “half a shekel as a heave offering to Jehovah.” Verses 14 and 15 also refer to the propitiation silver as a heave offering.
I am glad to know that the Hebrew text here uses the word for heave offering. Most translations simply use the word “offering”; others use the word “contribution,” something the redeemed ones pay to God. But these versions do not indicate that the offering of the propitiation silver was a heave offering. Darby, however, was faithful, and his New Translation of 30:13 uses the expression “the heave-offering for Jehovah.” Furthermore, the margin of the New American Standard Version says “heave offering,” although the word “contribution” is used in the text. It is important that we have the exact translation. Otherwise, an improper translation will become a thick covering that will keep us from seeing the truth in the original text.
The propitiation silver, the price paid for our redemption, is definitely called a heave offering. Why is it called a heave offering and not a sin offering? Since this matter is related to our redemption, it seems that it should be a sin offering. We need to understand why the propitiation silver is considered a heave offering.
The Passover lamb was for all the children of Israel, both male and female, both young and old. But in chapter thirty the propitiation silver is only for males twenty years old and upward. Exodus 30:14 says, “Everyone passing over unto those that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the heave offering of Jehovah.” The females and all those under the age of twenty are excluded. They have no share in this matter. Why is this propitiation silver only for males twenty years and above? This is another important question that we need to answer.
Exodus 38:26 says concerning the propitiation silver, “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 old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.” According to this verse, the propitiation silver was the ransom price paid for 603,550 males, aged twenty and upward. From Numbers 1:45 and 46 we learn that this was the number of males who were able to go forth to war: “So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.” These verses reveal that the number of the males for which the ransom price was paid was the number of those who could be soldiers to form an army.
We now have five questions before us with respect to the propitiation silver. First, what is the relationship between the incense altar and the propitiation silver? Second, why did the children of Israel need something further related to redemption when they had already been redeemed in Egypt? Third, why is the propitiation silver called a heave offering? Fourth, why, after the redemption of the children of Israel by the blood of the Passover lamb in Egypt, was something related to redemption portrayed by silver at Mount Sinai, as described in chapter thirty? Fifth, why was the Passover lamb for everyone, but the propitiation silver was only for males twenty years of age and upward? If we can answer these questions, we shall have a thorough understanding of the propitiation silver.
If we take a bird’s-eye view of this item according to these five questions, we shall see that the propitiation silver was not the redemption for all the children of Israel; it was not a ransom for all the common people. Unlike the Passover lamb, it was not the ransom paid for everyone. We have emphasized the fact that in Egypt all the children of Israel, from the youngest to the oldest, both male and female, were redeemed. But concerning the propitiation silver in chapter thirty, many were excluded. First, all the females were excluded. Furthermore, all the males under the age of twenty were excluded. The propitiation silver, therefore, was only for males twenty and above; that is, it was only for those who were able to go to war.
Exodus 30:12 says, “When you take the sum of the sons of Israel according to those that are numbered of them, then every man shall give a ransom for his soul to Jehovah when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.” The Hebrew word translated “sum” can also be rendered “census.” But the census here is not general or ordinary. Rather, it is a census needed to count the number of those who can be formed into an army. Numbers 1:45 and 46 speak of those who were able to go to war, but Numbers 2:32 speaks of camps or hosts: “These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.” The word “hosts” signifies armies. Those who were numbered in chapter thirty not only were able to go to war; they were those who could be formed into hosts, camps, armies. First it was necessary to have those who were able to go to war. Second, the ones able to go to war had to be formed into armies. The ransom in Exodus 30 was not for the common people; it was a ransom for the army. Hence, the census here is not common or general; it is a military census, a census related to the drafting of men into the army.
As we think of the tabernacle with the table, the lampstand, the ark, the incense altar, and the outer court with the altar and the laver, we may wonder what all this is for. It is correct to say that the tabernacle, the outer court, and all the items related to them are for the purpose that God may come to us so that we may contact Him and enter into Him. It is also true that all this is for Christ to be our enjoyment so that we may experience Him and enter into God through Him in order to be a people who are in God and who have God in them. However, this is actually an initial understanding. For what purpose are we in God and is God in us? Perhaps you would say that the purpose is the expression of God. Yes, we are in God and God is in us so that we may be His expression. Nevertheless, in this statement there is still something missing, and we need to understand what this is.
The book of Ephesians is a book on the church as the fullness of the Triune God. For the church to be the fullness of the Triune God means that the church is the expression of God. What is the last point in Ephesians concerning the church as God’s expression? This point, revealed in chapter six, is spiritual warfare. According to Ephesians 6, the church must be a warrior fighting against God’s enemy.
Recently we have given a number of messages on the church meetings. Why do we meet? Some would say that we meet to express God. However, there are many enemies — “Canaanites” and “Amalekites” — that seek to keep us from expressing the Lord. God commanded the children of Israel to enter into the good land and slaughter all the Canaanites. This indicates that in order to express the Lord, we need to fight against His enemy. Because of the frustrating tactics of the enemy, it is difficult for us to meet together to express God. The “Canaanites” are not willing for us to express Him. They will try to frustrate us from entering into the good land. Therefore, we need to declare, “Canaanites, this land is not yours. This is the Lord’s land. God has given this land to His people.” It is necessary for the church to fight against all the evil powers in the air.
As God’s people, we have been chosen by God to be His possession. First Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” How can God’s chosen people express Him? The children of Israel were chosen by God to be His particular possession on earth to express Him. But how could those Israelites, who had been redeemed by the Passover lamb, express God? In order to become God’s expression, it was necessary for them to be brought to Mount Sinai to receive a particular education from the Lord. At Mount Sinai the children of Israel were trained by God to become His expression.
In order for the children of Israel to express God, they first had to come to the altar in the outer court to confess their sins and their sin. They needed to offer the sin offering for their inward sin and the trespass offering for their outward trespasses. The blood of the sin offering and the trespass offering would then open the way for them to come into the tabernacle.
In the tabernacle first we have the enjoyment of Christ as the life supply. The bread on the table of the bread of the presence indicates that God’s people should no longer live by themselves. Rather, they should live by Christ as their life and their life supply. They should not care about their good behavior, good conduct, and natural character, because God cares only for Christ. God is concerned with how much of Christ we have eaten and enjoyed. God is interested in how much we live Christ, express Christ, and have Christ constituted into our being.
After the table of the bread of the presence, God’s people need to go to the lampstand to be enlightened. How much have you enjoyed Christ as your light? We need to forget our own knowledge, insight, and foresight and recognize that we need Christ to be our light. First we need Christ as our life supply and then as light for our enlightenment. Christ as our enlightenment is versus our natural view, our natural sight.
After experiencing Christ as light, we proceed to the ark of the testimony in the Holy of Holies. However, there is a veil separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. This veil needs to be broken. Otherwise, we shall not be able to enter into the Holy of Holies to contact the ark. Thus, the ark is versus the veil.
As we have pointed out in a previous message, the veil signifies our natural being constituted of our conduct, our view, and our virtue. If we put together our conduct, our sight, and our virtue, we have our natural being. This natural being is the self and also the flesh. This is the veil between us and God. This veil needs to be broken from top to bottom. Once the veil has been rent and we enter into the Holy of Holies to contact the ark, we experience Christ as our testimony.
When we experience Christ as our testimony, we are qualified to come to the incense altar. The golden altar of incense is our destiny and also our destination. What should we do at the incense altar? At the incense altar we need to pray. However, instead of praying for ourselves and our own interests, we should pray for God’s move and for His interests. Prayer for God’s move and God’s interests is intercessory prayer. After God’s chosen people pass through the different stations in the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies, they arrive at their destination, the incense altar, to intercede for God’s interests. For what in particular should God’s people intercede? They need to intercede for God to move.
The tabernacle signifies God embodied in His elect, His chosen people. What is the purpose of this embodiment of God in the tabernacle? It is for God’s move on earth. Concerning this, the principle is the same today as it was in ancient times. Therefore, it is crucial for us to see that the tabernacle and everything related to it is for God’s move on earth.
God has many enemies. The Egyptians were His enemies. The Amalekites also were enemies of God. As we read the Old Testament, we can see that from Egypt to Canaan God had enemies everywhere. Even His own people could be enemies to Him. The same is true today. Who is for God? In ourselves we also are God’s enemies.
Because of all the enemies, God does not have the freedom to move. If He wants to move in a certain direction, there is no thoroughfare, no freeway, because the enemies seek to block the way. Then if God seeks to move in a different direction, other enemies will try to frustrate Him. God is not welcome anywhere. What, then, shall He do? God must fight in order to destroy all His enemies This was the reason the children of Israel were told not to have mercy on the Canaanites. On the contrary, they were to utterly destroy them.
In the book of Ephesians we see the church as the fullness of God. What is the fullness of God? The fullness of God is God’s tabernacle, that is, the embodiment of the Triune God in His chosen people. Eventually, according to the book of Ephesians, the church, God’s people, should be a warrior fighting not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers in the air. Therefore, the revelation of the church in Ephesians corresponds to the type of the tabernacle in Exodus.
First, there is the need of the tabernacle as God’s embodiment. Then God’s chosen people must experience all the aspects of the tabernacle until they arrive at the incense altar to intercede for God’s interests and His move. In particular, God’s people need to pray for the formation of the army of the Lord, an army to fight for God’s move on earth. This is the reason the census and the propitiation silver are mentioned immediately after the description of the incense altar. Actually, in 30:11-16 there is more emphasis on the census than on the ransom silver, the propitiation silver. In verse 12 the Lord told Moses to take a sum, a census, of the sons of Israel according to those who were numbered of them. This numbering of the people is for the formation of an army.
We need to be impressed with the fact that when God’s chosen people arrive at the incense altar, they intercede for God’s move. The answer to this intercessory prayer requires the formation of an army. If we see this, we shall understand the relationship between the incense altar and the propitiation silver. At the incense altar we pray for God’s move. In order for this prayer to be answered, a census must be taken of those who are able to be formed into an army to fight for God’s move on earth.
In this message we have just begun to consider the significance of the propitiation silver. The following message, a continuation of this one, will cover other important matters related to the propitiation silver.
