Exodus 30:14

Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) From twenty years old and above.—A Hebrew was not reckoned full grown till twenty. At twenty the liability to military service began (Numbers 1:3;

2Chronicles 25:5). At twenty the Levites commenced their service in the sanctuary (1Chronicles 23:24-27; 2Chronicles 31:17; Ezra 3:8).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:11-16 The tribute was half a shekel, about fifteen pence of our money. The rich were not to give more, nor the poor less; the souls of the rich and poor are alike precious, and God is no respecter of persons, Ac 10:34; Job 34:19. In other offerings men were to give according to their wordly ability; but this, which was the ransom of the soul, must be alike for all. The souls of all are of equal value, equally in danger, and all equally need a ransom. The money raised was to be used in the service of the tabernacle. Those who have the benefit, must not grudge the necessary charges of God's public worship. Money cannot make atonement for the soul, but it may be used for the honour of Him who has made the atonement, and for the maintenance of the gospel by which the atonement is applied.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Half a shekel - The probable weight of silver in the half-shekel would now be worth about 1 shilling, 3 1/2d. (Compare Genesis 23:16. See Exodus 38:24 note.) Gerah is, literally, a bean, probably the bean of the carob or locust-tree. It was used as the name of a small weight, as our word grain came into use from a grain of wheat.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11-16. 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 (Nu 1:42, 45), and the Levites (Nu 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 same impost that was exacted from our Lord (Mt 17:24-27), and it was usually devoted to repairs and other purposes connected with the services of the sanctuary.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

From twenty years old and above; the time when they began to be fit for employment, and capable of getting and paying money. Women and children are not included here, because they are reckoned in their fathers or husbands.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above,.... Even Levites, Israelites, proselytes, and servants freed, but not women, bond servants, or children (x):

shall give an offering to the Lord; the half shekel before mentioned.

(x) Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1, 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. from twenty years old and upward] i.e. from adult age.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - From twenty years old and upward. Twenty was the age at which an Israelite was reckoned a man; at twenty he became liable to serve in the wars (2 Chronicles 25:5), and entered otherwise on the duties of citizenship. At twenty the Levites began their service in the temple (1 Chronicles 23:24, 27; 2 Chronicles 31:17; Ezra 3:8). Exodus 30:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"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. לפקדיהם with reference to the numbered, qui in censum veniunt. כּפר (expiation, expiation-money, from כּפּר to expiate) is to be traced to the idea that the object for which expiation was made was thereby withdrawn from the view of the person to be won or reconciled. It is applied in two ways: (1) on the supposition that the face of the person to be won was covered by the gift (Genesis 32:21; 1 Samuel 12:3); and (2) on the supposition that the guilt itself was covered up (Psalm 32:1), or wiped away (Jeremiah 18:23), so far as the eye of God was concerned, as though it had no longer any existence, and that the sinful man was protected from the punishment of the judge in consequence of this covering. In this way כּפר has acquired the meaning λύτρον, a payment by which the guilty are redeemed (Exodus 21:30; Numbers 35:31); and this is the meaning which it has in the passage before us, where the soul is said to be protected by the copher, so as to be able to come without danger into the presence of the holy God (Numbers 8:19. See Oehler in Herzog's Cycl.). Such an approach to God took place at the numbering of the people for the purpose of enrolling them in the army of Jehovah (Numbers 1:3, cf. Exodus 7:4; Exodus 12:41). Hence "every one who passed over to those that were numbered," who was enrolled among them, i.e., in the army of Jehovah, - that is to say, every male Israelite of 20 years old and upwards (Exodus 30:14), - was to pay half a shekel of the sanctuary as atonement-money; the rich no more, the poor no less (Exodus 30:15), because all were equal in the sight of Jehovah; and this payment was to be a "heave" (terumah, see Exodus 25:2) for Jehovah for the expiation of the souls. The shekel of the sanctuary, which contained 20 gerahs, was no doubt the original shekel of full weight, as distinguished from the lighter shekel which was current in ordinary use. In Exodus 38:26 the half shekel is called בּקע, lit., the split, i.e., half, from בּקע to split; and we find it mentioned as early as the time of the patriarchs as a weight in common use for valuing gold (Genesis 24:22), so that, no doubt, even at that time there were distinct silver pieces of this weight, which were probably called shekels when employed for purposes of trade, since the word shekel itself does not denote any particular weight, as we may perceive at once form a comparison of 1 Kings 10:17 and 2 Chronicles 9:16, at least so far as later times are concerned. The sacred shekel, to judge from the weight of Maccabean shekels, which are in existence still, and vary from 256 to 272 Parisian grains, weighed 274 grains, and therefore, according to present valuation, would be worth 26 groschen (about 2 Samuel 7d.), so that the half-shekel of bekah would be 13 groschen (1 Samuel 3 1/2d.).