TYPES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
THE
ATONEMENT MONEY
When
the Lord gave Moses the instructions for building the tabernacle He gave him also
instructions concerning what is described in Ex 30:16 as “the atonement money.”
“When thou takest the sum of the
children of Israel ... they shall give every man a ransom for his soul.... This they
shall give ... half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary.... The rich shall not
give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel....” Ex 30:12-15;
and in Ex 38:25 we learn that this atonement money was silver.
That
it was merely a token, incapable of procuring a full,eternal redemption, is made
clear in 1 Pe 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold ... but with the precious blood of
Christ....” The same truth is
emphasized in its being a half shekel, for in Scripture, a half is the symbol
of that which is incomplete.
This
atonement money was merely a token. It
couldn’t secure the eternal redemption of the offerer.
In this respect it was like the sacrifices offered under the law, and in
regard to which it is written, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices ... make the
comers thereunto perfect.... For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins,” Heb 10:1-4.
Like
those animal sacrifices, however, the silver half shekel is a type or symbol of
Christ. In the Israelite’s offering
that piece of silver we have a symbolic picture of what the sinner must do to secure
atonement for his soul: by faith he must present Christ to God.
In
the process by which that silver half shekel was formed we see in symbol what it
meant for Christ to become the believer’s “Atonement Money.”
As the silver was subjected to the fire, so was He subjected to the fire of
Divine wrath against sin. (While the literal application is to disobedient Israel, it
is generally recognized that the language of Lam 1:13 relates to the experience of
Christ at Calvary, “From above hath He sent fire into my bones....”).
Apart from His willingness to endure that fire, there could be no atonement
for sin, no redemption of men’s souls.