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(Exo 30:11-16)  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom [Heb: a cover] for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague [Heb: a trip (of the foot); (fig.) an infliction (of disease): stumbling] among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money [Heb: silver] of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation [i.e., Jesus Christ, of whom the tabernacle was a type and shadow]; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

1.       atonement = Heb: kâphar; to cover; (fig.) to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel: - appease, make (an) atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, to pitch, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile (-liation).

2.       Commentary: silver = is a precious metal employed by God in the Bible to symbolize the “redemption” or “salvation” of a soul. As such, the parable of the temporarily lost but re-covered silver coin is integral to the parable of the temporarily lost (back-sliding) but re-covered sheep, and the temporarily lost (back-sliding) but re-covered prodigal son. That which is once possessed by God shall always be God’s.

3.       Commentary: “from twenty years old” = is perhaps the age of accountability for at the age of 20 years, at that time, the men were able to become priests or soldiers. However, the age of eligibility for the priesthood was later moved up to 25 years old, and then finally to 30 years old. Jesus Christ was officially baptized by God into the Melchisedec priesthood (Heb 5:6,10) as our High Priest in the river Jordan when “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.” (Luke 3:22,23).

4.       Commentary: On the other hand, “when he was twelve years old, they [Jesus and His family] went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:42)… “And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors [Heb: masters, teachers] [of the Law], both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they [Mary and Joseph] saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist [Gk: understand] ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature [Gk: maturity], and in favour with God and man.” (Luke 2: 47-52). Perhaps Jesus received the latter increases because He became accountable to His elders? Disobedient children learn very little from their elders.

a.       subject = Gk: to be subordinate; to obey: - be under obedience (obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto.

b.       accountable = Dict: 1. liable [answerable] to be called to account; responsible. 2. that can be explained.

5.       Commentary: “his understanding and answers” = to be accountable means that one is subject to a higher order of understanding than he or she currently possesses, but is held responsible and answerable for that level of understanding to which he or she has already attained. To be accountable means that one must first have been given or attained a certain level of knowledge and understanding of a circumstance or thing, and thereafter, one becomes responsible or answerable for that knowledge and understanding. The clear declarations of Jesus’ vastly superior knowledge and understanding at an elevated level of comprehension above and beyond not only the learned Doctors of the Law but above Mary and Joseph (i.e., types and shadows of everyone else) as well, conclusively proved His right to be esteemed “accountable to.” Nevertheless, the twelve years old Jesus remained “subject” to, subordinate to, obedient to, i.e., “accountable to” His mother and father. These verses demonstrate that “when he was twelve years old,” or before, Jesus had achieved the age of accountability, as demonstrated by the wisdom of “his understanding and answers.” However, these verses do not prove (although they may) that the age of accountability is the “set” age of twelve years old for each and every (different) person, but these verses are at most a guide as to the general age of becoming responsible for oneself. Perhaps a better, at least a more practical guide to the age of accountability is puberty. Hence the quite common occurrences of early childhood-adolescent ages of marriage throughout thousands of years of history up to the relatively recent times of a hundred years ago or so.

a.       puberty: Dict: sexual maturity; the earliest age at which a person is capable of procreating offspring (in common law, presumed to be 14 years in the male and 12 years in the female).

(Exo 38:25-28)  And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: 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. And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets [Heb: (in the sense of strength); a basis (of a building, a column, etc.): - foundation] of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars [Heb: a column (as standing)], and overlaid their chapiters [Heb: heads], and filleted [Heb: joined (fig. to love, delight in] them.

1.       (Rev_3:12)  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar [Gk: a support] in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. [i.e., shepherds]

2.       (John_10:9)  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. [i.e., sheep]

(Exo 26:15-25)  And thou shalt make boards [derived from trees, biblically symbolic of men: Psa 1:3, et.al.] for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up [and covered with gold, symbolic of the purity of God]. Ten cubits [a cubit is an indefinite measure assumed to be between 15 and 25 inches, but for our purposes, a cubit shall be 24 inches herein equaling 20 feet tall] shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half [3 feet] shall be the breadth of one board. Two tenons [prongs extending like the end of an electrical plug] shall there be in one board, set in order [Heb: equidistant] [but abutting, firmly touching] one [board] against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons [with the two extending wooden prongs of each board fitted into two adjoining sockets (like two feet fitted into two shoes)], and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards: And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. (Exo 26:22) And for the sides of the tabernacle westward [seven KJV (only) ref: Exo 26:22,23,27; 36:27,28,32; Ezek 46:19 to the two sides westward: an extraordinary revelation] thou shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

1.       shittim wood = Heb: the acacia tree (from its scourging thorns).

2.       acacia = Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary: A large thorny tree with rough gnarled bark… hard-grained and it repelled insects. Many species of acacia grew in [the wilderness of] the desert of Sinai, and in southern Palestine, and in Egypt. Acacia wood was used to build the ark of the covenant, and [all the wood of] the first tabernacle.

3.       “sides” (Exo 26:22, etc.) Heb: properly the flank; but used only figuratively /// to be soft; the thigh (from its fleshy softness); by euphemism the generative parts: X body, loins, shaft, side, thigh.

Amen