Brother, Can You Spare Half a Shekel

Exodus 30:11-16

When it gets to be census time, every Israelite aged 20 or older is to pay a ransom to the LORD- one half shekel. Apparently paying this levy will ensure they avoid any plagues from visiting them. Being a people whose history witnessed some pretty serious plagues, this would be a pretty good incentive to part with a little spending drachma.

This seems like it would have been less than fun for the census-taker. I did a little census work some time back and I met some interesting folks including a professional "chicken chaser" and someone else who wanted to buy my car. He was concerned that there was a governmental conspiracy involving people sneaking over at night and moving the property lines of his home...or something equally odd. I think the census process would have been even more challenging if the collection of money was involved.

I don't know how significant a sacrifice this would have been. I'm not sure if a half shekel was the price of a can of diet-camel dew or a down-payment on a Dodge Ram, but either way, the payment was standard for everyone.

Moses makes a point of signifying the rich are not to pay more and the poor are not to pay less. Initially my reaction to this statement is to apply it to contemporary tax policy. Does that mean that a flat tax is somehow a more just governmental tool? Maybe the key to this policy comes in to what this money is for. I've used the terms "levy" and "tax" but I don't think that those terms are appropriate for what really is going on there. This is an atonement offereing- I can't make an offering for you any more than I can repent for you- this is about showing God appreciation for sparing lives, and each individual was required to show an individual appreciation...a half-shekel's worth.

I'm not sure about how often this happened. They may have paid annually- or just once when they turned twenty but either way the money went toward the service of the Tent of Meeting. This was to be a memorial making atonement for their lives. Seems like a pretty good deal