Exodus 30:16

16 Receive this ransom money from the Israelites, and use it for the care of the Tabernacle. It will bring the Israelites to the LORD ’s attention, and it will purify your lives.”

Exodus 30:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 30:16

And thou shall take the atonement money of the children of
Israel
The half shekel, the ransom of their souls:

and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the
congregation;
for the building of the tabernacle, for the repairs of it, and for the sacrifices offered in it; particularly we find that this first collection this way was appropriated to the silver sockets of the sanctuary, and the vail, for the silver hooks, and for the pillars, ( Exodus 38:27 Exodus 38:28 ) :

that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the
Lord, to make an atonement for your souls;
to put them in mind that they were sinners, that their lives were forfeited, that a ransom price was given and accepted of God, that hereby atonement, in a typical sense, was made for them; and this was before the Lord, as a token of their gratitude to him, and of their acknowledgment of the favour.

Exodus 30:16 In-Context

14 All who have reached their twentieth birthday must give this sacred offering to the LORD .

15 When this offering is given to the LORD to purify your lives, making you right with him, the rich must not give more than the specified amount, and the poor must not give less.

16 Receive this ransom money from the Israelites, and use it for the care of the Tabernacle. It will bring the Israelites to the LORD ’s attention, and it will purify your lives.”

17 Then the LORD said to Moses,

18 “Make a bronze washbasin with a bronze stand. Place it between the Tabernacle and the altar, and fill it with water.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 30:18, 20, 26, 36 .