Today we are reading Exodus 30. In this chapter we read about the census offering. “The Lord said to Moses, “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”” Exodus 30:11-16 ESV This offering was to be given as a ransom for their lives for everyone twenty years old and older. It was to be used for the service in the Tabernacle. It is interesting that every person was assessed this amount simply to bring them to remembrance of God’s deliverance from Egypt. What do we do in remembrance of Jesus? What causes you to reflect on all that Jesus has done for you? Do you think of your offering as a way to remember Jesus’ gifts to you? May you always remember Jesus in all you say and do. Pastor Tim
