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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 2, NUMBER 38, OCTOBER 20, 2002 HOW
MUCH WOULD YOU PAY?
In Exodus 21, various penalties for different offenses are set forth.
In verses 28 – 32, injuries that could be caused by an ox are
discussed, along with the consequences of these injuries for the owner of the
animal. The passage says, “And
if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its
flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished.
If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring, and its owner
has been warned, yet he does not confine it, and it kills a man or a woman, the
ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death.
If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of
his life whatever is demanded of him. Whether
it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same
rule. If the ox gores a male or
female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver,
and the ox shall be stoned.”
In the event that an ox killed a man or woman, the ox was to be stoned
and its flesh uneaten. The owner of
the ox was without guilt. If the ox
was known to gore, and the owner had been warned, the owner was responsible if
he did not confine the animal. If a
person was killed by the ox, the ox was to be stoned and the owner was to be put
to death. However, if the relatives
of the dead person would permit it, the owner could ransom his own life by
paying whatever they demanded. If it
was a slave that was killed, the owner of the ox had to pay the slave’s master
the average price of a slave, which was 30 pieces of silver.
That thirty pieces of silver reoccurs in scripture with a heart-rending
significance. In the highly
messianic book of Zechariah, Jehovah is depicted as a shepherd who led, fed, and
cared for
Jehovah was rejected by the Jewish nation as a whole and valued at the
same level as that of an injured slave. In
the prophecy, the casting away of the paltry sum at which Jehovah had been
prized was done publicly to testify to the insult thrust upon God by the people.
Later, when God would send His Son as “the good Shepherd”, the Jews
would continue their rejection and place upon Him an equal value of thirty
pieces of silver.
In Matthew 26:14 – 15, we find, “Then one of the twelve, named
Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, What are you willing to
give me to deliver Him up to you? And
they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver.”
It is interesting to me that Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus took upon
Himself the “form of a bond-servant”, and that is the estimate of
value that was placed upon Him by the Jewish leaders and by Judas, who accepted
that price.
In Matthew 27:3 – 10, we read, “Then when Judas, who had betrayed
Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty
pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by
betraying innocent blood. But they
said, What is that to us? See to
that yourself! And he threw the
pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged
himself. And the chief priests took
the pieces of silver and said, It is not lawful to put them into the temple
treasury, since it is the price of blood. And
they counseled together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a
burial place for strangers. For this
reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophets was fulfilled,
saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One whose
price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s
Field, as the Lord directed me.”
The agreement between the prophecies and the fulfillment is striking.
The thirty pieces of silver was a sign of ingratitude and contempt on the
part of the people for the shepherd. That
shepherd ultimately was Jesus. That
the chief priests allowed only thirty pieces of silver to the traitor, Judas,
illustrates their contempt for Jesus. The
casting of the silver in the temple, the place where the people came before God,
symbolically charged them with their sin.
How much would you pay? To
the Jews Jesus was worth the price of an injured slave.
Judas, an apostle, accepted such a small sum to betray Him.
Think of it this way. Jesus
placed your worth at HIS LIFE! He
appraised you worthy of His coming from heaven,
taking on the form of a bond-servant and being made in all points like we are,
and dying a horrible death, to purchase you with His blood. How much do you think Jesus is worth? Will you give Him first place in your life? Will you give Him your time, energy, money, and love? Will you give Him your all? Or will you give Him one or two hours a week and say that that is payment enough?
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