Towards, unto, into and in Theos

And at the king’s commandment they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the house of Yahweh. And they made a proclamation through Yehudah and Yerushalym, to bring in to Yahweh the collection that Mosheh the servant of ‘elohym laid upon Yisra’el in the wilderness. (2 Chronicles 24.8,9)

As we saw in the previous post, the word for ‘chest’ here is the same word as that for ‘ark’ as in the ark of the covenant. Furthermore, the money which is mentioned here as being ordained by Mosheh in the wilderness is the ransom or redemption money levied as half a shekel on each of the adult male sons of Yisra’el:

When thou take the sum of the children of Yisra’el after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom (כפר) for his soul unto Yahweh, when thou number them; that there be no plague among them, when thou number them. This they shall give, every one that passes 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 Yahweh. Every one that passes among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto Yahweh. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto Yahweh, to make an atonement (כפר) for your souls. And thou shall take the silver of the atonements (hakipurym הכפרים) of the children of Yisra’el, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Yisra’el before Yahweh, to make an atonement (כפר) for your souls. (Exodus 30.12-16)

So, a number of points arise here. The money was taken at the numbering of the sons of Yisra’el and it was specifically for the service of the tabernacle. Therefore, it was entirely in keeping with Yahweh’s will that the ransom money should be used for the upkeep of the temple, as in the passage in Chronicles (above). Secondly, the half shekel ‘ransom’ money is an individual act which pertains to the individual soul. Furthermore, this reconciliatory offering, as a whole, is a reconciliatory act for all the souls of the children of Yisra’el represented by the tabernacle. In a previous post – What is a soul? – we showed that a soul is a life, and by virtue of that an identity, which is formed by respiration, taking in the breath/spirit of ‘elohym and then reciprocally exhaling it. Thus, reconciliation for a soul is that act of kerubic manifestation which causes the cutting off of the natural man and the putting on of the soul (life/identity) of Yahweh. We considered this in a previous post when we considered the work of the Lord Iesous and the disciple’s attempt to follow him, particularly in respect of the putting off of the soul:

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his soul a ransom (release) for many. (Math.20.28)

and:

He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that takes not his stake, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his soul shall lose it: and he that loses his soul for my sake shall find it. (Math.10.37-39)

As noted above (and before) the word for ransom is from a word meaning to loose and therefore a ransom is a release. He gave his soul as this act which releases many. As he performed this release first we must assume that it is a release from sin and death which his followers can also access. In the second quotation above we see how that giving up of one’s soul is in respect of valuing carnal connections as inferior to the love which we should have towards Iesous. If we engage in this valuation of him above all others, including our own soul, then we shall find a soul unto aionian life with him. We must take (receive) the suffering of the stake to accomplish this. That is, we must follow in his steps to cut off the carnal mind by struggling against it with the mind of Theos, as evidenced in the reconciliatory work of anointed accomplished in the face of the kaporeth.

The word translated ‘ransom’ coming from the word ‘to loose’ may seem to have a sense of a financial transaction, as in a payment made to release an abductee, but none of the contexts of this word indicate payments or financial transactions of any sort and it is not necessarily linked to the ransom in Exodus. Indeed, in 1 Corinthians 7 the word for ‘loose’ and the word ‘to reconcile’ (which we will come to see in future posts is related to the present discussion of ‘kapar’ כפר) seem to occur as antitheses:

But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. (1 Corinthians 7.11)

Are thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Are thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. (1 Corinthians 7.27)

This may well feed into our ongoing discussions of antitheses and not and not/not. On the one hand we have reconciliation as a movement of two towards one and on the other hand we have loosening as a separation of two things bound together. We saw a similar phenomenon with respect to ‘within’ and ‘without’ where the words are perspective driven. So, within the camp at a certain point is seen as desirable because it means within the household of faith and without the camp can be undesirable as it is where the leper is isolated to. However, these roles can be reversed so that within the camp can be where unbelief and corruption lies and the tabernacle needs to be removed from unto a place without the camp; or the auspices of the mosaic ordinances need to be left behind to go forth and be where Iesous was offered, outside the gate. Similarly, here we need to ask the questions relating to what you are reconciled unto and what you are loosed from. Reconciliation to Yahweh is desirable and loosening from the bonds of sin and death are the outcome of that reconciliation, as well as being loosened from the mind of the flesh is part of the process of being reconciled to Theos by the spirit. It is possible that union and loosening could be unto and from the opposite, however. So we can see a relationship of the two ideas but not an equivalence. Loosening and reconciliation are not the same but one can be the outcome of the other, or the two can exist in lock step as part of the same journey. Thus the ransom of Exodus (כפר), that is a reconciliation, and the ransom of the New Testament (lutron/antilutron λυτρον/αντιλυτρον), that is a loosening, seem to have a relation of juxtaposition or even opposition, while potentially being inextricably associated.

In the New Testament passage cited above the disciples are worthy of Iesous if, like him, they are willing to sacrifice their carnal identity for his sake. If they are willing to cut off carnal connections like he did. This idea of worthiness is related to the payment of kapar money in the Old Testament. The word for ‘worthy’ is the Greek word axios (αξιος). We get the English word axiom(atic) from it. Unlike the English word axiom the Greek word, in its occurrences in scripture, carries the sense of parity or equality. Thus:

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance (Math.3.8)

And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. (Loukas 10.7)

In the first passage Iohannes the Baptist requires the Pharisaioi to offer works in keeping, and demonstrating, repentance. In the second passage a reward or wage is in keeping with the work performed. So, a worker expends his energy on labour and the reward of such is to his satisfaction if it is equal, in his mind, to that effort. This idea of worthinees or satisfaction, of parity or even balance, crops up in the kapar money too:

Moreover you shall take no satisfaction for the soul of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And you shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. (Numbers 35.31,32)

If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his soul whatsoever is laid upon him. (Exodus 21.30)

The words in bold translate the kapar money. The punishment of death to be imposed on a murderer under the law cannot be made equal with a sum of money to redeem the murderer’s life/soul. The equality of punishment is a life for a life, money is inadequate for compensating the taking of life. Similarly the manslaughter of a person cannot be balanced with payment. It must be balanced by exile. However, the death of a person at the hands of a beast can be compensated by a payment, so long as those who determine the payment are satisifed with its compliance. In all of these contexts it is a soul that can or cannot be redeemed from death by an equivalence of payment. Satisfaction, balance, parity are the conditions for a successful reconciliatory transaction.

How does this fit with the ark and the chest before the temple gate? Firstly, we have seen that the ark (ארון) is a vessel for death, in the case of Yoseph’s bones, and death and resurrection, in the case of ‘Aharon’s rod that budded. It is also a vessel for the word, as in the tables of testimony, and the word made flesh, as in the pot of manna. The ark is also the vessel that incorporated the lid (the kaporeth), being the place of reconciliation (atonement) where the blood was sprinkled on the day of the atonements but also, and in tandem with the above, being the place where ‘elohym and man meet and are joined in unity of mind and speech (symbolised by faces). So we see death and resurrection effected by the word made flesh leading to the reconciliation and keeping of covenant between Yahweh and his obedient people by virtue of their engaging in a kerubic relationship, as his son did. The chest which was before the gate of the temple picks up some of these themes. It, eventually, is filled with the ransom money (kapar) which redeems the souls of the children of Yisra’el when they are numbered. The redemption of their souls (lives and identities) is their reconciliation with Yahweh leading to the repair of the house of Yahweh. It is therefore highly figurative in that this manifestation of an ark leads to the reconciliation of Yahweh’s people to him when their relationship is repaired so that they become his house once more.

In the kaporeth we see equivalence or parity. Yahweh reveals himself to man and man reciprocates. If Yahweh sees this reciprocal relationship in the opposite face, as he did in his son, then he is satisfied. In that context the man is worthy of him.