FI Y4 WK 33. P. BECHUKOTAI (MY STATUTES): THIRTY SHEKELS FOR JESUS

THEME:

Man’s valuation of you and God’s valuation of you are two different things. Your true value is God’s valuation.

Leviticus 27:1-8 (KJV)

“Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying

 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When a man consecrates by a vow certain persons to the LORD, according to your valuation,

 If your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

 If it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels; (v. 4)

 And if from five years old up to twenty years old, then your valuation for a male shall be twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels;

 And if from a month old up to five years old, then your valuation for a male shall be five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver;

 And if from sixty years old and above, if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels,

 But if he is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for him; according to the ability of him who vowed, the priest shall value him.”

When Judas Iscariot made the pact with the Sadducean priests to deliver Jesus to them, they paid him thirty shekels (“pieces”) of silver, as it is written in Matthew 26:14-15,

“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,

“And said unto them, What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces (“shekels”) of silver.”

This fulfilled the prophecy in Zechariah 11:12-14 concerning the breaking of the covenant with all the people who had been appointed to slaughter:

“And I said unto them, If you think good give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty (pieces) of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter; a goodly price that I was prised of them. And I took the thirty (pieces) of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Then I cut asunder my other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.”

This is one of the most astounding fulfillments of prophecy in the Bible—the pricing of Jesus at thirty pieces of silver and the subsequent morbid sorrow of Judas who cast the pieces down in the Temple and then went out and hung himself after which the Temple priests gave the money to buy a potter’s field for the burying of strangers (non-Jews) because “it is the price of blood.” (Matthew 27)

Thirty shekels (“pieces”) of silver was the valuation of a female between ages twenty and sixty. The valuation for a male was fifty shekels (“pieces”—according to the Temple shekel). Thus, the agreed price for the betrayal of Jesus was the price of a female of his age (thirty-three years at the time of his death). What an insult to his manhood!

Even the LORD Himself despised this insulting valuation in Zechariah.

Notice what happened as a result (part of the astonishing fulfillment of this prophesy):

First, the LORD (HA’SHEM) said this valuation was the valuation placed by Israel ON HIM! ON GOD THE LORD! (Zechariah 11:13) This is one proof text that Jesus of Nazareth is actually HA’SHEM in the flesh!

Second, the consequence in the whole people of Israel in the days of Jesus and afterward in one generation at the destruction of the second temple was that the land would be attacked and the people as a whole slaughtered, which happened in 70 AD. (Zechariah 11:4-6)

Third, the brotherhood between Judah and Israel (the southern and northern halves of the Kingdom) would be broken. This happened with the split between the followers of Yeshua (who had been headquartered in the northern kingdom) and those who rejected him and cast out from the synagogue his followers by means of the curse on the minim in the Amidah (basically, the Judean establishment that later became the Rabbinic survivors of the destruction of the second temple.)

This rupture of the nation had the effect of driving the followers of Yeshua into all the nations of the world proclaiming the Gospel. It then had the effect of sending the Jews who did not accept Yeshua into all the nations of the world by means of captivity and dispersion.

Thirty shekels of silver: a despicable human valuation when, in reality, the Divine valuation was that of HA’SHEM HIMSELF.

There is no price that can suffice to be a true valuation for the Son of God.

When you realize that being “in Christ” elevates you in the eyes of God to a value that is beyond any human valuation, then you will begin to walk in the footsteps of the Only One who is worthy to enter into Eternal Life. (John 3:16; Revelation 4-5)

As Paul said in Galatians 2:20,

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Read thoughtfully the “in Christ” passages in Ephesians to see how God values you. Then ask Him to help you to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you have been called.” Amen.

As a significant historic footnote, let me point out that now in our time the LORD is laying the foundation for a complete healing of the broken state of His Nation. This too is prophesied. So then, we are living at a most auspicious moment in human history. Let this truth guide you in the days to come.

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