When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you are numbered. The census tax is a ransom payment — the same word used for the redemption of the firstborn in Exodus 13:13. Being counted creates a liability: the person whose name is on the census is a person whose life is known to God, and each life requires a ransom payment to prevent the judgment that counting without covering would bring. 2 Samuel 24 records David's census without the ransom payment and the resulting plague — the warning of Exodus 30:12 is fulfilled in David's experience. The ransom paid at the census creates the connection between every Israelite's personal accountability before God and the community's financial support of the tabernacle.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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