In this teaching, we will look at how the half-shekel tax connects deeply with a “fish story” in Matthew’s Gospel. We will look at a word that appears only three times in the BIble and see what it teaches us about prayer. This portion also contains God’s 13 Attributes of Mercy, which in turn contains a secret concerning the identity of the Messiah.
Exodus 30:11-12 Adonai said to Moses, “When you lift up the head of the sons of Israel according to their numbers, each man shall give an atonement for his soul to Adonai, that there be no plague among them when you count them.”
כי תשא את ראש (ki tisa et rosh) = כתאר (keter) = “crown”
“his soul” נפשו
נ nun = “fish”
פ peh = “mouth”
ש shen as in “shekel”
ו vav = “hook”
Matthew 17:24-27 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma [half shekel] tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the tax?” He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Yeshua spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Yeshua said to him, “Then the sons are free. However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for Me and for yourself.”
Exodus 30:13 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 Adonai.
מחצית השקל (ma’chatzit ha’shekel)
שקל = 430 = נפש = (nephesh) “soul”
Exodus 30:34 Adonai said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense …”
זכה (zacah) – 3x in Tanach
Leviticus 24:7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to Adonai.
Job 16:17 Though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before You …!
The 13 Attributes of Mercy
Exodus 34:5-7 And Adonai descended [וירד, v’yared] in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of Adonai. 6Then Adonai [יהוה] passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “[1] Adonai, [2] Adonai, [3] El, [4] compassionate and [5] gracious, [6] slow to anger, and [7] abounding [ורב, v’rav] in lovingkindness and [8] truth; 7 who [9] keeps lovingkindness for thousands [of generations], who [10] forgives iniquity, [11] transgression and [12] sin, and who [13] cleanses [ונקה, v’nakeih] – but does not cleanse completely, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
Exodus 34:5-7 וירד יהוה בענן ויתיצב עמו שׁם ויקרא בשׁם יהוה׃ ויעבר יהוה על פניו ויקרא יהוה יהוה אל רחום וחנון ארך אפים ורב חסד ואמת׃ נצר חסד לאלפים נשׂא עון ופשׁע וחטאה ונקה לא ינקה פקד עון אבות על בנים ועל בני בנים על שׁלשׁים ועל רבעים׃
Exodus 34:7 Who keeps lovingkindness for thousands … = נצר חסד לאלפים…
Exodus 33:11 Thus Adonai used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua ben Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
יהשוע בן נון
REFERENCES:
Exodus 38:26 …a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary), for everyone who was listed in the records, from twenty years old and upward, for 603,550 men.
“Many commentators interpret homiletically that the requirement of half a coin alludes to the concept that no Jew is complete unless he joins with others…” – The Stone Chumash on Ex.30:13
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Revelation 5:8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
John 1:14,17 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. …For the Torah was given through Moses; grace and truthwere realized through Yeshua the Messiah.