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ave you ever studied the amazing silver sockets of redemption found in the Wilderness Tabernacle?
This is a past lesson from our Exodus Study at the COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY from The IN SEASON Lifestyle blog. Welcome to our review.
Upon this writing, we were approaching the Day of Atonement which occurs every Fall during God’s Holy Days. This article covers some points concerning the subject of Atonement, so we consider it to be a timely review. So, we are so glad you took the time to join us today.
If you would like to obtain a whole published summary of this Book of Exodus study, it is available in the publication titled EXODUS TO FREEDOM by Gail Landgraf. This book can be bought at Amazon.com.
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WELCOME
Our study today is all about redemption. Most of the bible references are taken from Exodus Chapter 26. We are considering the amazing silver sockets which were used to anchor the wilderness tabernacle.
Previously, we discussed how God instructed Moses to make bars of acacia wood overlayed in gold. These were used to form the tabernacle structure. (https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/httpwp-mep8woph-if) We know that linked golden bars formed board sections anchored in place by silver sockets. Two silver sockets were placed at each end of each golden board. Next, the boards were intricately placed inside these sockets for security. These important anchors of silver sockets formed the bases for all of the tabernacle’s structure.
SILVER SOCKETS OF REDEMPTION ON THE INSIDE
Notice that the sockets we speak of today were on the inside of the tabernacle. These sockets were made of silver. Also note that the silver sockets on the inside were different from the bronze sockets used in the outside courts.
Looking back through time, we can see the significance of these sockets of the wilderness tabernacle. They were symbolic of a human spirit being transformed by God’s Holy Spirit. This transition was a process which only happens after redemption takes place. The progression of this pattern goes from earthly (the bronze sockets) to more holy (the silver sockets.)
CONCEPTS OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION
We can plainly see the symbolic progress of a spiritual formation upon entering the tabernacle area. A person enters from the outside of the tabernacle. Ultimately they are moving closer and closer to The Holy of Holies where God dwells. The sockets change from bronze to silver as one progresses closer and closer into each of the sacred spaces.
This progressing is similar to the pattern of holiness in one’s life. Holiness happens as a person comes closer and closer to God. God dwelled among the people of the days of the wilderness tabernacle from the place of the Ark. He spoke from the Mercy Seat within The Holy of Holies.
Please note the fact that there is nothing a person can do to make them similar and comparable to these silver sockets which represent a higher form of holiness. It is only the atonement of the blood of Christ that brings a person closer to God. This is what displays an example of the “silver” of redemption in action.
Silver is always the biblical symbol for redemption.
SILVER BASES FORMED FROM A REDEMPTION TAX
Most articles used in the construction of the wilderness tabernacle came from the offerings freely given by the people.
Their valuables included gold, silver and other precious items. The “gifts” they brought and offered to be used in the tabernacle were originally received as bribes from their Egyptian task masters. They wished for these items to be used in the construction of the tabernacle.
Each person gave freely, gladly and cheerfully. All of these gifts came from the heart. No one was forced to give. Each giver hoped their offerings would be pleasing to God. This type of offering is very comparable to the way people of today bring money into the sanctuary of God as tithes and offerings.
THE FOUNDATION WAS DIFFERENT
Silver for the foundation of the tabernacle was required to be given. It was collected from the people as a type of tax, or a sort of ransom for the first and the best of the people (the first-born sons.)
A certain amount of silver was required from every man of military age (those who were over 20 years old.) Each man was required to pay one-half shekel as a redemption price for his life.
First, the men would confess their sins. Next, they would ask for God’s forgiveness. They would bring the cost of redemption (the one-half silver shekel coin) and pay their redemption price to the priest presiding at the tabernacle.
THE COST OF REDEMPTION
Every man was required to pay the same price. It did not matter how rich or poor they were. No one cared how much more one had sinned than the other. All sins were redeemed by one and the same price.
As we have already mentioned, the price for redemption of was always determined to be one-half shekel of silver.
There were 603,550 men over the age of 20 living in the wilderness. Each brought their half-shekel of silver. All of these half-shekels totaled to equal 100 talents of silver. This redemption silver was used to make the silver sockets which held up the 50 bars of The Holy Place in the wilderness tabernacle. You could say the required cost of the life of every first-born son was paid to redeem them.
A scripture relating to these facts can be found in Exodus 30:16:
“You shall take the redemption money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.”
Know and understand that Christ had not yet come. At that time, there was no Messiah to save them. Each man was responsible for his own soul.
From the days of Adam and Eve there had been talk of a Messiah. He had not yet appeared on the scene. There was nothing in those days which automatically made atonement for the souls of these people.
Redemption happened through this tax which was paid to the tabernacle in the form of a certain amount of silver.
SPECIFICS OF THE REDEMPTION PRICE
Very specific instructions were given for the requirements of this redemption price. The rules Moses implemented and followed were spelled out in many areas of the scriptures. Here are two more examples:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “When you take the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then every man shall give a ransom for his soul to the Lord, when you number them; so that there is no plague among them, when you number them.
They shall give this, everyone who passes among those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs) half a shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Everyone who passes among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord.
The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. (Exodus 30:11-16.)
A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. And the sockets of the sanctuary were cast from the hundred talents of silver, and the sockets of the veil: a hundred sockets from the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. (Exodus 38:26-27.)
A SOLID SILVER FOUNDATION
Each of the 100 foundational sockets were made from one talent of silver.
In those days, one talent of silver was considered to be the value of one human life.
Thus, the value of the lives of 100,000 men was used to hold up the base of the place where God would come to dwell among them.
THE SOULS OF 100,000 MEN
A talent is very heavy. It weighs about 75 pounds. Most men would not enjoy dragging this amount of weight through the wilderness.
The people of God had grown very strong through their past experiences as slaves. They had learned how to move huge blocks of stone, so moving 100 pounds of silver wasn’t a problem. Those stones they had to move for Pharaoh had only strengthened and trained them for being able to construct the wilderness tabernacle.
Without anyone knowing what was happening, the people were being prepared and made ready for the future. God had allowed them to be conditioned during their slavery. This conditioning now allowed them to be able to carry the price of their redemption through the wilderness. They did not consider this to be a hard task or a heavy burden, but instead considered it to be a privilege and a blessing.
THE PRICE OF MEN’S SOULS FORMED THE UNSEEN BASE
Hence; the silver sockets that anchored the golden boards of the foundation of the tabernacle were made from the silver taken for the redemption of the souls of the men of Israel.
God wanted Israel to remember this fact.
He claimed that it should be a memorial. God called this redemption by silver “atonement.”
Thus, the nation of Israel became known as “the nation of the redeemed.”
Now we can look back through time and see. We can know why God wanted the men of Israel to remember that redemption came through the payment of a certain amount of silver. Now we can see and understand how this amazing fact prefigures the coming of Christ as the ransom for sinner’s souls. We know Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver for the life of Christ. That perfect life was exchanged for ours. Jesus became the redemption for our sins.
He exchanged his life and blood for our redemption.
SOMETIMES REDEMPTION IS INVISIBLE
Redemption isn’t always obvious.
Sometimes it is unseen.
The people crucifying Christ had no idea what they were doing. In the wilderness tabernacle, the very thing that was holding the tabernacle up (these silver bases of support) were hidden. The silver bases were underground, buried beneath the sands of the desert. Unseen silver was holding everything up.
The very parts which you could not see, the silver bases which held the golden support for the tabernacle in place; kept everything sturdy and standing. Without these bases the tabernacle would topple and fall. With the silver bases of redemption safely in place; the tabernacle remained strong and sturdy.
ATONEMENT
So, we can begin to see how these amazing silver sockets stood as a picture that symbolized redemption and atonement. They were very important, yet they could not be seen. The silver sockets were completely hidden beneath the ground. They worked like anchors, keeping everything firm and steady. Without them; nothing in the Tent of the Tabernacle would hold in place.
For those moving closer and closer to God there is always an unseen spiritual process taking place. It is the beauty of the workings of atonement in our souls. This process is unseen, yet if it was not there we would feel and know the difference.
All of the silver used in the structure of the tabernacle came to 9,600 pounds. Now that is a lot of silver, but what is that compared to the souls of mankind?
Of course, this reminds me of the popular worship song with the popular lyrics which say, “LORD you are more precious than silver.” All Christians should be grateful to God for how he taught us about the process of redemption through those precious silver sockets.
DIFFERENCE FROM HEAVENLY TABERNACLE
This silver socketed foundation of the wilderness tabernacle became the one part of the tabernacle which was not a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle. It had one difference. In the heavenly tabernacle, there is no silver.
You never hear of the use of silver in heaven. There is only the mention of gold. The silver is missing because In the future Kingdom of Heaven there will be no need for redemption. Anyone who dwells within the eternal kingdom will already be redeemed when they arrive.
UNSEEN REDEMPTION
However, the invisible aspect of the silver of redemption is still spiritually evident, even through the final heavenly places will have no physical evidence. Redemption there is unseen, just like the invisible silver bases of the wilderness tabernacle.
Every person who enters into The coming Kingdom of Heaven will have experienced a redemption process from the days of their earthly life. All of the redemption process happens daily while on this earth through relationship with Christ. By the time of reaching eternity, each person will have passed through a type of wilderness experience where they will leave the old sinful life behind and enter into the new life of service to God.
That is when they enter the streets of gold.
CLOTHED WITH REDEMPTION AND ATONEMENT
We know that this process called redemption is not visible to the eye. The fact remains that everyone who completes the transformation of redemption will find themselves in God’s eternal kingdom. All of these spirits would have been through an anchoring and securing process during their earthly life. This is a basic concept that works through everyone entering into the heavenly places. All of God’s faithful must experience such an invisible change before finding the doorway to holiness.
The un-redeemed cannot enter through the heavenly gates. Nor, will they come into the heavenly sanctuary where God lives. Every resident of heaven must be clothed with redemption and atonement.
ONE RAMSON FOR ALL
Like the half-shekel for each man of Israel, there is a price to be paid redeemed spirit of today. It does not matter who they are or how much they have or have not sinned. The same price is required for all.
Christ paid his life as a ransom for everyone who believes in and repents to God. His precious blood became the redemption silver for us. Our price has been paid in full.
Here again, we can see so many shadows and types of Christ hiding within the elements of the wilderness tabernacle.
We clearly see examples, symbols and types that teach us more about our own redemption. Indeed, with grateful hearts we realize how overwhelming and larger-than-life His love is for us.