Salvation, ransom, and redemption

[goldphoenix]

Here is my take on salvation, at least to start.

Ransom and redemption are English words from the same Latin source, redemption, which is "buying back."

Ransom via the French rancon has come to mean liberation from slavery, an obligation or undesired circumstances.

Today, redemption has to do with regaining possession of a thing.

Originally ransom and redemption were synonymous and are used in translation of a number of Hebrew and Greek words.

The similarity in all these terms is the idea of giving a price or a thing of value to effect the ransom or redemption.

So they all have in common the idea of exchange, correspondence, equivalence or substitution.

One thing given for another to satisfy the demand for justice resulting in a balance of things.

[charlesa6]

Your avatar is a replica one. I believe scottinalaska is using it before you.

[goldphoenix]

Originally Posted by charlesa6

Your avatar is a replica one. I believe scottinalaska is using it before you.

Please forgive for my ignorance. Is that against the site rules? If not, I found it to be the one, aside from the spiderman avatar, that suits me at this point best.

I can try to find a different one when I have time, or go back to no avatar, if I am offending anyone by using it.

goldphoenix

[goldphoenix]

Genesis 6:14 (New American Standard Bible) - " "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch."

The Hebrew verb ka-phar', used in the Scripture above, which means "to cover," gave birth to the Hebrew noun ko'pher.

The use of ka'phar in the above Scripture is an exception to the rule, for in nearly all other cases it is used to express the satisfaction of justice by covering or atoning for sins.

Psalm 65:3 (Young's Literal Translation) - "Matters of iniquities were mightier than I, Our transgressions -- Thou dost cover them."

Psalm 78:38 (The Message) - "And God? Compassionate!

Forgave the sin! Didn't destroy!

Over and over he reined in his anger,

restrained his considerable wrath."

Psalm 79:8; Psalm 79:9 (New King James Version) - "Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us!
Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
For we have been brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name’s sake!"

Ko'pher is used, as in the above Scriptures, in reference to that which is given to bring about the satisfacton of justice by covering/atoning for sins, the price of the ransom.

Exodus 25:17-22 (New Living Translation) - 17) " "Then make the Ark's cover--the place of atonement--out of pure gold. It must be 3 3/4 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide. 18) Then use hammered gold to make two cherubim, and place them at the two ends of the atonement cover. 19) Attach the cherubim to each end of the atonement cover, making it all one piece. 20) The cherubim will face each other, looking down on the atonement cover with their wings spread out above it. 21) Place inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the Ark. 22) I will meet with you there and talk to you from above the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover over the Ark of the Covenant. From there I will give you my commands for the people of Israel."

That which covers corresponds to that which it covers, in form (such as in a physical lid, like the "cover" for the ark of the covenant, "khap-po'rethor;" or in value (like when someone pays us to cover damages when there is an injury).

[charlesa6]

Originally Posted by goldphoenix

Please forgive for my ignorance. Is that against the site rules? If not, I found it to be the one, aside from the spiderman avatar, that suits me at this point best.

I can try to find a different one when I have time, or go back to no avatar, if I am offending anyone by using it.

goldphoenix

You are not offending anyone, I just want you to aware of it.

[goldphoenix]

Originally Posted by charlesa6

You are not offending anyone, I just want you to aware of it.

Thank you, Charles! Since Scott had first dibs I'll try to find another one asap. I'm amazed my phone/dsl has not been shut off yet (behind on that "bill" as well). That's coming soon, so please forgive, Scott, if I find another appropriate one (that I like as much) later rather than sooner!

peace,

goldphoenix

[Livefire]

You can use any avatar you like as long as its in good taste. No rules about it having to be unique.....

I choose not to use one at all

Excellent analysis of the terms Gold... thought provoking indeed.

Jerry.

[goldphoenix]

Thank you, Livefire. I usually do not use an avatar on forums, either!

Thank you, Jerry! I am merely sharing information. Plenty more to come.

I will work on adding to this info little by little as time and funds allow (in other words until my dsl/phone are cut off).

Exodus chapter 29 verses 33 through 37 (English Standard Version): "33)They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration, but an outsider shall not eat of them, because they are holy. 34)And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35)"Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them, 36)and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. 37)Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy."

In order to balance justice and set things straight with His people (Israel), YHWH instructed for various sacrifices/offerings in the Law covenant to "cover" or atone for sins, including for the priests and Levites, as in the Scripture above. In the next batch of Scripture directly below we see this as well for individuals and the nation as a whole.

Leviticus 1:4 (New Living Translation): "Lay your hand on its head so the LORD will accept it as your substitute, thus making atonement for you."

and 4:20 (21st Century King James Version): "And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering; so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

and verse 24 (New American Standard Bible): "All its fat he shall offer up in smoke on the altar as in the case of the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings Thus the priest shall make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven."

verse 31 (English Standard Version): "And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven."

verse 35 (American Standard Version): "and all the fat thereof shall he take away, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of peace-offerings; and the priest shall burn them on the altar, upon the offerings of Jehovah made by fire; and the priest shall make atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned, and he shall be forgiven."

These sacrifices and offerings were also used to purify the altar and tabernacle, to atone for the sins of the people surrounding these, as shown at the Scripture below.

Leviticus 16:16-20 (Amplified Bible): "16Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleanness of the Israelites and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so shall he do for the Tent of Meeting, that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

17There shall be no man in the Tent of Meeting when the high priest goes in to make atonement in the Holy of Holies [within the veil] until he comes out and has made atonement for his own sins and those of his house [the other priests] and of all the congregation of Israel.

18And he shall go out to the altar [of burnt offering in the court] which is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar round about.

19And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his fingers seven times and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

20And when he has finished atoning for the Holy of Holies and the Tent of Meeting and the altar [of burnt offering], he shall present the live goat;"

Instead of the sinner's life being taken, the animal's life was sacrificed, with the blood atoning for the sin on God's altar, as much as it could anyway. We see this is the below Scriptures.

Leviticus 17:11 (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures): "For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I myself have put it upon the altar for you to make atonement for your souls, because it is the blood that makes atonement by the soul [in it]."

Let us compare the Scripture below.

Hebrews 9:13, 14 (Contemporary English Version): "13)According to the Law of Moses, those people who become unclean are not fit to worship God. Yet they will be considered clean, if they are sprinkled with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a sacrificed calf. 14)But Christ was sinless, and he offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God. That's why his blood is much more powerful and makes our consciences clear. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do things that lead to death."

also 10:1-4 (New International Version): "Christ's Sacrifice Once for All
1)The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2)If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3)But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4)because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Yohm hak-kip-pu-rim' or the "day of atonement" may also be appropriately called the "day of the ransoms."

Leviticus 23:26-28 (King James Version): "26And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

27Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

28And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God."

In order to be approved and accepted by the righteous God, and in order to keep that approval and acceptance, and to be able to continue in their worship of Him, the nation of Israel was required to pay the price (atone or "cover" over) for their sins in the form of life for life, blood for blood, soul for soul, the sacrifice that God instructed them to trade in place of their own lives.

[goldphoenix]

A good example of a redemptive exchange is the law about when someone's bull gets loose and gores someone else to death. The owner of the bull was to pay for the life of the victim with his own life by being put to death. However, a redemptive price could be paid absent mens rea in this case, since it was an unintentional death without deliberate intent or direct action against the victim. So if the judges found the ko'pher (ransom) of life for life to be improper another price was to be paid. What was paid in place of his life was to be considered as compensation for the life lost, following assessment.

Exodus 21:28-32 (King James Version): 28If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

29But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

30If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

31Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

32If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Deuteronomy 19:21 (The Message): Don't feel sorry for the person: It's life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Now in the case of deliberate murder, only the murderer's own life could "cover" the death of the victim. No ransom could be accepted for the murderer with deliberate intent.

Numbers 35:31-33 (English Standard Version): 31Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. 32And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. 33You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Rich or in poverty, when the census came and was taken, being that lives were involved, every male over twenty was to have a ko'pher (ransom) of half a shekel given for his soul to the Almighty.

Exodus 30:11-16: 11And the Lord said to Moses,

12When you take the census of the Israelites, every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them, that no plague may fall upon them when you number them.(A)

13This is what everyone shall give as he joins those already numbered: a half shekel, in terms of the sanctuary shekel, a shekel being twenty gerahs; a half shekel as an offering to the Lord.

14Everyone from twenty years old and upward, as he joins those already numbered, shall give this offering to the Lord.(B)

15The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when [you] give this offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.

16And you shall take the atonement money of the Israelites and use it [exclusively] for the service of the Tent of Meeting, that it may bring the Israelites to remembrance before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.