3.15.25

Good morning!

Purim has passed, but the worldwide movement to exterminate people through anti-semitism is not! Purim was more than a historic event, but it was a prophetic event. Oive'! Consider the amount of money that is being spent by the United Nations and the 'Palestinian movement' to eradicate the people out of the Land; from the river to the sea...' Where's the hatred coming from? Many and all directions. But at the time of Purim, it's coming from Haman, the Agagite. A man who was fueled by hatred. That hatred was fueled by jealousy. And his jealousy was set ablaze by his desire for personal power (Esther). He was filled with such antisemitic passions that he was willing to pay 10,000 kikars  out of his own pocket to get rid of these 'set apart people' (Est. 3:9).

My 'enquiring minds,' 'Sherlock Holmes' mentality needed to find out, for myself, just how much he was willing to pay to wipe these 'set apart people' off the face of the map. Personally, I was shocked. Let's continue our math lessons from yesterday and do the 6th grade word problem together :-)

Historically, 1 kikar, or talent, equals 3,000 shekels. Haman offered 10,000 kikars to the king to get rid of these Torah observant people. How many shekels would that be?
10,000 x 3,000 = 30 million shekels
The next question I asked was, 'what is the approximate value of a half-shekel, from our Torah portion this week (Ex. 30:15). Let's save that until a little later.

In this week's Torah portion, a 1/2 of shekel was given from every man for the ransom of and the atonement for his soul...Huh? More on this on the morning zoom call.

According to the census of those who were to pay the 1/2 shekel, there were approximately 600,000 men of the age of 20 and above (Ex. 30:11-15; Num. 1:3; 2:32).

More math...
600,000 men x .5 shekel = 300,000 shekels.

History tells us that the Temple currency is actually worth 2x the value of regular currency. Using this as a guide the 300,000 shekels becomes 600,000 when used in the Temple...God's money is always valued higher :-)

600,000 men x .5 shekel = 300,000 x 2 = 600,000 shekels

600,000 shekels = 1/50 of Haman's commitment of 30,000,000 shekels

That's a big difference! No wonder we 'boo' every time Haman's name is read during the megillah; may his memory be blotted out (Ex. 17:14,16; Num. 24:24; 25:17-19).

If we take the average lifespan of a man, 70 years, and subtract 20 (the age of the census), we get 50 years of giving a 1/2 shekel. If we figure, on average for every man, we get...
50 x 600,000 = 30,000,000 shekels. The exact amount Haman offered to King Achashverosh.

If we take the value of an adult male of 50 shekels (Lev. 27:3), this amount multiplied times 600,000 = 30,000,000 shekels.

The current value of silver, as I write this, is $33.38. A 1/2 shekel weighs .28 ounces...
$33.38x 0.28/oz = $9.35/.5 shekel x 2 = $9.35

Haman was willing to pay, out of his own pocket, 30 million shekels.
30,000,000 x $9.35 = $280,392,000
Now that's hatred.

Wouldn't it be powerful if we were willing to pay the price to wipe out evil in this world!?

What if I told you, there is more to atonement than blood? Would you consider me a heretic? What if I shared with you at least 8 other forms of atonement in Scripture? Would you be amazed?  Is there more to this story of our redemption? Definitely! Part of the answer is in the 1/2 shekel.

Shabbat shalom!

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