Everyone knows that Christ refers to giving His life as a ransom for many. This “ransom” term is often taken to defend any number of various salvation theories. One thing I find interesting is that the Old Testament separately rather clearly the idea of “ransom” from “sacrifice.” The term “ransom” is used rather sparingly, and in trying to understand this phrase I thought it might be linked to the “ransom” described in Exodus 30:12.The interesting thing about this ransom is that it is not meant as a payment for the life [based on other Mosaic law, it appears that a person’s life is actually worth 5 shekels apiece [Numbers 3:46].One could make a case that it was a payment for the Israelite’s freedom, but that would go against the idea that God saved the Israelites purely out of the promise to Abraham.I was thinking it might be a bit more complex:i) When the Israelites move into the promised land, they will have to keep the ordinances of the covenant, or else they will fall prey to the covenant curses.ii) In order to fulfill these ordinances, they will need a temple.iii) The ransom payment used to build the temple.I find some interesting tie-ins with Christ here, whose life was given to consecrate the heavenly temple [Hebrews 9-10] to allow people to receive the Spirit.
Any thoughts?