WHAT ARE YOU WORTH?
This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.
(Exodus 30:13 KJV)
What are you worth?
Half a shekel of silver is the value that God placed on a human body and required as a yearly offering of spiritual atonement for every person of Israel. This annual offering was the same for each individual whether rich, poor, young, old, male, female, sick, handicapped, or whole. (Ex. 30:11-15)
It is impossible to know the value of silver in biblical times, but this month, February 2016, silver was nearly 15 U.S dollars an ounce. A shekel according to Christiananswers.net is "estimated at 220 English grains, or a little more than half an ounce avoirdupois". At the current value of 15 U.S dollars per ounce of silver, using .25 ounces as the weight of half a shekel; God had determined in the scripture mentioned above that the annual offering for the spiritual atonement of a human being, in monetary terms today, is worth approximately 3.75-4.00 U.S dollars.
Surely God should know the true monetary value of humankind. After all it was He that created man from dirt as the Bible states in Genesis 2:7 (NKJV) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. David mentioned that God remembers this in Psalm 103:14.
However Peter tell us that under the New Covenant, based on the offering and sacrifice of the Blood Of Christ, and not on the offerings and sacrifices of animals in the Old Covenant of the Temple, that we have been atoned for by God Himself in the bodily form of the Christ. This offering for our atonement does not need to be repeated every year as was the offering for atonement of the Temple. It has been done once for all of mankind with the Precious, sinless blood of our LORD. 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NKJV) 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
This is the Perfect Offering for our atonement, or our at one-ment (with God) and it is proof of what YOU are truly worth in the eyes of God. You are worth Him sacrificing the Precious life blood of His only human-born Son just to ensure that you have the opportunity to live and walk in His Presence forever. Wouldn't you like to accept the benefits of His sacrifice, which was made for YOU?