30 pieces of silver

"If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall pay to the slaveowner 30 shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned."

(Exodus 21:32)

There are some numbers in the Bible that stand out above others. TWELVE: disciples & tribes of Israel... FORTY: days for Jesus in the wilderness, rain for Noah; years of wandering in the desert for Moses... SEVEN: Days of creation, plus it's the biblical number for "perfection". (Note: the Book of Revelation has a TON of significant numbers in there, too!)

Today I was reading Exodus 21, and I came across a number connected to a specific item that I'd seen before: 30 pieces of silver. In Exodus 21, they're describing compensation for injury and death for a variety of circumstances and people. In verses 28-32 the subject of "rogue oxen" comes up. What to do if one gores a person to death?!? Well, death to the ox, of course. But the compensation varies depending on the person killed. If a man, woman or child is killed, the grieving family gets monetary compensation (in addition to the death of the ox). If the ox owner had been warned about the ox before, then in addition, the ox owner is to be put to death (leash your dogs!). But if a slave is killed (a chattel slave, not an indentured servant), then the ox owner must pay 30 pieces of silver to the slaveowner (in addition to the death of the ox, of course).

The other place that 30 pieces of silver are mentioned is when Judas betrays Jesus - and that's the exact amount the Jewish authorities agree to pay him. Matthew 26:14-16 says: "Then one of the 12, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What will you give me if I betray him to you?' They paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him."

Now, it's possible that this is merely a coincidence. In my study Bible, it says that back in Jesus' day, 30 pieces of silver would have been worth about 120 denarii. A denarius was a single day's wage for a laborer. So this was 1/3 of a year's salary. Which isn't chump change, but it's also not a lot, considering a human being was killed. And even if you're thinking in terms of a slave's worth, you're still only getting 1/3 of a year's work compensation.

But maybe there's something more to this "coincidence." Maybe the chief priests only valued Jesus' life to the equivalent of a servant. A slave. A chattel slave, at that. They thought so poorly of Jesus, that they valued his life with the lowest of the low. And yet... Jesus himself was always reaching out to the lowest of the low. He also said that he "came to serve, not to be served." He called us as his followers to be servant leaders in his name. So yah, maybe 30 pieces of silver was just the right amount of compensation for Jesus' death... all things considered.

Happy Easter.