The Positive Application Of Silver - Part One

Silver Signifies Atonement And Redemption

Ex 30:16 And thou shalt take the atonement money [Hebrew - keseph - silver]
of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the
congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD,
to make an atonement for your souls.

Let us keep in mind that the root of the Hebrew word for silver is 'kasaph,' meaning
a very strong desire. When we look at 3700, the Hebrew root for this Hebrew word
'keseph,' we find this:

H3700 - ‫ כסף‬- kâsaph - kaw-saf' - A primitive root; properly to become pale, that is,
(by implication) to pine after; also to fear: - [have] desire, be greedy, long, sore.

As always, the best way to define a word is to look at how it is used in God's Word.
Here is how the holy spirit used this word:

H3700 - ‫ כסף‬- kâsaph - Total KJV Occurrences: 5 - desire, 1 - Job_14:15; desired, 1

- Zep_2:1; greedy, 1 - Psa_17:12; longedst, 1 - Gen_31:30; longeth, 1 - Psa_84:2

So silver is connected with the concept of a strong 'desire,' be it for good or evil.
Here are the five times this word appears in scripture:

Gen 31:30 And now, [though] thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore
longedst [Hebrew - kasaf] after thy father's house, [yet] wherefore hast thou stolen
my gods?

Psa 84:2 My soul longeth [Hebrew - kasaph], yea, even fainteth for the courts
of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

Job 14:15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire [Hebrew -
kasaph] to the work of thine hands.

And this as a negative application:

Psa 17:12 Like as a lion that is greedy [Hebrew - kasaph] of his prey, and as it
were a young lion lurking in secret places.

Zep 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired
[Hebrew - kasaph];

"Kasaph, " meaning 'strong desire,' is the Hebrew root from which "keseph," the
Hebrew word for silver is taken. There is great spiritual significance for that fact.

Silver is not a common or base metal. Base metals are very useful and are
desirable. But they are still just common and base. Silver, on the other hand, is very
valuable, very desirable and is therefore associated with 'strong desire.'

Just as the base metals, lead, tin, iron, and copper, all typify what is refined out of
the earth and yet is so plentiful that it has little value, and is considered to be
common and cheap, when compared to precious metals, so also the precious
metals portray for us God's view of the opposite end of the spectrum. Precious
metals portray for us, spiritually, what is rare and expensive and highly valued, or
highly desired by God.

Silver's Positive Application

Abraham, the father of the faithful, was "rich in silver and in gold." If we see this
simply as a literal statement, which it certainly was, then we miss the whole point of
telling us that the father of the faithful was rich in silver and in gold.

Gen 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Remember, and never forget, that the physical things of the Old Testament, signify
spiritual things in the New Testament. Abraham's physical wealth, signifies our
spiritual wealth. Christ used this same principle when Peter asked what were the
benefits of following Christ?

Mark 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
Mark 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and
in the world to come eternal life.

This much-abused section of God's Word is a spiritual statement about spiritual

blessings. No one has ever been given 100 physical 'mothers.'

Three times in scripture we are informed that God's elect tend to 'deny their wife,'
and are disciplined by the world for doing so. Still God "gives to those who have:"

Gen 20:14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and
womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
Gen 20:15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it
pleaseth thee.
Gen 20:16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand
pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with
thee, and with all other] thus she was reproved.

(BBE) And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of
silver so that your wrong may be put right; now your honour is clear in the
eyes of all.

Gen 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife,
and his maidservants; and they bare children.
Gen 20:18 For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of
Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

We are "bought with a price:"

Gen 17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every
man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money
[Hebrew - keseph - silver] of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
Gen 17:13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy
money [keseph - silver], must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in
your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

1 Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's.

1 Cor 7:21 Art thou called [being] a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be
made free, use [it] rather.
1 Cor 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, [being] a servant, is the Lord's freeman:
likewise also he that is called, [being] free, is Christ's servant.
1 Cor 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Christ covers his elect, His bride, with the precious metals and jewels of His Word,
His doctrine, His Truth.

Gen 24:53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and
raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her
mother precious things.

Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which
I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom
with them,

Joel 3:5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into
your temples my goodly pleasant things:

Silver is highly valued and much desired. Thus it signifies God's redeemed:

Gen 45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to
Benjamin he gave three hundred [pieces] of silver, and five changes of
raiment.

All men will be cleansed and given a "change of raiment," but God's elect are given
more grace; "fivethree changes of raiment," and as a witness of the process of
their redemption they are given " hundred pieces of silver."

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are
Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship
before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee .

In the story of Joseph in Genesis, Benjamin typifies God's elect, who are preferred
above their brothers.

The benefits of coming out of Babylon

Last week we learned that Babylon takes God's gold and God's silver and covers
their "idols of the heart" (Ezekiel 14:1-9).

Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I
had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom
with them,

Joel 3:5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your
temples my goodly pleasant things:

So what happens when this process is reversed?

Ex 3:22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth
in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them
upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

"Spoiling the Egyptians" is spoiling Babylon:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which
spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

"Spoiling the Egyptians" is being able to see how Babylon has taken God's Word and
twisted it to cover their spiritual idols of the heart. Spoiling the Egyptians is seeing
through all the lies and the darkness of Babylon. This gift of seeing through those
lies is preceded by the favor of the leaders in Babylon. God's elect are often favored
by those who are over them in Babylon. God's elect are recognized for their
sincerity and are tapped to become leaders just prior to their coming-out process.
Joseph was so favored as was Moses and the apostle Paul. But all these physical
men, and this physical experience all typify the spiritual experience of seeing
through the lies and false doctrines of the entire forked tongue, double speak,
Babylonian system.

John 9:32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes
of one that was born blind.
John 9:33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
John 9:34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and
dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him,
he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
John 9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
John 9:37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that
talketh with thee.
John 9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they
which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
John 9:40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and
said unto him, Are we blind also?
John 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but
now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

That is "spoiling the Egyptians...that they which see not might see" that Babylon's
idols are covered with God's silver and God's gold, His doctrines and His words:

Ex 20:23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you
gods of gold.

Physical idolatry is a type and shadow of spiritual idolatry.

Christ was valued as a slave

Ex 21:31 Whether he [an ox] have gored a son, or have gored a daughter [of a free
man], according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
Ex 21:32 If 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.

Zech 11:12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not,
forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
Zec 11:13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I
was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the
potter in the house of the LORD.

The silver with which Christ was betrayed was used to purchase a field in which the
poor and indigent could be buried:

Matt 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and
went and hanged himself.
Matt 27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to
put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
Matt 27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury
strangers in.
Matt 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Matt 27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued,
whom they of the children of Israel did value;

Why was Christ's price also the price of a graveyard for the poor, except to show us
that we, if we see just how poor, and blind and naked we are spiritually, then we are
'dead in Christ' in the "Potter's field," and in Him we possess true riches.

Christ and those in Him

Silver signifies the atonement and the foundation of all the boards and
pillars of the tabernacle
Ex 30:11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Ex 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their
number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the
LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them,
when thou numberest them .
Ex 30:13 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.
Ex 30:14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty
years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
Ex 30:15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a
shekel, when [they] give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your
souls.
Ex 30:16 And thou shalt take the atonement money [Hebrew - keseph - silver]
of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle
of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel
before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

King David had forgotten and ignored this foundational truth when he ordered Joab
to number the people. Had he simply paid the "atonement money" there would
have been no plague. But after the plague had killed 70,000 of Israel David learned
that you do not just assume that you can serve the tabernacle without "atonement
money" [silver].

Ex 38:25 And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation
[was] an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen
shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:

Ex 38:27 And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the
sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a
talent for a socket. [75.6 pounds = one talent]
Ex 38:28 And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made
hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.

Or as the Bible In Basic English puts it:

Ex 38:27 Of this silver, a hundred talents was used for making the bases of the
pillars of the holy place and of the veil; a talent for every base.
Ex 38:28 And a thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five shekels of silver was
used to make the hooks for the pillars, and for plating the tops of the pillars and for
making their bands.

Contrasted with the sockets, the foundations of the pillars of the court:

Ex 38:17 And the sockets for the pillars [of the court] were of brass; the
hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their
chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

The pillars of the holy place are overlaid with gold, and stand on silver sockets:

Ex 36:36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid
them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets
of silver.

Conclusion
It is silver, God's silver, the strong desire for the things of the spirit, which signifies
the very foundation upon which the boards and pillars of the tabernacle stand. And
what is that tabernacle? What is that temple?

1 Cor 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you?