Ransom
Define
- kopher Kopher derives from kipper Atonement.
Related words
Isa 43:1–3 “I have redeemed thee (גָּאַל), I have called thee by thy name… I gave Egypt for thy ransom (כֹּפֶר)… I will save thee (יָשַׁע)”
Ps 111:9 “He sent redemption (פְּדוּת) unto his people… Holy and reverend is his name”
Additional Info
- In Exod-30:12Exod-30#v13Exod-30#v14Exod-30#v15-16, a half-shekel is a kopher (ransom) for a person’s life during a census to prevent plague. Kopher derives from kipper. This offering functions as a kopher for lives (verses 15-16), put something in place of ones life, substituting for the person to prevent death. The same structure is here as in Leviticus 17. The half-shekel is the ransom of ones life. The animal is in place of the person.
- Leviticus 17:11 uses the same structure. The animal’s blood, representing its life, is a kopher on the outer altar (inner altar blood is only on the Day of Atonement), substituting for the offerer’s life.
William Gilders and J. Sklar note kipper has dual meanings:
- Ransom: Substitution, as in Exodus 30 or Leviticus 17:11, where blood replaces the offerer’s life.
- Purification: Removal, as in Lev-04:26, where the priest kippers to remove sin, leading to divine forgiveness (a “divine passive” indicating God forgives, not the priest). The preposition min (“from”) in Leviticus 4:26 indicates removal, like “deprive.”
- In Leviticus 12:6-7, kipper purifies a woman post-childbirth from blood flow, a ritual impurity, not sin.