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Silver (Positive Application) – Part 3

It is commonly understood that the sale of both Joseph and Christ for silver demonstrates the spiritual connection with this metal to God’s  plan of atonement and redemption. The phrase “atonement money” states this as a fact, when it is understood that the word translated ‘money’ is really the Hebrew ‘keseph,’ the Hebrew word for ‘silver.’

Gen 37:28  Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Mat 26:15  And [Judas] said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

Exo 30:16  And thou shalt take the atonement money 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.

The various positive symbolisms of silver

Silver symbolizes strong desire

What is not so commonly understood is the connection between the root meaning of the word for ‘silver’ and God’s sovereign declaration that “all in Adam [will] be made alive.” What is not commonly understood is that the very fact that silver, the metal used as God’s symbol for atonement and redemption, is also God’s symbol for His “[strong] desire to the work of His hands.”

Job 14:14  If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
Job 14:15  Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire [Hebrew: kasaph – the root from which comes ‘keseph‘ – silver] to the work of thine hands.

Gen 31:30  And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after [Hebrew: kasaph] 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.

“Loosing the silver cord” is losing all desire.

Ecc 12:1  Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Ecc 12:2  While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
Ecc 12:3  In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
Ecc 12:4  And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
Ecc 12:5  Also [when] they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
Ecc 12:6  Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Ecc 12:7  Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Silver symbolizes trying, testing, and being purified in God’s fiery trials

Symbolizing strong desire, silver must also, of necessity, symbolize trying, proving and purifying those whom God so desires.

Psa 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psa 66:10  For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Psa 66:11  Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

Pro 17:3  The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Zec 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Mal 3:3  And he [Christ] shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

Silver symbolizes that which is pure and clean

Since silver symbolizes being tried, tested and purified, it must of necessity symbolize that which has been tested and purified.

Pro 25:4  Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.

Pro 10:20  The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.

Pro 25:11  A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Isa 48:10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

We Do Not Glory in Our Godly Treasures With Strangers From Babylon

Isa 39:1  At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.
Isa 39:2  And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.
Isa 39:3  Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.
Isa 39:4  Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.
Isa 39:5  Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
Isa 39:6  Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
Isa 39:7  And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Isa 39:8  Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

But we all do err, and when we do, we all learn.

When we are at one with God we are “rich… in silver and in gold”

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

Exo 12:35  And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
Exo 12:36  And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them [such things as they required]. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

Isa 60:9  Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

Our riches are our relationship with God. This relationship is measured by how well we “know God and Jesus Christ whom God has sent.”

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Hag 2:6  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it [is] a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry [land];
Hag 2:7  And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
Hag 2:8  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
Hag 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

The glory of the heavenly far exceeds the glory of the earthy:

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Our “first love” is likened to silver and gold

Eze 16:8  Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

Eze 16:10  I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Eze 16:11  I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
Eze 16:12  And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Eze 16:13  Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Eze 16:14  And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

Rev 2:1  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Again, our deliverance is accompanied by spoiling our oppressors

Zec 14:12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

How is this accomplished?

Zec 14:13  And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
Zec 14:14  And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
Zec 14:15  And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.

Silver symbolizes Christ’s works within us

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

2Ti 2:20  But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

We are God’s great house, and we are his field. In us are vessels of honor and dishonor. In us are both tares and good seed growing together “until the harvest,” until we are judged and the tares are burned out, and the vessels of dishonor are the vessels “made again as seemed good to the Potter to make them.”

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

We have seen how silver’s positive application symbolizes redemption and atonement. I hope you have also seen the connection with silver, in scripture, to God’s determination to give life to all in Adam, having devised a means that even His banished should not be expelled from Him.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Silver symbolizes strong desire. Silver symbolizes trying, testing, and being purified in God’s fiery trials. Silver symbolizes that which is pure and clean. Silver symbolizes Christ’s works within us.

When we are at one with God we are rich in silver, our first love is likened to silver and our deliverance is accompanied by much silver as we spoil the enemy within.

Finally, we do not share our silver with strangers from Babylon. We share it only with those who are coming out of Babylon.