Murals (2008) by PHANTAST - Graffiti - Cultural Music & Art Association inc. - 98 Milne St. Benleigh
A CORBAN INSCRIPTION : 'Given to God'.
A pair of roughly drawn doves can be seen beneath it.
The Corban Inscription is believed to date from the first century AD - around the same time as, or not too long after Christ's ministry.
A firstborn son was presented to God one month after birth : "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord (Exodus 13:2).
The ceremony included buying back - 'redeeming' - the child from God through an offering of a pair of doves.
Thus the parents acknowledged that the child belongs to GOD, who alone has the power to give life.
CHRIST AND CORBAN.
The adult Jesus notoriously drove the moneychangers from the Temple, along with those traders selling animals for sacrifive - including doves.
All the evidence we have is that the sacred precincts continued to be something of a market-place until its destruction by the Romans in AD 70.
Thus the practice of sacrifice ceased only because Judaism had been destroyed.
Jesus gets into a dispute with the Pharisees over the whole question of Corban (Mark 7:8-13):
"You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition!
For Moses said, "Honour your father and your mother"; and, "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die";
But you say, "If a man tells his father or his mother, 'What you would have gained from me is Corban' , then you no longer permit him to do anything for his mother or father, thus making void the word of God through your tradition..."
As far as Christ was concerned, the custom of Corban allowed the institution to take precedence over people - and to take money which the faithful should really be giving to those who needed it amongst their family and friends.