Numbers 3:40-51--Redemption of the Firstborn

Numbers 3:40-51
English Standard Version

Redemption of the Firstborn
40 And the Lord said to Moses, “List all the firstborn males of the people of Israel, from a month old and upward, taking the number of their names. 41 And you shall take the Levites for me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the people of Israel.” 42 So Moses listed all the firstborn among the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded him. 43 And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names, from a month old and upward as listed were 22,273.

​44 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord. 46 And as the redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites, 47 you shall take five shekels per head; you shall take them according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel of twenty gerahs), 48 and give the money to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for those who are over.” 49 So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites. 50 From the firstborn of the people of Israel he took the money, 1,365 shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary. 51 And Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

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I mentioned this passage yesterday as it was the reason that the Levites were being numbered and why they were counting all those of one month old and older instead of those of "fighting age" (20 years old and older) like the rest of the tribes of Israel.  So then we see that the censuses that we see in the book of numbers have multiple purposes.  The counting of the 12 tribes that excluded the tribe of Levi is there to show the faithfulness of God to bring them through to the Promised Land (there are other reasons that we'll talk about as we go through as well) and this counting of the Levites was both to show that they had been separated by God for a special purpose and to remind the people that He is Redeemer--a name that that the people knew and understood based off of the Tenth Plague that we call Passover, and how God Redeemed the people out of slavery, but also because God said that after that day all the firstborn sons of Israel belonged to Him (because they did not die in the plague) and they would need to be redeemed (bought with a price).  That price was given as the life of another--a Levite would have to step in and take their place and give their life to God in the place of the one who needed to be redeemed, and we already start to see the idea of the way in which Christ was our substitute (a doctrine called Penal Substitutionary Atonement).  Side note here that I can't think of any better evidence that the priests and Levites were not remain single and childless like we see in some interpretations of priesthood today, and the families of priests and Levites were to always remain priests and Levites.  While every other tribe was free to choose their occupation and whether or not they were to follow in their family's trade, the sons of Levi had no choice about this because all of them belonged to the Lord and His service, and as we'll see later, their duties were chosen for them by God.  Some were made priests, others were made custodians, still others choir members, and others were musicians, etc.

We see that while the numbers were almost exactly right for the numbers of Levites to the number of firstborn males in the camp, there were 273 more firstborn males that needed to be redeemed.  The price that God had set here remained in effect, but the cost was one that was spread out among all the people.  As long as the Levites were faithful to keep up have sons at a rate that was proportional to the number of firstborn sons in the rest of the nation, then there would be no price for the nation to pay, but all the nation would have to share in the price if the Levites stopped thinking about the future generations of God's work and God's people.  This plan that God set in place makes sense because as the number of families increased, so did the need for the number of Levites to teach the Israelites and watch over them and keep them both pure and holy, and specifically more priests would be needed to continue making sacrifices day in and day out for the atonement of the people.  It was most imperative that Aaron's family continue to have sons to sever as priests and to have a High Priest for the nation.

Censuses like this were not ordered very often by God--in fact, the next time we will see one of these is during the time of King David.  While there is an element of a census here that goes to taxation and knowing the strength of your military, that was not to be the primary purpose for taking a census, and David and the entire nation of Israel would pay a price for David's ego when he took a census when God did not tell him to so that he could boast of the military strength of Israel.  Censuses are taken at various times in the Bible to show the faithfulness of God to preserve the nation that He promised Messiah to come through and that God's plan will not be thwarted by the enemies of Israel.  Between these times, the people were on the "honor system" to pay the price set for their firstborn sons and for everyone to pay the their taxes as well as to give the appropriate amount in the required tithes and offerings.

Next time we'll look at the division of duties of each clan of the Levites.  As I mentioned above their duties were given to them by God and it was something they had to trust God to equip them to do.  They did not get a choice in the matter.  Having less choice probably actually made their lives a lot easier as their weren't a lot of discussions or arguments about "what do you want to do with your life?" or "What are you going to go to school for?" or "You need to get a real job."  Their job was to serve the people and to serve God in the capacity that God had designated for them.  Oh that we would have this kind of mindset today about doing exactly what God has called us to and trust that God will equip the called instead of expecting Him to call the equipped.