One way or another, God wanted His 'first-borns' from all Israel, but see how generous He was.

Numbers Chapter 3: The Organization of the Priests – Part 1

Numbers 3 – The Levite Census, their Ministry

Today marks the completion of our five weeks (35 days) of self-isolation due to the coronavirus outbreak and our government’s response to it. Some places around the world have re-opened; others have not. Here in Ontario, Canada where I live the premier has promised to put a re-opening plan together but there is no word as to when that will be ready and when it will be implemented.  Meanwhile it is cold (minus 1 Celsius this morning and minus 7 with the wind factor) and thus we can’t even go out and do some work in the garden.  So, we press on – inside.  And studying God’s Word. 

The Passage

This chapter begins God’s instructions for how the Levites are to be organized to get their work done within their own ‘camp’ arrangement.
Chapter 3:1-39 describes the separate census as related to the Levites and their ministry.
Chapter 3:40-51 describes the ‘substitution of the Levites for the first-born’ and we repeat it here for further study and comments below:

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ^[a]make a list of their names. ⁴¹ You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the Lord, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded him; ⁴³ and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the Lord. ⁴⁶ For the ransom of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, ⁴⁷ you shall take five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty ^[b]gerahs), ⁴⁸ and give the money, the ransom of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” ⁴⁹ So Moses took the ransom money from those who were in excess, beyond those ransomed by the Levites;⁵⁰ from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365. ⁵¹ Then Moses gave the ransom money to Aaron and to his sons, at the ^[c]command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Footnotes:

1. Numbers 3:40 Lit take the number
2. Numbers 3:47 I.e. A gerah equals approx one-fortieth oz
3. Numbers 3:51 Lit mouth

Thoughts on the Passage

I would be remiss if I were not to mention that each of the sub-groups of the Levites had been given special responsibilities with respect to the tabernacle and with respect to Aaron’s needs, as their overseer. You can check those out by reading verses 1-38 of the chapter. In Numbers 3:39 we learn that there were 22,000 Levite males from one month of age and upwards.

In verse 40, God wanted Moses to number the ‘first-born’ males of those 22,000. Those belonged to God. He would accept them rather than all the ‘first-borns’ of all the Israelites. The same was the case for cattle. God would have as His all the cattle of the Levites, as a substitute for all the first-born cattle of all the Israelites. Some may argue that God was easing His original terms here. Perhaps He was.

In verses 42-43 we learn that the ‘first-borns’ of all the males in Israel (not just the Levites) totalled 22,273. That’s 273 more than the number of Levite first-born males one-month of age and older (vs 40). So, by the old system God would have had 273 more first-borns given to Him. He would be short-changed.  Hold that thought.

We need to point out that once the Levite first-borns were counted, a similar census needed to be done again for the other tribes of Israel. You will remember that in chapter 1 of Numbers the males that were counted were from age twenty years and up. Now, these non-Levite first-borns had to be counted from age one month and up in order to be able to compare apples with apples (or first-borns with first-borns).

Before we go on, let us point out David Guzik noticing a discrepancy in the numbers and writing:

The total of 22,000 Levites given in verse 39 does not tally with the totals of the individual Levite clans given in verses 22, 28, 34 which come to 22,300. The discrepancy is most easily explained as textual corruption in verse 28. The number of Kohathites may originally have been 8,300. 3 (Hebrew sls) could quite easily have been corrupted into 6 (ss)." (Wenham)

Robert Jamieson suggests some other reasons for the difference, but in essence ends up including Guzik’s reason as a possible cause, when he writes:

The omission of the three hundred is variously accounted for--by some, because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God and could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because in Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The most probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for another of like form but smaller value.

If Guzik is correct, then the figure in verse 43 is the one we need to use – 22,000.

In verses 46-47 God wanted Moses to collect as ‘ransom’ five shekels for each of the 273 first-borns that were in excess of the 22,000 males. One question that arises in my mind is how one determines which ones specifically were the 273 that would not be accounted for by the 22,000 first-borns of Levites, and from whose fathers Moses needed to collect the ransom. It appears that Robert Jamieson may have an answer for us when he writes:

Every Israelite would naturally wish that his son might be redeemed by a Levite without the payment of this tax, and yet some would have to incur the expense, for there were not Levites enough to make an equal exchange. Jewish writers say the matter was determined by lot, in this manner: Moses put into an urn twenty-two thousand pieces of parchment, on each of which he wrote "a son of Levi," and two hundred seventy-three more, containing the words, "five shekels." These being shaken, he ordered each of the first-born [of the non-Levites]to put in his hand and take out a slip. If it contained the first inscription, the boy was redeemed by a Levite; if the latter, the parent had to pay.

This money was collected and given to the chief priest, Aaron, and his sons (vs. 48). And verse 49 says that Moses took the money from those that “were in excess” – but it is not clear of what they were in excess of. We do know that ransoms had been paid for those first-borns not in excess from the Levites. (Confusing, I know.). Verse 50 says he collected 1,365 shekels (5 X 273) and he gave it to Aaron and his sons as God had commanded (vs. 51).

In closing our study of Numbers 3, let us absorb the words of Matthew Henry which he penned at the end of his commentary on this chapter:

The church is called the church of the first-born, which is redeemed, not as these were, with silver and gold, but, being devoted by sin to the justice of God, is ransomed with the precious blood of the Son of God.

What more could we ask for? And it isn't by drawing 'lots'.  

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.