Numberschapter 3
51 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle.
It stands in Levi given in place of the firstborn, verses 5 to 13.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The Levites numbered. Aaron's sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The first two dead; Eleazar and Ithamar minister. Levites given to Aaron for the service of the tabernacle; the LORD takes the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel (since the night of the tenth plague). Three clans. Gershon (7,500), Kohath (8,600), Merari (6,200). Total 22,000 Levites; 22,273 firstborn. A surplus of 273 firstborn redeemed at five shekels apiece. Clans assigned positions: Gershon westward, Kohath southward, Merari northward, Moses and Aaron and priests eastward at the entrance of the tabernacle.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 3The history
The LORD speaks to Moses, and the chapter is headed as the account of Aaron and Moses at the time the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. Aaron is the high priest with four sons anointed and two of them already dead, so the working priesthood at this moment is Aaron with Eleazar and Ithamar.
The time is the same second month of the second year at Sinai, about 1444 BC on the traditional dating. The place is the strip around the tent, where Gershon camps to the west, Kohath to the south, Merari to the north, and Moses with the priests on the east at the door.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The occasion is twofold, since one tribe has to be set to the work of a sanctuary that comes apart and travels. A claim the LORD made on Israel's firstborn on the night of the Passover has to be settled before the camp moves.
A first hearer knew what that work took, since a portable shrine that is dismantled, carried and reassembled needs crews who know which pole belongs in which socket. The assignments here are permanent and hereditary, which is how the knowledge stayed in a family, and each house camps on the side nearest the load it carries.
He also knew the claim on the firstborn, since Exodus 13:2 and 13:15 had made every firstborn male in Israel the LORD's from the night the firstborn of Egypt were struck. The price was measured in a known unit, since silver was weighed rather than coined and the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs is fixed at Exodus 30:13.
What it meant to them
Every family with a firstborn son heard that their boy had been claimed and that somebody else now stood in his place. The substitution was counted head for head, and where it fell short it was paid in silver to the priests.
The tribe of Levi heard what its inheritance was. Levi received a job rather than a field, and the job placed the tribe permanently between the nation and the holy things.
Sources cited
- Timothy R. Ashley, The Book of Numbers (NICOT)
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible , 1832, on Numbers 3:6 and 3:15
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 3 falls in First census and camp order (chapters 1–10). Twelve tribes numbered; the camp arranged around the tabernacle; the order of march; the cloud lifts.
After it: From Sinai to Kadesh, chapters 11–14.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
Threads running through this chapter
- The firstborn, spared and exchangedPattern, vv. 12 to 13
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Aaron's sons, and the two who died
1. (vv. 1-2)
Numbers 3:1
“The “generations” (see Gen 2:4) now given, though entitled those of Aaron and Moses (Aaron standing first as the older brother), are those of Aaron only. The personal dignity of Moses, though it gave him rank as at the head of his tribe, was not hereditary. He had, and desired to have Num 14:12; Exo 32:10, no successor in his office but the distant prophet like unto himself Deu 18:18. Aaron was the ancestor of a regular succession of priests.”
Numbers 3:2
“And these are the names of the sons of Aaron,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, disciples of Moses, the master of the Israelites; none of the posterity of Moses being expressly, named; Jarchi observes, that the sons of Aaron are called the generations of Moses, because he taught them the law; for whoever, he says, teaches his neighbour's son, the law, the Scripture accounts of him as if he begat him, see 1Co 4:15, Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar; as in Exo 6:23.”
The heading promises the generations of Aaron and Moses and the list that follows gives four sons of Aaron and no son of Moses. Barnes reads the omission as the point, since the standing of Moses was personal and left no successor in his office, while Aaron was the head of a line that ran on by birth. Aaron stands before Moses here, which reverses the order the two brothers usually keep, and Wesley ties that to the priesthood being given to Aaron's house alone.
2. (vv. 3-4)
Numbers 3:3
“These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests that were anointed,.... With the holy, anointing oil, with which they were anointed when, Aaron was and they only, see Exo 30:30, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office; that is, whom Moses consecrated, by anointing them, putting the priest's garments on them, offering sacrifice for them, and filling their hands with sacrifices which is the phrase here used for consecration: see Exo 29:15.”
Numbers 3:4
“And the generations of Moses are thus obscurely mentioned, because they were but common Levites, the priesthood being given solely to Aaron's posterity, whence Aaron is here put before Moses, who elsewhere is commonly named after him. In Sinai - Nadab and Abihu, were then alive, though dead at the time of taking this account.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Four sons were anointed and consecrated and two of them are already dead. Leviticus 10:1-2 records the fire that killed them and this verse names the offence again, strange fire before the Lord, so the chapter that hands Levi the sanctuary opens by naming two priests who died inside it. They had no children, which is why the priesthood afterward runs through Eleazar and Ithamar alone.
B. Levi given in place of the firstborn
1. (vv. 5-7)
Numbers 3:5
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After he had given him the order for the numbering the children of Israel, and for the manner of their encampment and journeying: saying; as follows.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 3:5
“Further, the priests are described as being more eminent than the Levites; for this same Scripture tells us that "the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Bring the tribe of Levi and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest, to minister to him.' " Do you see how here too he both speaks of the priests as superior to the Levites and once more makes the Levites appear as more eminent than the children of Israel?”
Origen of Alexandria· written before 253· COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUEpatristic
Numbers 3:5
“Bring the tribe of Levi near--The Hebrew word "bring near" is a sacrificial term, denoting the presentation of an offering to God; and the use of the word, therefore, in connection with the Levites, signifies that they were devoted as an offering to the sanctuary, no longer to be employed in any common offices.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 3:6
“Bring the tribe of Levi near - The original word הקרב hakreb is properly a sacrificial word, and signifies the presenting of a sacrifice or offering to the Lord. As an offering, the tribe of Levi was given up entirely to the service of the sanctuary, to be no longer their own, but the Lord’s property.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 3:7
“Of the congregation - That is, of all the sacrifices and services which are due to the Lord from all the people, because the people might not perform them, in their own persons, therefore they were to be performed by some particular persons in their stead; formerly by the first-born, chap. viii, 16, and now by the Levites.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Bring the tribe of Levi near is sacrificial language. Clarke and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown both point out that the verb behind bring near is the word for presenting an offering at the altar, so the tribe is handed over rather than hired, and Numbers 8:11 later has Aaron wave the Levites before the Lord as an offering from the children of Israel. Verse 7 states their work in two directions at once, the charge of Aaron and the charge of the whole congregation, which makes them answerable upward and outward together.
2. (vv. 8-11)
Numbers 3:8
“All the instruments - The tabernacle itself and all its contents: see all described, Num 3:25, Num 3:26, Num 3:31, Num 3:36, Num 3:37. The Levites were to perform the most common and laborious offices. It was their business to take down, put up, and carry the tabernacle and its utensils; for it was the object of their peculiar care. In a word, they were the servants of the priests.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 3:9
“There was a great deal of work belonging to the priests' office, and there were now only three pairs of hands to do it all, Aaron's and his two sons'; for it does not appear that they had either of them any children at this time, at least not any that were of age to minister, therefore God appoints the Levites to attend upon them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 3:10
“Aaron and his sons - shall wait on their priest’s office - It was the business of the priests to offer the different sacrifices to God; to consecrate the shew-bread, pour out the libations, burn the incense, sprinkle the blood of the victims, and bless the people. In a word, they were the servants of God alone.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:10
“The stranger - That is, every one who is of another family than Aaron's; yea, though he be a Levite. That cometh nigh - To execute any part of the priest's office.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 3:11
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Continued to speak unto him, and give him the reason of his appointing the Levites to minister to the priests and serve the tabernacle: saying: as follows.”
The Levites are given wholly to Aaron out of Israel, and the sentence closing verse 10 is the fence around the arrangement. That same clause stands four times in this book, at 1:51, here, at 3:38 and at 18:7, and the stranger it warns off is any Israelite outside Aaron's house, a Levite included. Wesley reads it that way, and Korah in chapter 16 is the case that tests whether it means what it says.
3. (vv. 12-13)
Numbers 3:13
“The concluding words are better expressed thus: “Mine shall they be, Mine, the Lord’s.” On the subject of the firstborn see the notes at Num 3:43-51.”
I have taken the Levites from: The exchange is stated as an exchange and the ground given for it is the night of Exodus 12:29. Every firstborn in Israel was claimed on the day Egypt's firstborn were struck, which Exodus 13:2 and 13:15 had already set down as a standing due, and one tribe is now taken in place of that entire class. Genesis spent fifty chapters setting a younger son over an elder, Exodus spared the firstborn under blood and claimed them, and Numbers substitutes Levi for them here.
C. Gershon, Kohath, Merari and their charges
1. (vv. 14-16)
Numbers 3:14
“And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai,.... At the same time he gave the order, and made the declaration before mentioned, and in the place where now the children of Israel were, and from whence they shortly removed: saying; as follows.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:14
“Number the children of Levi--They were numbered as well as the other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different principle--for while in the other tribes the number of males was calculated from twenty years and upward [Nu 1:3], in that of Levi they were counted "from a month old and upward." The reason for the distinction is obvious.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 3:15
“A month old and upward - The males of all the other tribes were numbered, from twenty years and upward; had the Levites been numbered in this way, they would not have been nearly equal in number to the firstborn of the twelve tribes.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:15
“And from that time the Levites were consecrated to God, and were, as soon as capable, instructed in their work. Elsewhere they are numbered from twenty-five years old, when they were entered as novices into part of their work, chap. viii, 24, and from thirty years old, when they were admitted to their whole office.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 3:16
“Moses numbered them - Though Moses and Aaron conjointly numbered the twelve tribes, yet Moses alone numbered the Levites; “for as the money with which the first-born of Israel, who exceeded the number of Levites, were redeemed, was to be paid to Aaron and his sons, Num 3:48, it was decent that he, whose advantage it was that the number of the first-born of Israel should exceed, should not be authorized to take that number himself.” - Dodd, from Bishop Kidder.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Levi is counted from a month old and upward while every other tribe was counted from twenty years old and upward at 1:3. The difference follows from what each count is for, since the other tribes were mustered for war and Levi is being matched head for head against a class of firstborn that begins at a month. Numbers 1:47-49 had already kept Levi off the army roll, and Clarke observes that a count from twenty years would have left the tribe far short of the firstborn it was to replace.
2. (vv. 17-20)
Numbers 3:17
“And these were the sons of Levi, by their names,.... The immediate offspring and descendants of that patriarch: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; these went down with him into Egypt, Gen 46:11.”
Numbers 3:18
“And these are the names of the sons of Gershon, by their families,.... Or to Gershon belonged two families, called after the names of his sons, who were now numbered, namely: Libni and Shimei; and who are elsewhere mentioned as his sons, Exo 6:17; and from hence were the families of the Libnites and Shimites, as in Num 3:21.”
Numbers 3:19
“And the sons of Kohath, by their families,.... Who was the second son of Levi: Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel; so in Exo 6:18; and from whom were named the family of the Amramites, to which Moses and Aaron belonged; and the families of the Izeharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites, as they are called, Num 3:27.”
Numbers 3:20
“And the sons, of Merari, by their families,.... The third son of Levi: Mahli and Mushi; the same as in Exo 6:19; from whom were denominated the families of the Mahlites and Mushites, who, as the preceding families, were numbered at this time: these are the families of the Levites, according to the house of their fathers; in all eight families.”
Gershon, Kohath and Merari are the three names Genesis 46:11 lists going down into Egypt and Exodus 6:16-19 sets out with their sons. The eight families named here are the working units of the rest of the chapter, since each of the three houses is about to receive a side of the tabernacle, a number, a chief and a load. Kohath is the second son and his house carries Moses and Aaron in it through Amram.
3. (vv. 21-24)
Numbers 3:21
“Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites,.... The first son of Levi: these are the family of the Gershonites; that were now, numbered.”
Numbers 3:22
“Seven thousand and five hundred - Perhaps originally ר resh, 200, instead of ך caph, 500; see the following note Num 3:39 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 3:23
“The families of the Gershonites,.... The two before mentioned, the Libnites and Shimites: shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward; this was their situation when encamped; they were placed in the rear of the camp of the Levites, between the tabernacle and the camp of Ephraim, which was westward also, Num 1:18.”
Numbers 3:24
“And the chief of the house of the fathers of the Gershonites,.... Who had the chief authority over them, and the chief direction of them in what they were to do: shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael; but who he was, or of which family of the Gershonites, whether of the Libnites or Shimites, is not said here or elsewhere; nor do the Jewish writers, who affect to know every thing, pretend to tell us.”
The Gershonites number seven thousand five hundred and pitch behind the tabernacle on the west. Their chief is Eliasaph the son of Lael, a name that occurs here and nowhere else in Scripture, and Gill remarks that neither the text nor the Jewish writers say which of the two families he belonged to. Three sides of the tent are filled in turn through this chapter and the fourth is held back until verse 38.
4. (vv. 25-26)
Numbers 3:25
“The tabernacle - Not the boards, which belonged to Merari, ver. 36, but the ten curtains. The tent - The curtains of goats hair. The coverings - That is, the coverings of rams-skins and badgers- skins.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:25
“And the charge of the sons of Gershom,....”
Numbers 3:26
“And the hangings of the court,....”
Gershon carries the cloth. The curtains, the tent, the covering, the door hanging, the hangings of the court and their cords are the soft parts of the structure, and Numbers 7:7 gives this house two wagons to move them. Everything in their charge folds or rolls, which is why the load is measured in wagons rather than in men.
5. (vv. 27-28)
Numbers 3:27
“And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites,.... So called from Amram, the first son of Kohath, and father of Aaron and Moses; so that Moses and Aaron, and their children, are included in this family: and the family of Izeharites; of which family was Korah, Num 16:1, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; which four families had their names from Kohath's four sons, Num 3:19, these are the families of the Kohathites; which were as many as both the other sons of Levi.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:27
“Of the Levites, the Kohathites, the kinsmen of Moses and Aaron, and the most numerous, have the most important charge confided to them, namely, that of the ark, the altars, and the more especially sacred furniture generally.”
Numbers 3:28
“In the number of all the males, from a month old and upwards, were eight thousand and six hundred,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:28
“Keeping - That is, appointed for that work, as soon as they were capable of it. Of the sanctuary - That is, of the holy things contained in or belonging to the sanctuary.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Kohath's four families number eight thousand six hundred, the largest of the three houses. The Amramites are the family of Moses and Aaron, and the Izeharites are the family of Korah, whom Numbers 16:1 traces through Izhar back to Kohath. The men who will carry the holy furniture and the man who will challenge the priesthood come out of the same house of Levi.
6. (vv. 29-30)
Numbers 3:29
“The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward.”
Numbers 3:30
“And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. The same man, who, with his brother Mishael, carried Nadab and Abihu out of the camp, and buried them, Lev 10:4; he descended from the last and youngest of the families of the Kohathites; and some think this was one reason at least of Korah's dissatisfaction, and of his entering into a conspiracy against Moses and Aaron, because one of a younger family of his house was preferred to this dignity before him.”
Kohath pitches on the south side, and Numbers 2:10 puts Reuben's standard on the south as well, so Korah the Kohathite and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Reuben in 16:1 were neighbours in camp before they were partners in a revolt. The chief set over the Kohathite houses is Elizaphan the son of Uzziel, and Uzziel is the last of Kohath's four sons in verse 19 while Korah descends from the second. Gill passes on the Jewish reading that this promotion over an older line was one of Korah's grievances, which chapter 16 itself never says.
7. (vv. 31-32)
Numbers 3:31
“The hanging - Which covered the most holy place, for all other hangings belonged to the Gershonites. The service - That is, all the other furniture belonging to it.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 3:32
“Chief - Next under the high-priest; whence he is called the second priest, 2 Kings xxv, 18, and in case of the high-priest's absence by sickness or other necessary occasions, he was to perform his work, and he had a superiority over all the rest of the priests and Levites.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The ark, the table, the candlestick, the altars and the vessels of the sanctuary go to Kohath, the heaviest honour with the smallest allowance of transport. Numbers 7:9 gives this house no wagons at all, because these things travel on men's shoulders, and 2 Samuel 6:3-7 is where that rule is set aside and a man dies for it. Eleazar is set over the chiefs of the Levites, which puts one priest above the whole arrangement and marks the line the high priesthood passes into at Numbers 20:26.
8. (vv. 33-35)
Numbers 3:33
“Of Merari were the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites,.... So called from his two sons Mahli and Mushi, Num 3:20, these are the families of Merari; the youngest son of Levi, Num 3:17.”
Numbers 3:34
“And those that were numbered of them,.... Of the above two families: according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred; 6,200 men; the least number of them all.”
Numbers 3:35
“And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari,....”
Merari's two families number six thousand two hundred, the smallest of the three houses, and they pitch on the north under Zuriel the son of Abihail. With Gershon on the west, Kohath on the south and Merari on the north, the Levites form an inner ring around the tent inside the outer ring of four standards in chapter 2. The east is left unnamed in this list and verse 38 says who fills it.
9. (vv. 36-37)
Numbers 3:36
“And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:36
“Here we may observe, (1.) That the Kohathites, though they were the second house, yet were preferred before the elder family of the Gershonites. Besides that Aaron and the priests were of that family, they were more numerous, and their post and charge more honourable, which probably was ordered to put an honour upon Moses, who was of that family.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 3:37
“And the pillars of the court round about,.... Of the great court which went round the tabernacle, on which pillars the hangings were hung: and their sockets; into which the, pillars were put; of both which see Exo 27:9, and their pins, and their cords, the pins were fixed in the ground, and the cords fastened the hangings of the court to them, whereby they were kept tight and unmoved by the winds; see Exo 27:19.”
Merari carries the frame. The boards, the bars, the pillars, the sockets, the pins and the cords are the timber and the metal that hold the structure up, and Numbers 7:8 gives this house four wagons, twice what Gershon received for the curtains. The smallest of the three families draws the heaviest weight.
10. (v. 38)
Numbers 3:38
“And those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east,.... At which was the entrance into the tabernacle: even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward; that is, before the court of the tabernacle, where the people assembled together: shall be Moses, Aaron, and his sons; Moses the chief ruler, and Aaron the high priest, and his sons priests under him; these had the most honourable place of all, beings at the front of the tabernacle, between that and the camp of Judah.”
Moses, Aaron and Aaron's sons take the east, which is the side the door opens on, so the men who go in and out stand between the entrance and the whole camp. Judah's standard is on the east too at 2:3, which puts the tribe of the sceptre and the house of the priesthood on the same face of the camp. The warning of verse 10 is repeated here word for word, at the one point where a man walking toward the tent would actually reach it.
11. (v. 39)
Numbers 3:39
“All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron, numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families,.... Whence it appears, that Moses was not alone, but Aaron with him, in numbering the Levites, and that by the appointment of the Lord.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 3:39
“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.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 3:39
“But the odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the holy scripture, where in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or, because they were the first-born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first-born.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The total is given as twenty and two thousand while the three houses add to twenty two thousand three hundred, and the gap of three hundred is old and much argued. Gill and other writers pass on the answer that three hundred Levites were themselves firstborn and so could not be counted as redeeming anyone else. Clarke instead suspects a copyist and points at Gershon's seven thousand five hundred, since the Hebrew letter for two hundred and the letter for five hundred are easily confused. The lower figure is the one the redemption arithmetic of verses 43 to 46 depends on.
D. Two hundred seventy-three redeemed with silver
1. (vv. 40-41)
Numbers 3:40
“The excess of the general over the Levitical first-born is so small, that the only way of accounting for it is, by supposing those first-born only were counted as were males remaining in their parents' household, or that those first-born only were numbered which had been born since the departure from Egypt, when God claimed all the first-born as his special property.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 3:41
“And thou shall take the Levites for me,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:41
“Of the Levites - Not that they were to be taken from the Levites, or to be sacrificed to God, any more than the Levites themselves were; but they together with the Levites were to be presented before the Lord by way of acknowledgment, that the Levites might be set apart for God's service, and their cattle for themselves as God's ministers, and for their support in God's work.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A second census follows at once and it counts a class rather than a tribe, every firstborn male from a month old and upward. The cattle are counted with them, so the exchange runs through beasts as well as men, which is what Exodus 13:12-13 had required of every firstling of the herd. Two rolls are being set side by side and the whole point of the exercise is the difference between them.
2. (vv. 42-45)
Numbers 3:42
“And Moses numbered, as the Lord commanded him,.... No doubt assisted by others, though not mentioned: all the firstborn among the children of Israel; which some think were only those that were born since they came out of Egypt, as Bonfrerius, Bishop Patrick, and others.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:42
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 3:43
“This result, when compared with the number of male adults (603,550, compare Num 2:32), is small, the usual proportion of first-born sons to a total male population being about one in four: and the explanation offered is that the law of Exo 13:1-2, prescribed a dedication of those only who should be firstborn “thenceforward”. On the other hand, the number is very large to be born among two millions of persons in a single year; and it must be admitted, that some unusual causes must have been concerned.”
Numbers 3:44
“This redemption money (see the marginal references) would perhaps be exacted from the parents of the “youngest” children of the 22,273 Num 3:43. The cattle of the Levites was doubtless taken in the gross as an equivalent for the first-born cattle of the other tribes, which of course, no less than the first-born of men, belonged to the Lord; and in future would have to be redeemed Num 18:15; Deu 15:19.”
Numbers 3:45
“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel,....”
Twenty two thousand two hundred and seventy three firstborn are counted, against the six hundred and three thousand fighting men of 1:46, and the proportion is low enough that readers have asked about it for centuries. Some hold that only those born since the night in Egypt were counted, others that the rule reached only a male who opened his mother's womb and so passed over many households, and the text supplies no reason of its own. Verses 44 and 45 then say the whole thing over again, the Levites for the firstborn, their cattle for the cattle, and the Levites shall be mine.
3. (vv. 46-48)
Numbers 3:46
“And for those that are to be redeemed, &c. With money, there being not Levites enough to answer to them, and exchange for them: of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites; for the sum total of the Levites, as given, was but 22,000, Num 3:39, whereas the sum total of the firstborn of Israel were 22,273, Num 3:43, so that there were, two hundred seventy three more of the latter than of the former; and what was to be done with these next follows.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 3:46
“For those that are to be redeemed - 'Tis probable, in the exchange they began with the eldest of the first-born, and so downwards, so that those were to be redeemed, who were the two hundred, seventy three youngest of them.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 3:47
“Thou shall even take five shekels apiece the poll,.... Or head; every firstborn, or his parent for him, was bound to pay five shekels, which were about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and which was afterwards settled as the price of such a redemption, Num 18:16, after the shekel of the sanctuary shall thou take them; being full weight according to the standard there kept: the shekel is twenty gerahs; See Gill on Lev 27:25.”
Numbers 3:48
“And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed,....”
The Levites fall short of the firstborn by two hundred and seventy three, and those are redeemed at five shekels a head. Five shekels is the figure Leviticus 27:6 sets for a male between a month old and five years old, and Numbers 18:16 makes it the standing price for redeeming a firstborn from that day forward. The verse stops to define its unit, the shekel of the sanctuary at twenty gerahs, which Exodus 30:13 had already fixed. The money is paid to Aaron and his sons, so the surplus goes to the house the Levites themselves were given to.
4. (vv. 49-51)
Numbers 3:49
“And Moses took the redemption money,.... Of five shekels per head: of them that were over and above redeemed by the Levites; or were more than those redeemed by them. A Levite redeemed a firstborn, or freed him from the redemption price, being taken in lieu of him: 22,000 Levites were answerable to 22,000 firstborn of Israel; but as there were no more Levites than the above number, there remained two hundred seventy three firstborn to be redeemed by money, and it was the redemption money of these Moses took.”
Numbers 3:50
“Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money,....”
Numbers 3:51
“And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed,....”
The sum is a thousand three hundred and sixty five shekels, which is two hundred and seventy three multiplied by five, and the text writes the arithmetic out instead of leaving it to be assumed. Nothing here says how the two hundred and seventy three were picked out of the whole number, and Jewish tradition supplies a drawing of lots that the chapter never mentions. A claim made on the night of the passover in Egypt is closed out in silver, and the tribe that replaced the firstborn now stands around the tent in their place.
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.