In the remainder of Chapter 3 we find the Lord telling Moses to count all the Israelite males who are over a month old and to take up a collection (a redemption fee) for them.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Count all the firstborn Israelite males who are a month old or more and make a list of their names. Take the Levites for Me in place of all the firstborn of the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites. I am the Lord." (Numbers 3:40-41) In Exodus 13:2 the Lord said, "Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, whether human or animal." He also said, "After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as He promised on oath to your ancestors, you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord." (Exodus 13:11-12) We learned in Exodus 13:15 that this was to commemorate Passover when the Lord spared the firstborn sons of the Israelites and the firstborn animals of all their flocks. The men of Israel are to redeem their firstborn sons by paying five silver shekels to the treasury and they are to sacrifice the firstborn male animals (of clean animals) to the Lord. They are to teach their sons why this custom exists, saying, "With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals of Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons." (Exodus 13:14b-15)
What does the Lord mean here in Numbers that He is taking the tribe of Levi in place of the firstborn sons of the Israelites? Well, He doesn't ask or expect or want the Israelites to sacrifice their sons to Him. He considers such a thing an abomination and will have much to say in the Bible against human sacrifice, a horrible act practiced by some of the heathen peoples of the Old Testament. The Lord also isn't asking or expecting or wanting the firstborn son of every Israelite to serve at the tabernacle. In time that would be way too many men for the job and, as we discussed earlier in Chapter 3, the reason the Lord chose the tribe of Levi to serve at the tabernacle may have been because they were the smallest tribe. The Lord isn't wasteful and isn't going to call more men to the work than He needs. So in place of every firstborn male of every Israelite coming to serve the Lord at the tabernacle, the Lord has called the tribe of Levi for this work, and He is going to accept the tribe of Levi as a symbol of all the firstborn.
It is believed by many scholars that the firstborns who are counted in Chapter 3 are only those who were born after the Israelites departed from Egypt. If that is not the case then it's difficult to explain why the number of firstborn is so low for a group that numbers 2,000,000 or more. "So Moses counted all the firstborn of the Israelites, as the Lord commanded him. The number of firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273." (Numbers 3:42-43) One commentary I consulted states that if this number represents the entire number of firstborn males in Israel, then only one in every 27 male births was a firstborn. I'm terrible at math and I'll just have to take this scholar's word for how this number is calculated, but it doesn't make sense that only one in every 27 male births is a firstborn male.
But then there are critics who say there's no way 22,273 firstborn males were born to the Israelites within the first thirteen months of being free from Egypt. I think it's possible if a large number of young people got married right after Israel's rescue from Egypt. The oppression of Pharaoh grew even more severe than normal during the last several years Israel was in Egypt, and especially during the months Moses and Aaron pleaded with him to let the Israelites go. I can well imagine that the single Israelites may have held off on getting married during those last few years and months in Egypt due to how much worse they were being treated. It was a bad time to be giving birth. To use a current example from 2020, some young couples are putting off having children due to the pandemic. It's not a good time to be giving birth. So if a lot of young men and women married soon after their rescue from Egypt, we could expect a great deal of firstborn sons to make their appearance within the first thirteen months out of Egypt.
"The Lord also said to Moses, 'Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be Mine. I am the Lord." (Numbers 3:44-45) The Levites are no longer to shepherd flocks and herds but are being called to serve the Lord at His tabernacle and be the religious shepherds of Israel. A similar thing happens in the New Testament when Jesus calls fishermen to be among His disciples, telling them He will make them fishers of men instead of fishers of fish. (Matthew 4:19) The Lord no longer intends the Levites to work at agricultural occupations. He is calling them to a special work, just as Jesus called fishermen away from their nets and to the special work of leading people to salvation.
"To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons." (Numbers 3:46-48) Yesterday we were told that the number of the Levite males, from the age of one month old and up, was 22,000. Since there are more firstborn males among the other tribes than there are a total count of all the males of the tribe of Levi, an amount of money is paid into the tabernacle treasury for the additional males. This must be paid in the form of the sanctuary shekel which has to weigh a specific amount.
"So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites. From the firstborn of the Israelites he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord." (Numbers 3:49-51)
The Old Testament places a great deal of emphasis on firstborn males. In ancient times the firstborn son was believed to be the best and the brightest his father could produce. It was thought that the firstborn was stronger and would naturally be more successful and deserving of an inheritance from his father.
In the New Testament we find God the Father giving His best and brightest: His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem mankind from sin. God gave His firstborn Son---His only Son---to buy back our souls that we'd sold out to sin.
God holds nothing back from us. He gave us the best He had, even though it cost Him so much to do it. In return we should hold nothing in our hearts back from Him.
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