Numbers 3:38-48

38 Those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, ¹guarding the sanctuary itself, to protect^[a] the people of Israel. And any outsider who came near was to be put to death.

39 All those listed among the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron listed at the commandment of the LORD, by clans, all the males from a month old and upward, were ² 22,000.

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 ³And 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 ⁴"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 ⁵as 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 ⁶five shekels^[b] per head; you shall take them according to ⁷the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel of twenty gerahs^[c]),

48 and give the money to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for those who are over."

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Numbers 3:38-48 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 3

In this chapter an account is given of the genealogy of the priests and Levites, and of the gift of the Levites to the priests, of the numbering of them, and the service they were to perform; and first of the priests, the sons of Aaron, Nu 3:1-4; and then of the Levites, as given unto them, to wait upon them, and assist them, Nu 3:5-10; and these were taken instead of the firstborn, Nu 3:11-13; and ordered to be numbered, which was done accordingly by their families, Nu 3:14-20; and the sum of each is given, and the particular work assigned to them; of the Gershonites, Nu 3:21-26; of the Kohathites, Nu 3:27-32; of the Merarites, Nu 3:33-38; the sum total of them is given, Nu 3:39; then the firstborn of the children of Israel, from a month old are ordered to be numbered, and were, Nu 3:40-43; and these appearing to be more in number than the Levites, by two hundred seventy three a direction is given that the two hundred seventy three should be redeemed at the rate of five, shekels apiece, and the money paid to Aaron and his sons, Nu 3:44-48; which was accordingly done, Nu 3:49-51.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 7

1. See Numbers 1:53
2. [ver. 22, 28, 34; See ver. 46-49]
3. ver. 12, 45
4. ver. 12, 41
5. Numbers 18:15, 16; Exodus 13:13
6. Numbers 18:16; Leviticus 27:6
7. See Exodus 30:13

Footnotes 3

[a]. Hebrew guard
[b]. A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[c]. A gerah was about 1/50 ounce or 0.6 gram

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.