Bamidbar 3:41

41 And thou shalt take the Levi’im for Me—I am Hashem—instead of all the bechor among the Bnei Yisroel; and the cattle of the Levi’im instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the Bnei Yisroel.

Bamidbar 3:41 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:41

And thou shall take the Levites for me
For his service, to minister to his priests, and serve in his tabernacle:

I [am] the Lord;
who has a right to all, and can claim who he pleases for himself in a special manner, and therefore could and did take the Levites to himself:

instead of the firstborn among the children of Israel;
these he had taken to him before, and ordered to be sanctified unto him, and for whom a redemption price was paid to his priests for the support of them, and the tabernacle service, and now it was his will to make an exchange of these for the Levites:

and the cattle of the Levites, instead of all the firstling among the
cattle of the children of Israel:
every firstling of clean cattle was the Lord's, and given to his priests, and the firstlings of unclean cattle were redeemed with a lamb, and which were given to the same; and now instead of these he requires the cattle of the Levites; not that they should be deprived of their use of them, or that they should be taken and sacrificed, but that they should be with them devoted to him, and they should possess them in his right.

Bamidbar 3:41 In-Context

39 All that were counted of the Levi’im, which Moshe and Aharon numbered at the command of Hashem, by their mishpekhot, all the zakhar from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.

40 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Count all the bechor of the zakhar of the Bnei Yisroel from a month old and upward, and calculate the total by their shmot.

41 And thou shalt take the Levi’im for Me—I am Hashem—instead of all the bechor among the Bnei Yisroel; and the cattle of the Levi’im instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the Bnei Yisroel.

42 And Moshe counted, as Hashem commanded him, all the bechor among the Bnei Yisroel.

43 And it came about that all the bechor zakhar by the number of shmot, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.