Numbers 3 Footnotes

3:21-39 The census of the tribes of Israel was for military purposes in preparation for the conquest of the promised land, but the Levites as non-combatants were not to be numbered. Their census is taken here in recognition of their substitution for the Israelite firstborn and to outline the respective responsibilities of the three clans. Together the 7,500 Gershonites, 8,600 Kohathites, and 6,200 Merarites total 22,300, but v. 39 summarizes the total as 22,000. This discrepancy can be resolved in one of two ways. First, the number 22,000 can be understood as a round number, similar to the 600,000 Israelites (vs. the more precise sum in chap. 1 of 603,550) in Ex 12:37. One ancient edition of the Greek OT, known as the Lucianic, gives the total number of Kohathites as 8,300 (300 less) for an even total of 22,000 as in Nm 3:39. Several of the Hebrew Masoretic manuscripts have the same total for the Kohathites.

3:40-51 The firstborn males totaled 22,273. Taken as a portion of the 603,550 total in the military census, this would require the average Israelite woman to have 27 male children, a number unheard of in Israelite history thus far (Jacob having the most at 12 by several wives). However, if the number is not taken literally, the need for the special redemption price of five shekels each for the extra 273 Israelite males is superfluous. Five shekels was the standard price for a young slave in Late Bronze Age Egypt and Mesopotamia (1500–1200 BC) and is therefore consistent with the time period for the exodus event.