And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among
the
children of Israel
Separated them from others, and set them apart for the service of
the sanctuary; this was his own act and deed, and which he did of
his own will and pleasure, who is a sovereign Being, and might
and would do whatsoever he pleased, nor should any object unto
him, or contradict him: and this he did,
instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among
the
children of Israel;
he made an exchange of those for the Levites; upon the
destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, and saving the firstborn
of Israel, he claimed the latter as his own in a special sense,
and now he gave up his right to them, and instead thereof took
the Levites; nor could the people of Israel reasonably object to
this, nor be uneasy at it, but rather be pleased with it; since
hereby they were not only freed from the charge of redeeming
their firstborn, but since they were the Lord's, he might have
appointed them to be servants to the priests; and every Israelite
would choose rather, no doubt, to part with a tribe for this
service than to have their firstborn sons employed in it; and
there were none so fit as the tribe of Levi, not only because it
was a small tribe, but because the priests were of this tribe, to
whom they were to minister; and therefore as there was a
connection between them, the Levites would readily serve them: it
is a notion that has obtained both among Jews and Christians,
that the firstborn before this time were priests in the family,
but now the Levites were taken in their room; and Jarchi
particularly observes, that when the firstborn sinned in the
business of the calf, they were rejected, and the Levites, who
did not commit idolatry, were chosen in their room; but it does
not appear, before the fixing the priesthood in Aaron's family,
that the firstborn in a family were priests, and officiated as
such, but rather the father and head of the family for the whole,
or everyone for himself, as in Adam's family, he and his two
sons; and moreover, it was a recent thing, and only among the
Hebrews, that the firstborn were in a peculiar manner the Lord's,
not as priests, only to be redeemed, and now the Levites were
redeemed in their room; it was not to be priests, but the
servants of the priests F18:
therefore the Levites shall be mine;
whom he gave to the priests to assist them in their work, which
was for him and his glory.
F18 Vid. Outram. de Sacrificiis, l. 1. c. 4. sect. 1, 2, 3.
