Chapter 3
Aaron's sons. First two killed by God for offering unauthorized fire. The first two had no children. They were the end of their lines. So Eleazar and Ithamar serve as priests with Aaron.
Levites given to Aaron to protect the tabernacle and all that came there. It uses the phrase "wholly given" to Aaron. He becomes head of the whole clan is how it seems to read. Along with other duties, they are to guard Aaron, and guard all the furnishings and appurtenances associated with the tent of meeting. And again, this goes back to the vengeance for those who worshiped the golden calf and then would not come to Moses.
2024 - This verse: 10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death." [Num 3:10 ESV]. This says "guard", other translations say "wait on", "attend to", and a few others. Jewish Study Bible says "carry out the duties of the priesthood". Violating this rule, trying to usurp the position of the priests, was a capital crime. We have already seen that Nadab and Abihu were killed by God for their mistake, whatever it actually was, as priests. Not sure a lot of people would be trying to usurp the position anyway. But you had to be specially consecrated, as a priest, in order to serve. In the New Covenant, we are ALL priests. We might go so far - a stretch but we might - as to call baptism a kind of consecration to our position. It is church membership, and we can serve in church offices and carry out church business once we are a part of the church. I makes good sense.
Here are the verses where all that happened back in Exodus 32:
26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, "Who is on the LORD's side? Come to me." And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. [Exo 32:26 ESV]
Moses orders the Levites to kill those close to them - to kill their brother, his companion, and his neighbor. Three each? Or figurative? In any case, they killed those in their family and those close around them who had broken away. A hard thing. A VERY hard thing to do. In fact, the Levites kill 3000 people. And then, almost as a "blessing" for their willingness to do something so difficult, we get this verse:
29 And Moses said, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day." [Exo 32:29 ESV]
These were all Levites who stepped forward and said they were on the Lord's side. This was Moses' and Aaron's tribe also. The Levites become a tribe of priests - servants really - keepers of the temple, separate and apart from the Aaronic priesthood, though all from the same tribe. And this right here is where it started. They stepped away from the crowd, and did a very difficult thing, as ordered by God through Moses.
This surely looks like only Levites moved to the Lord's side...
2023 Note: If ALL the Levites came to Moses, then they were not actually killing their close relatives. Close friends. Neighbors. Still a very hard thing, but I no longer believe they were killing other Levites.
Levites in their entirety substituted for all the firstborn of Israel. So the firstborn no longer had to be redeemed?
God has Moses list all the Levites, from one month old and up. The previous census was from 20 years old and up. The first three in the list, in vs. 17 are Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. These three names would be a very nice study, because they show up over and over.
In fact, I am pasting in this whole section, because all these names are "big" names as time goes on:
17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei. 19 And the sons of Kohath by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 20 And the sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their fathers' houses. [Num 3:17-20 ESV]
Duties are assigned by clan. It tells where they were to camp, and what part or parts of the tent of meeting and its furnishings they were responsible for packing, unpacking, taking down and setting up, and guarding.
Eleazar was chief over the chiefs of the Levites, and had oversight over those who kept the sanctuary.
The count shows that there were a total of 22000. Then God has Moses count the first born males of all the other clans. And there are 22,273. The "extra" first born from the people had to pay 5 shekels each to Aaron and the Levites to redeem these extras. For the rest, the priests of the Levites were substituted, a Levite for each firstborn, and the Levites now belonged to God, instead of the firstborn of each individual Hebrew. This was also somehow done with the cattle of the Levites and the first born cattle of the people. The priests became God's, as payment for God killing the first born of Egypt and bringing the people out of slavery. As Jesus substitutes for us, as our priest, who bore our sins, and redeemed us from the appointed sentence for our sins.
2024 - 41 And 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." [Num 3:41 ESV]> This verse caught my eye this year. The firstborn cattle of the Levites were also substituted for the cattle of the rest of Israel. I can't help but think that is a lot less cattle than there would have been. This is a huge change. Even so, it seems to be only the cattle that were treated this way, not sheep and goats...or camels.
Could also do some math. 650,000 fighting age men in Israel, 22,273 of them firstborn. Ratio is 29 men for every firstborn. that's a lot of second,third, and so on -born. I am doing something wrong with my math there.