Today’s passage: Numbers 3
Helpful thoughts:
- The numbering of Israel now turns to the Levites, those who were the Lord’s possession for his service.
- Like the instruction for the rest of Israel, the different clans within the Tribe of Levi are assigned positions around the tabernacle where they are to camp.
- The Levites were to guard the tabernacle and to minister at it.
- The number of the Levite males was 273 men short of the number of firstborns in the nation. The Lord provided for the redemption of the remaining 273.
- The total number of firstborns in Israel was probably taken from those who had been first born since the original Passover.
- The price of redemption for the remaining 273 firstborn males was believed to be about a year’s salary for one man. The cost was split among all Israel (Except the Levites), so no individual man had to pay that amount. The cost was associated with the redemption of the child, not the father paying for his own child.
Questions to consider:
- What does the need to redeem the 273 remaining firstborns tell us about the knowledge and exactness of God? Is He careless or lax in His work? Does He pay attention to detail?
- How does God’s knowledge and care of all things help us to better understand the scope of His love, His forgiveness, and His redemption of us through Jesus Christ?
- These different clans and tribes were given different assignments from the Lord. Should they have found joy in getting the “most important” jobs, or should they have found joy in doing the job God gave them to do? Is the stuff of life the sweetest part of living or knowing and following the giver of life?