Bilangan 3:9

3:9 You are to assign ¹  the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they will be assigned exclusively ²  to him out of all ³  the Israelites.

Bilangan 3:11-13

3:11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 3:12 “Look, ⁴  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ⁵  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me, 3:13 because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed ⁶  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord.” ⁷ 

Bilangan 3:40-41

The Substitution for the Firstborn

3:40 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take ⁸  the number of their names. 3:41 And take ⁹  the Levites for me – I am the Lord – instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.”

Bilangan 3:45-51

3:45 “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. And the Levites will be mine. I am the Lord. 3:46 And for the redemption of the 273 firstborn males of the Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, 3:47 collect ¹⁰  five shekels for each ¹¹  one individually; you are to collect ¹²  this amount ¹³  in the currency of the sanctuary shekel (this shekel is twenty gerahs). ¹⁴  3:48 And give the money for the redemption of the excess number of them to Aaron and his sons.”

3:49 So Moses took the redemption money ¹⁵  from those who were in excess of those redeemed by the Levites. 3:50 From the firstborn males of the Israelites he collected the money, 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel. 3:51 Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Bilangan 8:14-19

8:14 And so ¹⁶  you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in ¹⁷  to do the work ¹⁸  of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them ¹⁹  and offer them like a wave offering. ²⁰  8:16 For they are entirely given ²¹  to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself instead of ²²  all who open the womb, the firstborn sons of all the Israelites. 8:17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ²³  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself. 8:18 So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites. 8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ²⁴ 

[3:9]  ¹ tn The verb וְנָתַתָּה (vÿnatattah) is normally “give.” Here, though, the context refers to the assignment of the Levites to the priests for their duties. The form is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive, continuing the sequence for the imperfect of instruction.

[3:9]  ² tn This emphasis is derived from the simple repetition of the passive participle, נְתוּנִם נְתוּנִם (nÿtunim nÿtunim). See GKC 396 §123.e. The forms serve as the predicate with the subject pronoun.

[3:9]  ³ tn The Hebrew text simply has the preposition, “from the Israelites.”

[3:12]  ⁴ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the Lord himself chose Levi.

[3:12]  ⁵ tn Literally “in the place of.”

[3:13]  ⁶ tn The form הַכֹּתִי (hakkoti) is the Hiphil infinitive construct of the verb נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike, smite, attack”). Here, after the idiomatic “in the day of,” the form functions in an adverbial clause of time – “when I destroyed.”

[3:13]  ⁷ sn In the Exodus event of the Passover night the principle of substitution was presented. The firstborn child was redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and so belonged to God, but then God chose the Levites to serve in the place of the firstborn. The ritual of consecrating the firstborn son to the Lord was nevertheless carried out, even with Jesus, the firstborn son of Mary (Luke 2:22-23).

[3:40]  ⁸ tn The verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “take”) has here the sense of collect, take a census, or register the names.

[3:41]  ⁹ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries forward the instructions from the preceding verse. The verb “take” now has the sense of appointing or designating the Levites.

[3:47]  ¹⁰ tn The verb again is the perfect tense in sequence; the meaning of “take” may be interpreted here with the sense of “collect.”

[3:47]  ¹¹ tn The idea is expressed simply by repetition: “take five, five, shekels according to the skull.” They were to collect five shekels for each individual.

[3:47]  ¹² tn The verb form now is the imperfect of instruction or legislation.

[3:47]  ¹³ tn Heb “them,” referring to the five shekels.

[3:47]  ¹⁴ sn The sanctuary shekel was first mentioned in Exod 30:13. The half-shekel of Exod 38:26 would then be 10 gerahs. Consequently, the calculations would indicate that five shekels was about two ounces of silver for each person. See R. B. Y. Scott, “Weights and Measures of the Bible,” BA 22 (1951): 22-40, and “The Scale-Weights from Ophel, 1963-1964,” PEQ 97 (1965): 128-39.

[3:49]  ¹⁵ sn The word used is “silver.” Coins were not in existence until after 700 b.c. (starting with Lydia).

[8:14]  ¹⁶ tn The vav (ו) consecutive on the perfect tense not only carries the nuance of instruction forward to this clause, but also marks this clause out as a summary of what has taken place, i.e., by doing all this ritual Moses will have separated the Levites from the people for God’s own possession.

[8:15]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect tense could also be given the nuance of the imperfect of permission: “the Levites may go in.”

[8:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to serve.”

[8:15]  ¹⁹ tn The two verbs in the rest of this verse are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive constructions, making them equal to the imperfect. Some commentators try to get around the difficulty of repetition by making these future perfects, “and you will have cleansed,” as opposed to a summary statement, “for thus you will cleanse….”

[8:15]  ²⁰ tc The Greek text adds “before the Lord.”

[8:16]  ²¹ tn As before, the emphasis is obtained by repeating the passive participle: “given, given to me.”

[8:16]  ²² tn Or “as substitutes” for all the firstborn of the Israelites.

[8:17]  ²³ tn The idiomatic “on the day of” precedes the infinitive construct of נָכָה (nakhah) to form the temporal clause: “in the day of my striking…” becomes “when I struck.”

[8:19]  ²⁴ sn The firstborn were those that were essentially redeemed from death in Egypt when the blood was put on the doors. So in the very real sense they belonged to God (Exod 13:2,12). The firstborn was one who stood in special relationship to the father, being the successive offspring. Here, the Levites would stand in for the firstborn in that special role and special relationship. God also made it clear that the nation of Israel was his firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23), and so they stood in that relationship before all the nations. The tribe of Reuben was to have been the firstborn tribe, but in view of the presumptuous attempt to take over the leadership through pagan methods (Gen 35:22; 49:3-4), was passed over. The tribes of Levi and Simeon were also put down for their ancestors’ activities, but sanctuary service was still given to Levi.