Wednesday 2021.07.07
Initially, I wrote this post on my daily Bible Reading log. After that, I thought it is useful knowledge to be posted here under Wisdom of the Ancients blog too.
This morning I began reading the book of Numbers. Etymologically, the title "Numbers" came from a word that means "a listing". The first three chapters list the number of fighting men twenty years old and above, a total of about 603,000 in all the Twelve Tribes (descendants of eleven children of Jacob, not counting Levi, with Joseph represented by his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh).
Also listed are the numbers of the three clans of Levites: Gershon, Kohath and Merari, a total of 22,000. The Levites were not counted as part the tribes of Israel but instead were set apart, consecrated to serve the LORD in the setting up, the operation, and the dismantling of the Tabernacle.
Interestingly, each Levite represent a first born son of the Twelve Tribes. In other words, each life of the Levite is the redemption price "paid" from the Twelve Tribes to redeem their first born sons, all of whom belong to the LORD
After counting the 22,000 Levites from the clans of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, a count of all the first-born among the Twelve Tribes was commanded by the LORD. It came to 22,273 in total, i.e. there were 273 first-borns more than there were Levites serving the LORD. The excess number of first-borns were redeemed by collecting five shekels of silver from each of the "extra" first-borns, amounting to 1,365 shekels of silver, and giving the silver to the Levites.
