John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:43
And all the firstborn males ,.... For such only were ordered to be numbered, and not firstborn females: by the number of names ; which were particularly taken: from a month old and upward ; for before that time they were not sanctified to the Lord, nor subject to the redemption price: of those that were numbered of them were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen ; 22,273 men; so that there were two hundred seventy three more than the Levites, Numbers... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 3:40-51
Here is the exchange made of the Levites for the first-born. 1. The first-born were numbered from a month old, Num. 3:42, 43. Those certainly were not reckoned who, though first-born, had become heads of families themselves, but those only that were under age; and the learned bishop Patrick is decidedly of opinion that none were numbered but those only that were born since their coming out of Egypt, when the first-born were sanctified, Exod. 13:2. If there were 22,000 first-born males, we may... read more