Numbers 3:11-13

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born that openeth the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: for all the first-born are mine; on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the first-born in Israel, both man and beast; mine they shall be: I am Jehovah."

There is important symbolism in this. "As representatives of the hallowed first-born (Exodus 22:29,30; 34:19,20), the Levites picture the saints composing `the church of the first-born ... written (registered) in heaven' (Hebrews 12:23), having no earthly inheritance, but a heavenly place and service."[10]

This paragraph is not a clumsy attempt to soften the degrading requirements early in the chapter that seem to enslave the Levites, but a true revelation of what is really meant by being given "unto the Lord." All who are given unto God are given to serve; and the saved are saved to save.

The important question of just why God selected the Levites for this assignment is easily answered. Whitelaw has the best analysis of it:

"The most obvious reason why Levi was selected is that he was by far the smallest in numbers of the twelve tribes, being less than half the size of the next smallest. Also, he almost balanced the number of the firstborn. Furthermore, a larger tribe could not have been spared, and would not have been needed to supply the number required ... Another reason may appear in the prophecy of Genesis 49:7. Both Levi and Simeon were doomed never to raise their heads as a united and powerful tribe in Israel."[11]

That an entire tribe (although the smallest) was required for the services detailed for the Levites in these chapters is manifest in the extensive and elaborate ritual prescribed by God himself for the tabernacle throughout the middle three books of the Pentateuch. A small number of persons could never have done all that God commanded to be done in connection with that extensive ritual.