Numbers 3:44-51

THE SUPERNUMERARY FIRSTBORN REDEEMED, Numbers 3:44-51.

Since the results of the two enumerations disclose an excess of two hundred and seventy-three firstborn above the number of the Levites, Jehovah evinces the exactness of his demands, and sets an example of what men call square dealing, by requiring an equivalent for the services of these unexchanged firstborn. In all ages money has been deemed the equivalent of labour. In accordance with this principle of political economy, Jehovah sets a price upon the services of these two hundred and seventy-three firstborn, namely, five shekels each, about two dollars and seventy cents in the Federal currency, amounting to over seven hundred dollars, reckoning the shekel at fifty-three cents. The entire sum of redemption money was paid to Aaron and his sons as the representatives of Jehovah. The important question here arises, By whom was it paid? Here we have three conjectural answers:

1 . That the question of redeeming the two hundred and seventy-three was determined by lot; that twenty-two thousand drew lots which entitled them to be offset for as many Levites, and that the supernumeraries drew blanks, which indicated that they, or rather their parents, must pay each five shekels. This is the tradition, and is the theory of the Rabbies. It seems not to be just to the supernumeraries, nor to be in harmony with the dignity of Jehovah.

2 . Another hypothesis is, that the firstborn were redeemed by seniority, leaving the two hundred and seventy-three youngest to be redeemed by their parents.

3 . The more reasonable solution of the difficulty is the theory that this money was a tax upon the tribes, and was paid out of a common fund.