Aaron’s sons – Numbers 3:1-4
Verses 1-4 Aaron was the High Priest (see Leviticus 8). And all his sons were priests. But Nadab and Abihu did something which God did not approve of – they offered strange (unholy) fire. God punished them. He sent fire on them until they were dead. This is recorded in Leviticus 10:1-3, too.
However, it is not certain what ‘unholy (strange) fire’ means. Priests sometimes burned incense in the tabernacle. Nadab and Abihu were burning incense when they died. The fire was ‘unholy’ because God had not ordered them to do it (Leviticus 10:1). So, they were opposing God, thus it was disobedience. They had neglected to serve Him properly. They had not shown honour to God. This is a very important lesson for us. God loves us but He is holy. We must remember this. We must show honour to God always. We must be very careful as we can be guilty of offering ‘strange fire’ and if we do, we shall be punished.
The duties of Levi’s tribe – Numbers 3:5-13
Verses 5-10 Aaron and his sons were the priests. The rest of Levi’s tribe acted as their servants. These servants helped the priests to look after the tabernacle. They had two main duties. Whenever the Israelites travelled, Levi’s tribe had to take down the tabernacle. Then they had to carry the parts as they travelled. This was heavy work!
Also, they had to look after the tabernacle always. If any of the other Israelites came too near to the tabernacle, that person would die. Thus, God would not punish all the Israelites because one person had disobeyed him (see Numbers 1:53; 16:40; 25:8).
Verses 11-13 The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. Several times, Moses had asked Pharaoh, king of Egypt to let the Israelites go free, but he had refused. So, God had allowed 10 bad things (plagues) to happen to the Egyptians (Exodus 7-11). For example, the river had changed into blood; and many insects had eaten their crops. Finally, all the Egyptians’ first-born sons had died. But all the Israelites’ first-born sons had remained alive provided they put the blood on the doorposts. This was known as The Passover, when the angel of death passed over those who were under the blood and did not harm them. This became very important to the Israelites and even to us today. When this happened, Pharaoh let the Israelites go free.
The Israelites’ first-born male animals and also their first-born sons belonged to God. They had to redeem both their animals and their sons (Exodus 13:1-2; 11 to 13; 22:29-30; 34:19-20). (To redeem means to buy back by means of a sacrifice or a payment).
But when God had given the Law to Moses and he came down the mountain, the Israelites had made an idol, the golden calf. They worshipped it. Only Levi’s tribe were loyal to God (Exodus 32) and Levi’s tribe served God.
Moses counts Levi’s tribe – Numbers 3:14-39.
God told Moses to count all the males in Levi’s tribe who were one month old or older (verses 14-39). The men from Levi’s tribe would help the priests. So, the members of that tribe belonged to God in a special way. He had accepted them to belong to him instead of the Israelites’ first-born sons (Numbers 3:11-13).
Again, Moses did what God asked him to do. Moses counted Levi’s tribe by clan. He told each clan where to camp.
The priests camped on the east side of the tabernacle (v 38). Kohath’s clan camped on the south side of the tabernacle (v29). Kohath’s clan was the biggest group. They had a very important job. They were responsible for the special furniture in the tabernacle.
Gershon’s clan camped on the west side of the tabernacle. They were responsible for the covers, curtains and ropes.
Merari’s clan was the smallest group. They camped on the north side of the tabernacle. They had to look after all the parts of the Tent’s frame and the things that surrounded it. Whenever the Israelites travelled, each clan had to carry their own parts.
Moses counts the Israelites’ first-born sons – Numbers 3:40-51.
Vs 40-51 The first-born Israelites belonged to God (verses 11-13). A person who belongs to someone is a slave. So, these first-born Israelites were really God’s slaves. But God had decided to accept the males from Levi’s tribe instead of the first-born Israelites. However, there were 273 more first-born Israelites than males from Levi’s tribe. So, Moses had to buy these 273 first-born Israelites from God.
Moses had to collect five pieces of silver for each first-born Israelite. This was the price of a slave at that time. It was a lot of money. Many people earned less than one piece of silver in a month. We do not know who paid the five pieces of silver. Perhaps Moses collected it from all the first-born Israelites. Perhaps just the 273 males paid it. But again, Moses obeyed God.
At that time, people used pieces of silver for money. But the pieces of silver were not all the same weight. The ‘official weight’ (v47) was the same weight as a piece of silver that people kept in the tabernacle. The weight of this piece of silver was about 11.5 grams. So, the pieces of silver that people paid for their first-born sons had to weigh about 11.5 grams. Still the Jews today make this payment to redeem their first-born sons.
Perhaps you may recall that Joseph was sold for twenty shekels of silver (Genesis 37:28) and then Jesus was betrayed and sold by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:14)
