Числа 3:12

Русский синодальный перевод

вот, Я взял левитов из сынов Израилевых вместо всех первенцев, разверзающих ложесна из сынов Израилевых; левиты должны быть Мои,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

When God miraculously destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians - Exodus 12:29, he spared those of the Israelites; and, in commemoration of that event, he was pleased to appoint that all the first-born males "should be set apart unto himself" - Exodus 13:12-16. God is here pleased to relinquish this claim, and to appoint the whole tribe of Levi to attend his immediate service in their stead. Numbers 3:41, Numbers 3:45, Numbers 8:16, Numbers 8:18, Numbers 18:6

Reciprocal: Numbers 3:40 - General Numbers 8:15 - and offer Numbers 8:21 - offered

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel,.... Separated them from others, and set them apart for the service of the sanctuary; this was his own act and deed, and which he did of his own will and pleasure, who is a sovereign Being, and might and would do whatsoever he pleased, nor should any object unto him, or contradict him: and this he did,

instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel; he made an exchange of those for the Levites; upon the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, and saving the firstborn of Israel, he claimed the latter as his own in a special sense, and now he gave up his right to them, and instead thereof took the Levites; nor could the people of Israel reasonably object to this, nor be uneasy at it, but rather be pleased with it; since hereby they were not only freed from the charge of redeeming their firstborn, but since they were the Lord's, he might have appointed them to be servants to the priests; and every Israelite would choose rather, no doubt, to part with a tribe for this service than to have their firstborn sons employed in it; and there were none so fit as the tribe of Levi, not only because it was a small tribe, but because the priests were of this tribe, to whom they were to minister; and therefore as there was a connection between them, the Levites would readily serve them: it is a notion that has obtained both among Jews and Christians, that the firstborn before this time were priests in the family, but now the Levites were taken in their room; and Jarchi particularly observes, that when the firstborn sinned in the business of the calf, they were rejected, and the Levites, who did not commit idolatry, were chosen in their room; but it does not appear, before the fixing the priesthood in Aaron's family, that the firstborn in a family were priests, and officiated as such, but rather the father and head of the family for the whole, or everyone for himself, as in Adam's family, he and his two sons; and moreover, it was a recent thing, and only among the Hebrews, that the firstborn were in a peculiar manner the Lord's, not as priests, only to be redeemed, and now the Levites were redeemed in their room; it was not to be priests, but the servants of the priests r:

therefore the Levites shall be mine; whom he gave to the priests to assist them in their work, which was for him and his glory.

r Vid. Outram. de Sacrificiis, l. 1. c. 4. sect. 1, 2, 3.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 3:12. I have taken the Levites - instead of all the first-born — The Levites are taken for the service of the sanctuary in place of the first-born. The first-born were dedicated to God in commemoration of his slaying the first-born of the Egyptians, and preserving those of the Israelites. Even the cattle of the Levites were taken in place of the first-born of the cattle of the rest of the tribes. See Numbers 3:45.

Several reasons have been assigned why God should give this honour to the tribe of Levi in preference to all the others, but they do not seem to me to be conclusive. Their zeal in destroying those who had corrupted the worship of God in the business of the golden calf, Exodus 32:28, has been thought a sufficient reason. A better reason is, that this was the smallest tribe, and they were quite enough for the service. To have had a more numerous tribe at this time would have been very inconvenient.

Aaron, says Mr. Ainsworth, being in his priesthood a type of Christ, all these rites are fulfilled in him. For unto Christ God gave children, Hebrews 2:13. And they are a congregation of first-born, whose names are written in heaven, Hebrews 12:23, being of God's own will begotten by the word of truth, that they should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, James 1:18, to whom he also gives the first-fruits of his Spirit, Romans 8:23. These wait on and follow the Lamb, being first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb, Revelation 14:4; and Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, that we may serve him day and night in his temple, Revelation 1:6; Revelation 7:15.