Numbers 3 Bible study: Instead of the firstborn

Numbers 1 left Levi out of the count (1:49). Here the LORD says what the Levites are for: "Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine" (3:12). The reason goes back to Egypt: "for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal" (3:13). At midnight "the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:29), and then he said, "Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal. It is mine" (Exodus 13:2). Now one tribe is taken in the place of the firstborn, and "the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel" (3:41).

Numbers 3:10→leads toHebrews 7:19

Numbers 3 keeps the priesthood to one family: "You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood, but the stranger who comes near shall be put to death" (3:10). Hebrews speaks of the priests from Levi, "They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office" (Hebrews 7:5), and asks, "if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood… what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?" (Hebrews 7:11). It says that "the law made nothing perfect", and that there is "a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God" (Hebrews 7:19). Hebrews speaks of the Levitical priesthood as a whole and doesn't cite this chapter, so setting 3:10 beside it is a reading: some hear in Hebrews 7:19 an answer to the line drawn here around who may come near; others read Hebrews 7 only as an argument from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 (Hebrews 7:1-3, 7:17) about the priesthood as a whole, not about this verse.

תַּחַתtachatsay TA-khat

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "underneath, below, instead of". Strong's gives "in lieu of". It is the hinge of this chapter, used five times: "I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn" (3:12), twice in 3:41, and twice in 3:45, where the Levites' livestock are taken "instead of their livestock" (3:45). It is the word in Genesis when Abraham offered the ram "for a burnt offering instead of his son" (Genesis 22:13), and when Judah said, "please let your servant stay instead of the boy" (Genesis 44:33).