Numbers 3 · a question people ask
The three clans add up to 22,300. Why does the total say 22,000?
The text gives each clan's number: Gershon "seven thousand five hundred" (3:22), Kohath "eight thousand six hundred" (3:28) and Merari "six thousand two hundred" (3:34). Those come to 22,300. The total given is "twenty-two thousand" (3:39). The firstborn are then "twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three" (3:43), and the redemption is for "the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel who exceed the number of the Levites" (3:46): 22,273 less 273 is 22,000. The text gives both figures and doesn't explain the difference.
The verses
“Those who were counted of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, even those who were counted of them were seven thousand five hundred.”
“According to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred keeping the requirements of the sanctuary.”
“Those who were counted of them, according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred.”
“All who were counted of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the commandment of the LORD, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.”