Numbers 2:1-34; Numbers 3:14-4:15

There were 22,273 first-born males of Israel that were counted, out of a total of 603,550 males Numbers 3:43; 1:45-46. If you assumed there was one first-born male in each family, then you would say that there must have been 22,273 families. If that were true, then each family would have had an average of 27 males! That seems very unrealistic. However, recall that the Pharaoh of Egypt had many of the sons of Israel killed Exodus 1:22. Many of the families would have had more children later on, but their first-born sons would have been killed by Pharaoh. So there would have been more than just 22,273 families, since many families would no longer have a living first-born son.

There were 20,000 Levites who would take the place of (redeem) the first-born sons of Israel, since the first-born of all living things belonged to God. Since there were 273 more first-born males than there were Levites, money had to be paid to redeem these 273 extra males. The New Testament makes reference to this redemption with perishable money, and compares it to our redemption by the precious blood of Christ 1 Peter 1:18-19.

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