And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn that breaketh open the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine;
On the night He spared Israel's firstborn in Egypt, God claimed them as His own. Here He takes a whole tribe in their place, and the verse asks what it means to belong to God.
The phrase "instead of" reaches back to the night in Egypt when the blood of a lamb kept Israel's eldest sons alive.
Verse 12 reveals the secret behind the special place of the Levites: God chose them "instead of all the firstborn." In Egypt, God had spared Israel's firstborn because of the blood of the Passover lamb. This was the price by which the firstborn had been redeemed. As a result they belonged to God. Now, this is the place God gave the Levites: He chose them instead of all the firstborn. A Levite would therefore regard himself as redeemed by God and so as God's possession.
Levi did not earn this place. What fitted the tribe for holy service was its link with mercy.
In a very special way Jehovah took them as the formal substitute for the firstborn of Israel, the ones spared when the destroying angel struck Egypt. They were redeemed by blood, and counted beyond question as belonging to Jehovah... God's grace had spared the very ones they stood for when judgment fell. So the Levites were identified with mercy — the great mercy that set Israel apart and rescued it from the doom of Egypt. That fitted them all the better for the service of the sanctuary. Who can take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation precedes ministry...
Notice the order. God says whose they are before He says what they must do.
The service of the Levites flowed entirely from their being the Lord's. "The Levites shall be mine." For as it is written, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20). It is blessed to say, "My beloved is mine," but it is greater progress and a deeper joy to say, "I am His."
The exchange was not vague. God counted it person by person, and where the tribe fell short, silver made up the difference.
The history of the firstborn was this: God had His tabernacle, with its many and varied services. Performing them took a huge number of men. This service belonged to the firstborn, but their places were taken by the tribe of Levi. Each Levite represented a firstborn man in Israel. The eldest sons who outnumbered that tribe were redeemed at five shekels of silver each (Numbers 3:46-48, and 8). So the Levites were in a special way a redeemed company. Clearly they are in this way a picture of Christians, both in our redemption and in the claim God has upon us for service as redeemed... Looked at this way, the firstborn has, so to speak, a double history from his redemption, and so have we. First he dies in his substitute; then he lives as a servant in the Levite.
Belonging to God did not leave the tribe free to run itself. God handed them over to Aaron the priest as a gift.
The Levites were given as a gift to Aaron and to his sons, for service in the tent of meeting. Viewed in this way, the Levites picture all believers as servants. So we learn that God gives the Church to Christ for His service on the earth. We were given to Him for salvation, as every believer is. We must also remember that we are a gift to Him, for Him to use as He pleases. Our only proper attitude, therefore, is that of Saul of Tarsus, who said, "Lord, what will you have me to do?"
God's care for the firstborn did not stop with Egypt. One writer follows that line forward, carefully, to the church.
God in His grace has always had the firstborn before His mind. So as soon as He had sheltered His people from judgment in Egypt by the blood of the Passover lamb, He claimed all their firstborn, and the firstborn of their cattle too... Later God took the Levites instead of the firstborn and gave them to Aaron and his sons, to do the service of the people of Israel in the tent of meeting. In this way they stood for the firstborn of Israel. They were joined to Aaron, who was himself a firstborn. So they became a shadow, if not a type, of the church of the firstborn.
- Blood first. The claim began in Egypt. Israel's firstborn lived because a lamb died, and what blood saves belongs to God.
- "Mine" next. Before any duty in the tent, God says, "The Levites shall be mine."
- Substitutes counted. The exchange was exact, man for man, with five shekels paid for every firstborn the tribe could not cover.
- Given away. Those who were God's were handed to Aaron as a gift, which points to the servant's proper question: "Lord, what will you have me to do?"
- Then service. Salvation comes first. No one can serve God without knowing He has accepted him on the ground of redemption.
for every firstborn is mine. On the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and beast; mine shall they be I am Jehovah.
God's reason for taking the Levites reaches back to one night in Egypt. That night He spared Israel's firstborn and struck down Egypt's. The verse tells us what that night created: a permanent divine claim, and a tribe set apart to answer it.
The firstborn who lived through that night did not simply escape death. Commentators point out that the same act which spared them also claimed them.
If we follow the history of the firstborn further, it is full of interest and instruction. The blood at the passover saved the firstborn of Israel. But those redeemed in this way were God's in a special and particular way. "Consecrate to me all the firstborn... is mine." So the firstborn was not only redeemed from death. He was bought for God — "you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body."
The tribe of Levi did not earn its position. God accepted them in exchange for men who owed their lives to blood already shed.
The LORD took them in a very special way as the formal substitute for the firstborn of Israel. Those firstborn were spared when the destroying angel struck Egypt. They were redeemed by blood, and counted emphatically to belong to the LORD. In place of Israel's firstborn He accepted the Levites. "They shall be mine." So God made them the standing witness of the firstborn owed to Him from man as well as beast. The grace of God had exempted those they answered for in the time of judgment.
God counted the exchange man for man. Where the numbers did not match, silver made up the difference.
God had His tabernacle, with its many varied services. Performing them required a huge number of men. This service belonged to the firstborn, but the tribe of Levi took their places. Each Levite represented a firstborn man in Israel. Five shekels of silver redeemed each of the eldest children beyond that number.
Writers turn God's claim into a question about who may serve Him at all.
Who can dare to take up the service of God without knowing that God has accepted him on the ground of redemption? Salvation comes before ministry. That is clear if we listen to God and take seriously the solemn warning of the Lord and His apostle.
The redemption money paid for the extra firstborn makes the same point.
The redemption money went to Aaron for the service of God. This showed that it met His claims on the redeemed. Let us never forget that as redeemed people we belong to God. On this fact rests the life of service to His name, to which we are committed.
Several writers read the tribe of Levi as a shadow of believers set apart for work. They are careful to call it a shadow, not an exact image.
The Levites were firstfruits offered to God, for they stood in place of the firstborn in whom God had taken Israel to Himself, when He struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians... The number of the firstborn being greater than that of the Levites, those left over were redeemed, as a sign that they belonged to God, and the Levites became God's possession for His service (verses 12, 13). It is the same with the church: it belongs wholly to God to serve Him down here.
Being God's did not leave the Levites free. God then handed them over to the high priest.
The Levites were a separated people — God's special possession. They took the place of all the firstborn in Israel — those whom the blood of the lamb saved from the sword of the destroyer. In type they were a dead and risen people, set apart to God. God then presented them as a gift to Aaron the high priest, to do the service of the tabernacle.
That double ownership settles who chooses the servant's work.
God gave us to Christ for salvation, as He does every believer. We must also remember that we are a gift to Christ, for Him to use as He pleases. Our only right attitude, then, is that of Saul of Tarsus, who asked, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" How precious to remember that we are wholly the Lord's! As His, there is no room at all for self-will or for pleasing people.
- Spared — Israel's firstborn lived through the night Egypt's firstborn died. The blood of the lamb was the only reason.
- Owned — being spared made them God's property: not merely rescued from death, but bought for Him.
- Exchanged — God took the Levites man for man in their place, and silver paid for the extra. The whole tribe stood as a redeemed company.
- Qualified — redemption, not merit, fits anyone for the service of the sanctuary. Salvation comes before ministry.
- Given — God handed His own possession to Aaron for the work of the tabernacle. Writers see there a picture of believers given to Christ, with no room left for self-will.