Numbers 3 Devotional

Taken in Place of the Firstborn

“for all the firstborn are Mine. On the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They are Mine; I am the LORD.””Numbers 3:13 (BSB)

Numbers 3 opens with a sober reminder. Aaron had four sons, but Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered fire the LORD had not authorized (3:4). Then God explains why the Levites belong to him. When he judged Egypt's firstborn, he claimed Israel's firstborn as his own (3:13). Now he takes the Levites in their place, one life standing for another (3:12, 41).

The counting is careful. There are 22,273 firstborn sons and 22,000 Levites, which leaves 273 without a substitute (3:39, 43). God does not let them slip through the gap. Each is redeemed, bought back, for five shekels paid to Aaron and his sons (3:46-48). Not one firstborn is left unaccounted for. Paul tells believers that they do not belong to themselves, because God paid for them (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). A God who keeps track of the last 273 does not lose track of anyone he has redeemed, and that frees you to live as someone who belongs to him.

To think about: How might an ordinary day change if you remembered that God paid for you and that you belong to him?