Numbers 18:16

_AND THOSE THAT ARE TO BE REDEEMED FROM A MONTH OLD SHALT THOU REDEEM, ACCORDING TO THINE ESTIMATION, FOR THE MONEY OF FIVE SHEKELS, AFTER THE SHEKEL OF THE SANCTUARY, WHICH IS TWENTY GERAHS._ Those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem. With a view of perpetuating the remembrance of the claim, which, although commuted, was not repealed, it was ordained that "the firstborn should nevertheless be redeemed, and the redemption was estimated at "five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs." Thus the Levites took the place of the firstborn. But they did not necessarily become priests: they were only the servants of the priests; and even to this station they had to be qualified by a special form of consecration....

8-19 All believers are spiritual priests, and God has promised to take care of them. Godliness has the promise of the life that now is. And from the provision here made for the priests, the apostle shows that it is the duty of christian churches to maintain their ministers. Scandalous maintenance makes scandalous ministers. The priests were to be wholly devoted to their ministry, not diverted from it, or disturbed in it, by worldly care or business. Also, that they might be examples of living by faith, not only in God's providence, but in his ordinances. The best should be offered for the first-fruits unto the Lord. Those who think to save, by putting God off with the refuse, deceive themselves, for God is not mocked....

Verse Numbers 18:16. _SHALT THOU REDEEM - FOR THE MONEY OF FIVE SHEKELS_] Redemption of the first-born is one of the rites which is still practised among the Jews. According to Leo of Modena, it is performed in the following manner: - When the child is thirty days old, the father sends for one of the descendants of Aaron: several persons being assembled on the occasion, the father brings a cup containing several pieces of gold and silver coin. The priest then takes the child into his arms, and addressing himself to the mother, says: _Is this thy son_? MOTHER. Yes. PRIEST. _Hast thou_ _never had another child, male or female, a miscarriage or untimely_ _birth_? MOTHER. No. PRIEST. _This being the case, this child, as_ _first-born, belongs to me_. Then, turning to the father, he says: If it be thy desire to have th

EXPOSITION STATUS AND REVENUES OF PRIESTS AND LEVITES (Numbers 18:1). NUMBERS 18:1 THE LORD SPAKE UNTO AARON. This clear and comprehensive instruction as to the position and support of the sons of Aaron on the one hand, and of the Levites on the other, may very naturally have been given in connection with the events just narrated. There is, however, no direct reference to those events, and it is quite possible that the only connection was one of subject-matter in the mind of the writer. That the regulations which follow were addressed to Aaron directly is a thing unusual, and indeed unexampled. The ever-recurring statement elsewher

AND THOSE THAT ARE TO BE REDEEMED,.... Which is to be understood not of unclean beasts last mentioned, for they were redeemed with lambs and not with money; and after they were eight days and not a month old, as follows, Exodus 13:13; but of the firstborn of men: FROM A MONTH OLD SHALT THOU REDEEM, ACCORDING TO THINE ESTIMATION: that is, take the redemption money next mentioned; and though both time and price are fixed, yet said to be according to the estimation of the priest; see Leviticus 27:5; FOR THE MONEY OF FIVE SHEKELS; which was about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and is the price given for the redemption of the firstborn, when the Levites were taken in their stead, Num

8. PRIESTHOOD AND INIQUITY AND THE RECOMPENSE OF THE PRIESTHOOD CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The iniquity borne by the priesthood (Numbers 18:1)_ 2. The recompense of the priests (Numbers 18:8) 3. The inheritance of the priests (Numbers 18:20) “Aaron, thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.” This is evidently in answer to the question, “Shall we be consumed with dying?” (Numbers 17:13) The ministry of the priests and the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle and the charge of

THE DUES TO BE RECEIVED BY THE PRIESTS FROM THE PEOPLE. These embrace all those portions of the things offered unto the Lord which are not required to be burnt; and in detail are (_a)_ the meal offerings, less a handful or other small quantity (Leviticus 2:2 f., Leviticus 2:9 f., Leviticus 6:15 f.); (_b_) the sin offerings (except those for the high priest and the congregation), less the fat (Leviticus 4:26; Leviticus 4:31; Leviticus 4:35); (_c_) th

SHEKELS... SHEKEL. See App-51. WHICH. it. Compare Numbers 3:47; Exodus 30:13.Leviticus 27:25. GERAHS. See App-51....

_The priests" dues_. These are as follows: (_a_) All meal-, sin-, and guilt-offerings, with the exception of those parts which are burnt on the altar, i.e. given to God. These may be eaten by any _male_member of the priestly families -in a very holy place" (Numbers 18:9). (_b_) Those portions of a -gift" (i.e. a peace-offering) which are not eaten by the worshipper himself, nor given to God by being burnt on the altar; the priests" portions thus consisted of the -contribution," including that part of it called the -wave-offering." These may be eaten by any member, male _or female_, of the priestly families, who is free from ceremonial pollution (Numbers 18:11). The fact that females might eat it implies that it might be eaten anywhere outside the sacred precincts, into which no female was a

THOSE THAT ARE TO BE REDEEMED FROM A MONTH OLD, &C.— This law of redemption was a perpetual memorial to the Israelites of their deliverance from Egypt. The ceremony of redeeming the first-born subsists to this day among the Jews, in the following form: when the child is full thirty days old, the father sends for the priest to his house, where a select number of his friends are convened for that purpose: then the father, taking hold of a cup or basin wherein are several pieces of gold and silver, the child is put into the hands of the priest, who thus addresses himself to the mother: Is this your son? _M._ Yes. _Pr._ Had you never any other child, male or female, nor any miscarriage or untimely birth? _M._ No. _Pr._ This child, therefore, being the first-born, belongs to me. Then, turning to the father, he says, If you have a desire that the child should be your's, you must redeem him. _F...