* redeemed.
18:15 Ex 13:13
* the two hundred.
As the number of the Levites was 22,000, and the first-born
males of the Israelites were 22,273, there were therefore 372
more of the latter than of the former, which are here ordered
to be redeemed. The price of redemption is fixed at five
shekels, or about 15s. each, in ver 47. This money,
amounting to 1,365; shekels, equal to (9c32)04. 15s. English, was
taken of the first-born. There is some difficulty, however,
in determining which of the first-born should be redeemed by
paying this sum, and which should be exchanged for the
Levites; for every Israelite, no doubt, would rather have his
first-born redeemed by a Levite, than pay five shekels; and
yet some of them must have incurred this expense. Rabbi
Solomon Jarchi says, to prevent contention, Moses took 22,000
slips of parchment, and wrote on each a son of Levi, and 273
more, on which he wrote five shekels; then putting them in an
urn, and shaking them together, he ordered every one of the
first-born to draw out a slip. If he drew out one with the
first inscription, he said to him, a Levite hath redeemed
thee: but if he drew out one of the latter, he said, pay the
price. This is pronounced by Dr. A. Clarke to be a stupid,
silly tale; but when we know that the determination by lot
was used among the Israelites, it does not seem improbable
that it was now resorted to, though we cannot vouch for the
accuracy of the detail. This species of redeeming men is
referred to by St. Peter in his 1st Epistle, ch. 1:18, 19.
* which are.
39-43
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