Numbers 3

Numbers 3 is about what God wants... and God wants a lot.

God wants the all the firstborn sons of Israel for God's work, the priesthood.

The firstborn son has significant meaning. It was the firstborn son that was the most important of all the children. It was the firstborn son that inherited everything after the death of his father. Not only did he inherit everything, he became the patriarch of the family. He was placed in charge of all the family business. The Israelites had a lot of kids, families were huge. To be the firstborn son was a blessing that came with great responsibility.

Which is why it was so devastating to the Egyptians when they lost generations of firstborn sons. All the men with responsibility and all the boys being groomed for powerful positions were gone.

The Israelites count all the firstborn sons of Israel and they find there are 22,300. Let's put this in perspective. The army has 600,000 men, not counting children. 600,000 divided by 22,300 is 27. The average family had 27 sons. (I should have know when I started reading Numbers that I would need a calculator) It was a big deal to be the first born, it meant you were responsible for your 26 brothers and their families, plus any sisters that didn't get married, and your father's brothers and their wives and kids. It was being a small town mayor or dictator.

But God decides that instead of taking the first born of each family, He will just take the entire Levite clan instead... all of them to be priests. Turns out the numbers work out pretty well, there were 22,000 Levites.

The Levites were divided up and given different reponsibilities as priests. (I couldn't help but think of Star Wars as I was reading all their different responsibilities. The Empire has many jobs and they all have different uniforms. The storm troopers and the dudes that wear red helmets and capes around the Emperor were my favorites.) The Levites are now charged with spending their whole lives in service to God. Which I am sure came as good news to some and bad news to others.

But there is good news for all.

Jesus was the first born of all creation. He was the sole heir of all that was God's. God's one and only begotten son. He lived his life in service to God by serving others. And he gave his life so that all might be saved.

God does want. But God does not ask for more than He is willing to give in return.