🔢WEB · Numbers 3:50
What does Numbers 3:50 mean?
"from the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:"
— Numbers 3:50 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
you shall take five shekels apiece for each one; after the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs):
and you shall give the money, with which their remainder is redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons.”
Moses took the redemption money from those who exceeded the number of those who were redeemed by the Levites;
from the firstborn of the children of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:
and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, according to Yahweh’s word, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Explanation
Numbers 3:50 records the concluding detail of a census and redemption process: after counting the firstborn sons of Israel and comparing that number to the number of Levites available to serve as their substitutes, Moses collected a total of 1,365 shekels of silver, measured by the official "shekel of the sanctuary," the standard weight used for sacred transactions in the tabernacle. This sum represents redemption money paid on behalf of the firstborn Israelites who exceeded the number
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