Redemption of the Firstborns in the Desert
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Question
Hello, In Numbers 3:39, from Rashi's commentary, we learn that there were 22,000 Levites and an additional 300 Levites who were firstborns. A total of 22,273 firstborns were redeemed. If 22,000 Levites who were not firstborns redeemed 22,000 firstborns, and if 300 Levites who were firstborns exempted themselves, what happens with the additional 273 firstborns for whom there were no Levites?
Answer
Hello
Regarding the 273 firstborns for whom there were no Levites to redeem them, the Torah states that they should be redeemed with 5 shekels, [as the redemption of every firstborn of Israel from then on].
Source
Numbers, Chapter 3, Verses 46-48
(46) And for the redemption of the three hundred and seventy-three that exceed the number of the Levites from the firstborn of the children of Israel: (47) You shall take five shekels per head, according to the holy shekel, twenty gerahs per shekel: (48) And you shall give the money to Aaron and his sons for the redemption of the excess among them:
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