Numbers 3:1-51, Triennial V’eleh toldot, “These are the generations” Outline

Read Numbers 3:1-51 at Bible Gateway.

The Teaching Tools of Scripture
Genesis 1:1-2:3 and the Teaching Tools of Scripture part one and part two
Genesis 1:1-6:8 and Finding the Topic Themes of Scripture
Genesis 6 and the Strong Themes Teaching Tool

Hebrew paragraph divisions

3:1-4 {p} Sons of Aaron who ministered as priests
3:5-10 {p} Aaron and sons attend to his priesthood, Levites attend to Aaron and the tabernacle
3:11-13 {p} YHVH has taken the Levites instead of every firstborn
3:14-26 {s} Number the Levites/ Gershon’s number and duties
3:27-39 {s} Kohath and Merari’s number and duties/ Camp of Moses and Aaron/ Number of Levites
3:40-43 {p} Number of the firstborn males
3:44-51 {p} Redemption money for the firstborn

Strong themes of the parashah

3:1-13 {px3} Aaron to attend to the priesthood, the Levites to attend to the tabernacle instead of the firstborn
3:14-43 {s+s+p} Number of Levites and firstborn males

Numbers 3:1-51 Chiastic structure

I was not wise enough to make a structure from just V’eleh toldot by itself; I had to pair it with Nassa et-rosh to make a cohesive structure.

Download the fully expanded Num 3:1-51 Triennial V’eleh toldot chiasm pdf (Coming …).

Theme of the parashah

The number of Levites instead of the firstborn, and their duties by family.

Finding Messiah in Triennial V’eleh toldot

Then YHVH spoke to Moses, saying: “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I am YHVH. And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. Num 3:44-47

This is the first occurrence of the abstract concept of redemption in Numbers. It is different from the abstract concept of redemption, via the kinsman-redeemer, that we encountered in Lev 25:1-38.

“Redemption” is from פדה padah, Strong’s H6299, a verbal root meaning, “to ransom.” The pictographs are pey + dalet + hey.

pey פ, ף = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
dalet ד = the door, thus enter, move, hang
hey ה = man w/ raised arms, thus look, reveal, wonder, worship, breath

The story: The opened (pey) door (dalet) looses (hey) what was held within. The verb is “to ransom,” the concrete noun is “a ransom,” that is, something paid to release someone from captivity, slavery, or debt. The abstract concept is “redemption.” Messiah Yeshua has paid the ransom-price in His blood to secure an open door of release for us.

Additional readings for this parashah

Psa 93 (my notes) | Isa 43 (my notes) | Heb 12 (my notes)