(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Numbers 3: 1-13, “These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office. And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD.”
Israel was the Lord’s firstborn and the Lord killed all the firstborn in Egypt because they refused to let Israel free from slavery (Ex 4: 22, 23, “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.”) This might seem harsh and cruel but Joseph saved Egypt from certain death during the seven years of severe famine and Egypt rewarded his family by making them slaves and trying to kill all the boys that were born in Israeli families. The Egyptians made a choice and they experiences the consequences of that choice. They refused to thank the Lord for saving them and they were given over to their own violence. They chose to order the death of every Israeli boy and the Lord gave them the same outcome they wanted to force on Israel except the Lord allowed the nation to survive by only taking one boy from each family and not every boy. The Lord saved all the firstborn in Israel so they all belonged to Him. In order to make the administration of this debt more efficient, the Lord substituted one tribe for all the firstborn. This meant that everyone who belonged to the Lord would be easily identified and could act as a group. Israel had a significant ceremonial religion and many people were needed to carry out all the roles involved in their religion so He gave the people who belonged to Him to Aaron and his family to allow them to administer the ceremonies as the Lord’s representatives. This wasn’t the case with animals because it didn’t matter that they could be identified easily throughout the course of their lives like the tribe of Levi.
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