Numbers 18:15

18:15-16 The Lord provided for the Hebrew priests and their families out of what was set aside for the Lord. The priests had rights to firstborn animal offerings and to the redemption fee for Israel’s firstborn sons. Both the firstborn sons and the offspring of unclean animals had to be redeemed by a fee paid in silver, since neither could be sacrificed (see 3:13, 40-51; Exod 13:2).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. The first-born of man - and the firstling of unclean beasts] Thus vain man is ranked with the beasts that perish; and with the worst kinds of them too, those deemed unclean.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) Every thing that openeth the matrix . . . —(See Lev_27:6; Lev_27:26-27.) Five shekels was the redemption-price paid for each of the firstborn who were not redeemed by the Levites (Num_3:47).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. of all flesh which they offer] i.e. clean animals, for they alone could be offered.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And those that are to be redeemed,.... Which is to be understood not of unclean beasts last mentioned, for they were redeemed with lambs and not with money; and after they were eight days and not a month old, as follows, Exo 13:13; but of the firstborn of men:

from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation: that is, take the redemption money next mentioned; and though both time and price are fixed, yet said to be according to the estimation of the priest; see Lev 27:5,

for the money of five shekels; which was about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and is the price given for the redemption of the firstborn, when the Levites were taken in their stead, Num 3:47,

after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs; see Gill on Num 3:47; of the manner of redeeming the firstborn; see Gill on Exo 13:15.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Surely redeem ... redeem - A stronger expression is intentionally used in reference to the redemption of the first-born of man than in reference to that of unclean beasts. For the rule as to the former admitted of no exception: the owner of the latter, if unwilling to redeem, might destroy the beasts. Compare the marginal references.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Beast. The Rabbins restrain this to the ass alone, which they pretend was deemed the only unclean animal by the Israelites, in Egypt, when this law was established; and Moses indeed specifies it alone, Exodus xiii. 13. (Abenezra) --- But we cannot doubt but that camels, and all other unclean animals, were to be included, if the Hebrews kept them; (Calmet) and those which were rendered impure by some defect, were also to be redeemed. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whether it be of men, which were offered to God in his temple, Exo 13:12; Luk 2:22, and to his service and disposal.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Every thing that openeth the matrix — Every firstborn male. The female firstborn of man and beast were exempted from consecration. See Lev_27:26, note. The firstborn of man were to be consecrated to Jehovah as a sacrifice, not after the manner of the heathen, by slaying and burning upon the altar, but by presenting them to the Lord as living sacrifices, devoting all their powers of body and mind to his service. Rom_12:1, note. “As the Egyptians were judged in their firstborn children because of their guilt, so that the children took the place of the whole nation, and bore as a sacrifice the curse of extermination which lay on all; so, on the contrary, Israel — the people chosen by Jehovah and redeemed from the bondage of man — in testimony that it owes its existence and possessions to divine grace alone,… shall bring to God, as payment, the firstling blessings of his house in place of the whole.” — Oehler. Since the first birth represented all the births, the whole nation was to consecrate itself to Jehovah, and present itself as a priestly nation in the consecration of the firstborn, thus fore-shadowing the “royal priesthood” of every individual believer in Christ. See the Septuagint of Exo_19:6, and 1Pe_2:9.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of men - Which were offered to God in his temple, and to his service and disposal.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.