Text: Numbers 18:15
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 13:12
Subject: firstborn redemption
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 13:12 commands Israel to "set apart for the LORD" (הַעֲבַרְתָּ, ha'avarta) every firstborn (בְּכוֹר, bekhor), grounding this obligation in the Passover deliverance when God struck Egypt's firstborn but spared Israel's. Numbers 18:15 assigns the administration of this law to the priesthood: "the firstborn of every womb... belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son." Numbers adds the specific redemption price (five shekels at one month old, v. 16) that Exodus left unspecified, and assigns the revenue to the priestly support system. The connection shows how Pentateuchal legislation develops: Exodus establishes the theological principle (firstborn belong to God because of Passover), Numbers institutionalizes it within the priestly economy.
Consolidated 2026-06-09 per the later-text → earlier-text canonical-direction ruling (Full Corpus Audit, Phase 0). The content below is preserved verbatim from the deleted file "Exodus 13.12 to Numbers 18.15"; fold unique material into the Significance during the Phase 3 IP audit, then remove this section.
Text: Exodus 13:12
OT Text Referred to: Numbers 18:15
Subject: firstborn male of all ritually impure animals
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Longitudinal Theme
Significance: Exodus 13:12 commands that every firstborn male of the womb (כָּל־פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם, kol-peter rechem) be presented to the LORD, and Numbers 18:15 assigns the priestly administration of this law: "The firstborn of every womb... that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son." The connection specifies how the Exodus 13 consecration was operationalized—the firstborn belonged to God, but firstborn sons and unclean animals required redemption (פָּדָה, padah) through a monetary payment to the priests. Numbers 18 thus transforms the Exodus command from a general principle of divine ownership into a functioning system of priestly revenue and substitutionary redemption.