Bible Study with Jairus - Numbers 3

The Holy Spirit illuminated verses 44-46 to us in Numbers chapter 3. Let's look at those three verses.
3:44 (NIV) The LORD also said to Moses,
3:45 (NIV) "Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the LORD.
3:46 (NIV) To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites,
One of the questions raised at the meeting was, "Why were the firstborn male Levites who were a month old or more to replace all the firstborn Israelite males?" According to this chapter's record, the total number of Levites, including every male a month old or more, was 22,000, while the total number of firstborn Israelite males was 22,273. One male Levite (a month old or more) redeems one firstborn Israelite male, which accounts for 22,000 people. But they had to spend money to redeem the additional 273 people who exceeded the number of Levites. The price of each person was 5 shekels. Does the number 273 have any special significance?
We know that the numbers in the Bible aren't meaningless. Many numbers have meaning behind them. Unfortunately, we tend to be limited by our lack of understanding of the Hebrew language and our shallow knowledge of the Bible, which can hinder our ability to discern the meaning of Biblical numbers. While reading these scriptures, I was inspired by the Spirit to share and give some practical help for our Christian walk today.
To fully comprehend this story, we need to understand why the Levites were used to replace the firstborn Israelites.Show more

In Exodus, the last plague sent by Jehovah in Egypt was the killing of the firstborn of all Egyptians. The Jews were obedient and ate the Passover lamb and smeared blood on the lintels, so the angel of death passed over the Israelites. In other words, because of the lamb's shed blood, the Israelites were forgiven. Almost all Christians acknowledge that this picture is a representation of New Testament believers. Through the redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ can experience what the Israelites experienced. We die with Him in Christ, and we will also be raised to life as He was. This is general knowledge for Christians; however, we won't focus on that topic here.
The focus of our discussion is why did the Book of Numbers (the book right after Exodus) record that Jehovah let Moses substitute all the firstborn Israelite males with the Levite males who were a month old or more? Many of us know that the experience recorded in Exodus is like a picture. It represents Christians transferring from Satan's kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the light of God's beloved Son. The book of Numbers tells the story of Israelites wandering in the wilderness, and the book of Joshua tells the story of Israel entering the Promised Land.