Those that are to be redeemed from a month old, &c.— This law of redemption was a perpetual memorial to the Israelites of their deliverance from Egypt. The ceremony of redeeming the first-born subsists to this day among the Jews, in the following form: when the child is full thirty days old, the father sends for the priest to his house, where a select number of his friends are convened for that purpose: then the father, taking hold of a cup or basin wherein are several pieces of gold and silver, the child is put into the hands of the priest, who thus addresses himself to the mother: Is this your son? M. Yes. Pr. Had you never any other child, male or female, nor any miscarriage or untimely birth? M. No. Pr. This child, therefore, being the first-born, belongs to me. Then, turning to the father, he says, If you have a desire that the child should be your's, you must redeem him. Fa. That is my design in making you an offering of these pieces of gold and silver. Pr. You are willing then to redeem him? Fa. I am—Then the priest, turning to the assembly, says, This child, being a first-born, is mine, as it is written, Numbers 18:15-16. Every thing that openeth the matrix, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine; and those that are to be redeemed, thou shalt redeem, from a month old, for five shekels; nevertheless, I content myself with this in exchange; at the same time he takes about two gold crowns, and returns the child to the father and mother.
Related Commentaries of Numbers 18:16
Numbers 18:16
16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs.