We are in Numbers chapter three with our word for today which is a phrase. וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י shall be mine. It is used 11 times in the Old Testament, twice in our chapter. Our phrase is related to redemption which we have already looked at on a few occasions. This is the context that it is used twice in our chapter. Numbers 3:11-13, 45 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. לִ֥י יִהְי֖וּ[this is our phrase with the word order switched] They shall be mine: I am the Lord.” … Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites וְהָיוּ־לִ֥י shall be mine: I am the Lord. The same context is also repeated later in chapter 8. Numbers 8:14, 17 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י shall be mine … For all the firstborn among the people of Israel לִ֤י are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself. Our next use involves the new heart God will give his people. Jeremiah 24:7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, וְהָיוּ־לִ֣י and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. This new heart is described in several places as enabling God’s people to follow him and apply his word and will in their lives. Jeremiah 32:38 וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 11:20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. וְהָיוּ־לִ֣י And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Ezekiel 14:11 that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֣י but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 37:23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; וְהָיוּ־לִ֣י and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Zechariah 2:11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. Zechariah 8:8 I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. וְהָיוּ־לִ֣י And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness. Malachi 3:17 וְהָ֣יוּ לִ֗י They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. This concept of God wanting us and viewing us as his treasured possession that belongs to him is repeated throughout the Bible. The reason God does so is that in this fallen messed up world because of sin we have a hard time remembering our true value to God. I’ll close with these great reminders. Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
