Price of Redemption

Luke 1:22-24 - Baby Jesus had been taken back to Jerusalem to be dedicated:

Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord  (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Inspired actually by a children's book I was reading to my Jewel, I discovered that this ceremony that Jesus was undergoing is something called a "Pidyon-Haben" which translates to "redemption of the first-born son." Originally, the first-born son of every Jewish family was supposed to be dedicated to the priesthood (In Deut. God had demanded the first-born of men and animals for Himself). However, after the whole golden calf incident, God removed that privilege and assigned it exclusively to the Levites (Aaron and his descendants). In an interesting exchange however, God assigned a process by which the first-born sons were still offered to the priests, but then the family had the opportunity to redeem, or buy them back from the priesthood (Numbers 3) for 5 shekels. There is a provision added for those who cannot afford the shekels, so instead they can offer up the pigeons or turtledoves (2 turtledoves?).

So that's what Mary and Joseph were doing with Jesus - as the first born son, Jesus was going to literally be redeemed from the priesthood so that he could depart from the temple and return to his family to do the family's work. At first I thought that this was strange, since Jesus was intended to be the high priest, so why purchase him out of the priesthood?

I then realized though that in this turn of events, Jesus is really the first and only begotten son of God Himself. It is God who placed Jesus inside of Mary, so really when she goes to the temple to redeem him, in actuality it is God redeeming Jesus from the priesthood for Himself to do His work (John 4:34). And what is God's work for Jesus? To act as the savior for all mankind, the purchase price that God uses to redeem men back to himself. 

What's even more amazing is that when God first set up that Levite exchange thousands of years ago, He already knew what He had in mind for what Jesus would be in the future little ritualistic exchange. Even Job somehow knew - in 19:25:

"As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth."

Job wasn't part of Moses' tribe; he had no idea what this concept of redemption was. But somehow he knew that his salvation from the pain of earth would come, not through riches, but through a person who would one day stand on the earth.

Wow.