In the standard Hebrew text, God takes the Levites instead of Israel's firstborn sons. The Targum Jonathan adds details that transform this administrative swap into a high-stakes theological drama involving death by fire, twenty-four priestly divisions, and a mysterious figure called the Amarkol.
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, died "by the flaming fire at the time of their offering the strange fire from their own tents." The Targum specifies the fire came from their personal tents, not some other source, implying they used unauthorized domestic fire rather than sacred fire from the altar. They left no children. Their deaths created a vacuum that shaped the entire priestly succession.
The Targum introduces a detail found nowhere in the Hebrew Bible: the Levites were to be "divided into twenty and four parties." This is the origin of the twenty-four priestly courses that would later serve in the Temple in Jerusalem, projected backward into the wilderness period.
Among the Levite clans, Kohath's family guarded the most dangerous objects: the Ark, the table, the candelabrum, and the altars. Overseeing them all was Eleazar son of Aaron, whom the Targum calls the "Amarkol"—a title meaning superintendent or chief administrator—who "inquireth by Uraya and Thumaya," the Urim and Thummim. This gives Eleazar an oracular role absent from the biblical text.
When the census came in, Israel had 22,273 firstborn but only 22,000 Levites. The 273 surplus firstborn had to be redeemed with silver: five shekels each, totaling 1,365 shekels paid to Aaron and his sons. The redemption was carried out "according to the mouth of the Word of the Lord," the Targum's signature phrase for divine communication—never a direct encounter with God, always mediated through the Memra, the divine Word.