Numbers 3 begins, "These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time that the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai."
Numbers 3:1 has the same form as eleven verses in the book of Genesis that begin, "These are the generations of...;" or, in the case of Genesis 5:1, "This is the book of the generations of..." All of these verses feature the Hebrew word toledot ("generations"). They focus the narrative on particular families. Commentator Michael Morales observes, "By use of the toledot formula the Pentateuch's narrative builds a highway from Adam (as archetypal priest) to Aaron the high priest (as cultic Adam)..."
There is a thirteenth toledot verse in Ruth 4:18: "Now these are the generations of Perez..." The final paragraph of the book of Ruth traces the line of Judah (and of the Messiah) from Perez to David.
In the Christian Bible there is a fourteenth toledot verse in Matthew 1:1, which has wording that echoes Genesis 5:1 in the LXX: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ..." It's wonderful that this turns out to be the fourteenth one, given the importance of the number 14 in the genealogy of Matthew 1. Rob Wilson of Church of the Messiah has often pointed out the significance of Matthew 1:1 as a toledot verse.
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