Leviticus
27:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, 2 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall
be for the LORD by thy estimation. 3
And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto
sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after
the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 And if it
be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. 5 And if it be from five years old even
unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels,
and for the female ten shekels. 6 And if
it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation
shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall
be three shekels of silver. 7 And if
it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy
estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 8 But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then
he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him;
according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him. 9 And if it be a beast, whereof men
bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto
the LORD shall be holy. 10 He shall not
alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall
at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy.
11 And if it be any unclean
beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall
present the beast before the priest: 12
And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou
valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be. 13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he
shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.
If a man makes a special vow of dedication and service to the
Lord, while not specifically commanded by the Lord, it is acceptable to the
Lord. Commentators like Gill and Henry say that the Jewish rabbis explained
that since people might dedicate their service which was not required or things
which were not necessary they could redeem their vow by money. It appears then,
if I am correct, that this passage is like me saying to the Pastor, “I’ll fix
the roof,” and then rather than me doing it myself paying someone to do it or
giving the Pastor a fixed amount based on certain considerations, to have it
done.
Leviticus
27:14 ¶ And when a man shall sanctify
his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it,
whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.
15 And if he that sanctified it will
redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy
estimation unto it, and it shall be his. 16
And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of
his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an
homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he sanctify his field from the year of
jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand. 18 But if he sanctify his field after the
jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years
that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy
estimation. 19 And if he that sanctified
the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part
of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him. 20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he
have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more. 21 But the field, when it goeth out in the
jubile, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; the possession thereof
shall be the priest’s. 22 And if a
man sanctify unto the LORD a field which he hath bought, which is
not of the fields of his possession; 23
Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even
unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as
a holy thing unto the LORD. 24 In the
year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even
to him to whom the possession of the land did belong. 25 And all thy estimations shall be according to
the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.
Here are the same instructions regarding real estate the owner
sets apart to the Lord. The priest estimates the value and if it is a field
this will include its potential for productivity. The law of the Jubilee
applies here as well, which was discussed earlier.
Leviticus
27:26 ¶ Only the firstling of the
beasts, which should be the LORD’S firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether
it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD’S. 27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then
he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part
of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy
estimation. 28 Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto
the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of
his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most
holy unto the LORD. 29 None devoted,
which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be
put to death. 30 And all the tithe of
the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the
tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD. 31 And if a man will at all redeem ought
of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. 32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of
the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be
holy unto the LORD. 33 He shall not
search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change
it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be
redeemed. 34 These are the
commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in
mount Sinai.
This entire chapter deals with gifts voluntarily made and promised
to dedicate to God. It doesn’t give specific instructions as to if they should
make a vow or how they should make the vow. Throughout the Bible there is a lot
of room for an individual’s will. The chapter talks about things like if an
Israelite wants to break his vow and how much that will cost, expressing that
it can be costly to break a vow. Of course, it is understood that man is sinful
and his religious zeal will wane and there is some allowance for that.
The Book of Leviticus underscores the holiness, the separateness
of God. It also underlines man’s sinful nature. The book shows us the abundance
and variety of God’s grace and mercy. Another thing that it provides us is with
a look toward God’s ideas of justice and mercy for those less fortunate than
ourselves. There are many things we can look to the Book of Leviticus for that
are edifying. Plus, we can see Christ throughout.
Romans
15:4 For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope.
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