Leviticus 27
OGCLeviticus 27:1-8
APPENDIX: CONCERNING VOWS 27:1-34 A. VOWS OF PERSONS 27:1-8 TEXT 27:1-8
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And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall accomplish a vow, the persons shall be for Jehovah by thy estimation.
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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.
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And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.
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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.
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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.
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And if it be from sixty years old and upward; 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 be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him that vowed shall the priest value him.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 27:1-8
In fulfilling a vow a price was placed upon the person or persons involved. Why?
The money paid represented something. What was it?
Why call it estimation if the price is pre-determined?
A man from the age of 20 to 60 is of the most value. Why?
Notice that a woman from 20 to 60 is worth the same amount for which our Lord was sold. Any significance?
Why include such young ones in vows?
A man is not worth much after 60. Is this the thought of Lev 27:7?
A poor man can make a vow even if he does not have the money. How?
PARAPHRASE 27:1-8
The Lord said to Moses, Tell the people of Israel that when a person makes a special vow to give himself to the Lord, he shall give these payments instead: A man from the age of twenty to sixty shall pay twenty-five dollars; a woman from the age of twenty to sixty shall pay fifteen dollars; a boy from five to twenty shall pay ten dollars; a girl, five dollars. A boy one month to five years old shall have paid for him two and a half dollars; a girl, one and a half dollars. A man over sixty shall pay seven and a half dollars; a woman, five dollars. But if the person is too poor to pay this amount, he shall be brought to the priest and the priest shall talk it over with him, and he shall pay as the priest shall decide.
COMMENT 27:1-8
Leviticus 27:1-8 Why is this chapter on vows included? Perhaps because vows are mentioned five times in Leviticus and careful laws concerning their use were needed. Cf. Leviticus 7:16; Leviticus 22:18; Leviticus 22:21; Leviticus 22:23; Leviticus 23:38; Numbers 30:1-2; Ecclesiastes 5:4-5. Perhaps the purpose and form of vows is best stated in Deuteronomy 23:21-23: When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be slack in paying it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and slackness would be sin in you. But if you refrain from vowing, it will not be sin in you. The vow which has passed your lips you shall be watchful to perform, a voluntary offering which you have made to the Lord your God, which you have promised with your mouth.
Making a vow, therefore, or dedicating anything to the Lord by vowing, was not commanded, but was presupposed as a manifestation of reverence for God, sanctified by ancient tradition. (Keil). Cf. Proverbs 20:25. The form used in the first verse indicates a new revelation of God has been given by God to Moses. We like the very careful development of these verses by S.H. Kellogg:
First, we have the law (Leviticus 27:2-8) concerning the vowing of persons. In this case it does not appear that it was intended that the personal vow should be fulfilled by the actual devotement of the service of the person to the sanctuary. For such service abundant provision was made by the separation of the Levites, and it can hardly be imagined that under ordinary conditions it would be possible to find special occupation about the sanctuary for all who might be prompted thus to dedicate themselves by a vow to the Lord. Moreover, apart from this, we read here of the vowing to the Lord of young children, from five years of age down to one month, from whom tabernacle service is not to be thought of.
The vow which dedicated the person to the Lord was therefore usually discharged by the simple expedient of a commutation price to be paid into the treasury of the sanctuary, as the symbolic equivalent of the value of his self-dedication. The persons thus consecrated are said to be for the Lord, and this fact was to be recognised and their special dedication to Him discharged by the payment of a certain sum of money. The amount to be paid in each instance is fixed by the law before us, with an evident reference to the labour value of the person thus given to the Lord in the vow, as determined by two factorsthe sex and the age. Inasmuch as the woman is inferior in strength to the man, she is rated lower than he is. As affected by age, persons vowed are distributed into four classes: the lowest, from one month up to five years; the second, from five years to twenty; the third, from twenty to sixty; the fourth, from sixty years of age and upwards.
The law takes first (Leviticus 27:3-4) the case of persons in the prime of their working powers, from twenty to sixty years old, for whom the highest commutation rate is fixed; namely, fifty shekels for the male and thirty for a female, after the shekel of the sanctuary, i.e., of full standard weight. If younger than this, obviously the labour value of the persons’s service would be less; it is therefore fixed (Leviticus 27:5) at twenty shekels for the male and ten for the female, if the age be from five to twenty; and if the person be over sixty, then (Leviticus 27:7), as the feebleness of age is coming on, the rate is fifteen shekels for the male and ten for the female. (These commutation rates are so low that it is plain that they could not have represented the actual value of the individual’s labour. The highest sum which is named-fifty shekelsas the rate for a man from twenty to sixty years of age, taking the shekel as $0.5474, would only amount to $27.375. Even from this alone it is clear that, as stated above, the chief reference in these figures must have been symbolic of a claim of God upon the person, graded according to his capacity for service.) In the case of a child from one month to five years old, the rate is fixed (Leviticus 27:6) at five, or, if a female, then at three shekels. In this last case it will be observed that the rate for the male is the same as that appointed (Numbers 18:15-16) for the redemption of the firstborn, from a month old, in all cases. As in that ordinance, so here, the payment was merely a symbolic recognition of the special claim of God on the person, without any reference to a labour value.
But although the sum was so small that even at the most it could not nearly represent the actual value of the labour of such as were able to labour, yet one can see that cases might occur when a man might be moved to make such a vow of dedication of himself or of a child to the Lord, while he was yet too poor to pay even such a small amount. Hence the kindly provision (Leviticus 27:8) that if any person be poorer than this estimation, he shall not therefore be excluded from the privilege of self-dedication to the Lord, but he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him that vowed shall the priest value him.
FACT QUESTIONS 27:1-8
The purpose of the dedicating one’s self to the Lord was not for service in or around the tabernacle. How do we arrive at this conclusion?
The money paid represented symbolicallywhat did it represent?
Sex and age determined the cost. Why? Name the four classes.
How long would the vow last? Imagine two or three possible purposes or projects for a vow.
Those who were devoted to God and wanted to make a vow but had no money could do it. How?
Leviticus 27:9-13
B. VOWS OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS 27:9-13 TEXT 27:9-13
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And if it be a beast, whereof men offer an oblation unto Jehovah, all that any man giveth of such unto Jehovah shall be holy.
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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 both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy.
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And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer an oblation unto Jehovah, then he shall set the beast before the priest;
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and the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou the priest valuest it, so shall it be.
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But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 27:9-13
What is the difference in offering an animal for a vow and offering an animal for a sacrifice?
Once an animal is given for a vow, i.e. to confirm a vow, it cannot be changed. Why?
Even an unclean beast could be used in a vow. How?
Why would anyone want to redeem an animal in a vow?
PARAPHRASE 27:9-13
But if it is an animal that is vowed to be given to the Lord as a sacrifice, it must be given. The vow may not be changed; the donor may neither change his mind about giving it to the Lord, nor substitute good for bad or bad for good; if he does, both the first and the second shall belong to the Lord! But if the animal given to the Lord is not a kind that is permitted as a sacrifice, the owner shall bring it to the priest to value it, and he shall be told how much to pay instead. If the animal is a kind that may be offered as a sacrifice, but the man wants to redeem it, then he shall pay twenty per cent more than the value set by the priest.
COMMENT 27:9-13
Leviticus 27:9-13 This next section concerns the vowing to the Lord of domestic animals (Leviticus 27:9-13). If the animal thus dedicated to the Lord were such as could be used in sacrifice, then the animal itself was taken for the sanctuary service, and the vow was unalterable and irrevocable. If, however, the animal vowed was any unclean beast, then the priest (Leviticus 27:12) was to set a price upon it, according to its value: for which, we may infer, it was to be sold and the proceeds devoted to the sanctuary. In this case, the person who had vowed the animal was allowed to redeem it to himself again (Leviticus 27:13) by payment of this estimated price and one-fifth additional, a provision which was evidently intended to be of the nature of a fine, and to be a check upon the making of rash vows. (Ibid)
FACT QUESTIONS 27:9-13
A vow seems to indicate a desire on the part of the worshipper to do something he hasn-’t done or to cease from something he has been doing. How would an animal be used in this purpose?
Just how was an unclean animal used?
Leviticus 27:14-25
C. VOWS OF HOUSES AND FIELDS 27:14-25 TEXT 27:14-25
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And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto Jehovah, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.
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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.
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And if a man shall sanctify unto Jehovah part of the field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the sowing thereof: the sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
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If he sanctify his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand.
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But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain unto the year of jubilee; and an abatement shall be made from thy estimation.
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And if he that sanctified the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.
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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:
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but the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy unto Jehovah, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest’S.
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And if he sanctify unto Jehovah a field which he hath bought, which is not of the field of his possession;
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then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation unto the year of jubilee: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto Jehovah.
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In the year of jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongeth.
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And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 27:14-25
What is meant by the use of the terms good or bad as in Leviticus 27:14? Why no right of appeal?
Doesn-’t this sound a little ridiculous to buy back your own house? Discuss.
Please explain in your own words just what is meant in Leviticus 27:16.
How does the year of jubilee relate to the dedication by a vow of a field?
How can the field be returned to the owner?
Does Leviticus 27:23 indicate that the price of the field was to be paid at the time of the vow? Discuss.
Under what conditions did the field belong permanently to the priest? For what reason?
What is the point of mentioning the shekel of the sanctuary in Leviticus 27:25?
PARAPHRASE 27:14-25
If someone donates his home to the Lord and then wishes to redeem it, the priest will decide its value and the man shall pay that amount plus twenty per cent, and the house will be his again. If a man dedicates any part of his field to the Lord, value it in proportion to its size, as indicated by the amount of seed required to sow it. A section of land that requires ten bushels of barley seed for sowing is valued at twenty-five dollars. If a man dedicates his field in the Year of Jubilee, then the whole estimate shall stand; but if it is after the Year of Jubilee, then the value shall be in proportion to the number of years remaining until the next Year of Jubilee. If the man decides to redeem the field, he shall pay twenty per cent in addition to the priest’s valuation, and the field will be his again. But if he decides not to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to someone else (and has given to the Lord his rights to it at the Year of Jubilee), it shall not be returned to him again. When it is freed in the Year of Jubilee, it shall belong to the Lord as a field devoted to Him, and it shall be given to the priests. If a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, but which is not part of his family possession, the priest shall estimate the value until the Year of Jubilee, and he shall immediately give that estimated value to the Lord, and in the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to the original owner from whom it was bought. All the valuations shall be stated in standard money.
COMMENT 27:14-25
Leviticus 27:14-25 We continue the discussion of S. H. Kellogg: The law regarding the consecration of a man’s house unto the Lord by a vow (Leviticus 27:14-15) is very simple. The priest is to estimate its value, without right of appeal. Apparently, the man might still live in it, if he desired, but only as one living in a house belonging to another; presumably, a rental was to be paid, on the basis of the priest’s estimation of value, into the sanctuary treasury. If the man wished again to redeem it, then, as in the case of the beast that was vowed, he must pay into the treasury the estimated value of the house, with the addition of one-fifth.
In the case of the sanctifying or dedication of a field by a special vow two cases might arise, which are dealt with in succession. The first case (Leviticus 27:16-21) was the dedication to the Lord of a field which belonged to the Israelite by inheritance; the second (Leviticus 27:22-24), that of one which had come to him by purchase. In the former case, the priest was to fix a price upon the field on the basis of fifty shekels for so much land as would be sown with a homerabout eight bushelsof barley. In case the dedication took effect from the year of jubilee, this full price was to be paid into the Lord’s treasury for the field; but if from a later year in the cycle, then the rate was to be diminished in proportion to the number of years of the jubilee period which might have already passed at the date of the vow. Inasmuch as in the case of a field which had been purchased, it was ordered that the price of the estimation should be paid down to the priest in that day (Leviticus 27:23) in which the appraisal was made, it would appear as if, in the present case, the man was allowed to pay it annually, a shekel for each year of the jubilee period, or by installments otherwise, as he might choose, as a periodic recognition of the special claim of the Lord upon that field, in consequence of his vow. Redemption of the field from the obligation of the vow was permitted under the condition of the fifth added to the priest’s estimation, e.g. on the payment of sixty instead of fifty shekels (Leviticus 27:19).
If, however, without having thus redeemed the field, the man who vowed should sell it to another man, it is ordered that the field, which otherwise would revert to him again in full right of usufruct when the jubilee year came round, should be forfeited; so that When the jubilee came the exclusive right of the field would henceforth belong to the priest, as in the case of a field devoted by the ban. The intention of this regulation is evidently penal; for the field, during the time covered by the vow, was in a special sense the Lord’S; and the man had the use of it for himself only upon condition of a certain annual payment; to sell it, therefore, during that time, was, in fact, from the legal point of view, to sell property, absolute right in which he had by his vow renounced in favour of the Lord.
The case of the dedication in a vow of a field belonging to a man, not as a paternal inheritance, but by purchase (Leviticus 27:22-24), only differed from the former in that, as already remarked, immediate payment in full of the sum at which it was estimated was made obligatory; when the jubilee year came, the field reverted to the original owner, according to the law (Leviticus 25:28). The reason for thus insisting on full immediate payment, in the case of the dedication of a field acquired by purchase, is plain, when we refer to the law (Leviticus 25:25), according to which the original owner had the right of redemption guaranteed to him at any time before the jubilee. If, in the case of such a dedicated field, any part of the amount due to the sanctuary were still unpaid, obviously this, as a lien upon the land, would stand in the way of such redemption. The regulation of immediate payment is therefore intended to protect the original owner’s right to redeem the field.
Leviticus 27:25 lays down the general principle that in all these estimations and commutations the shekel must be the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty gerahs to the shekel;words which are not to be understood as pointing to the existence of two distinct shekels as current, but simply as meaning that the shekel must be of full weight, such as only could pass current in transactions with the sanctuary.
FACT QUESTIONS 27:14-25
There must have been some very good reasons for vowing away one’s house and living in it as a tenant. Could you pose some such circumstance?
The owner would really never lose the house permanently, but only till Jubilee. What advantage was this?
There are two cases to be considered in the sanctifying of the land. What were they?
Are we to understand that a man would live on his own farm and turn all the proceeds to the priests? If not, what is involved?
How was the price of the land fixed?
What would happen if the field was sold to another during the time it belonged to the priest? i.e. sold before it was redeemed?
Explain Leviticus 27:25.
Leviticus 27:26-34
**D. EXCLUSIONS FROM THE VOWS 27:26-34
- FIRSTLINGS AMONG BEASTS 27:26, 27
- DEVOTED THINGS 27:28, 29
- THE TITHE 27:30-33 TEXT 27:26-34**
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Only the firstling among beasts, which is made a firstling to Jehovah, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox or sheep, it is Jehovah’S.
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And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall ransom it according to thine estimation, and shall add unto it the fifth part thereof: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.
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Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto Jehovah of all that he hath, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto Jehovah.
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No one devoted, that shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
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And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah’S: it is holy unto Jehovah.
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And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof.
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And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto Jehovah.
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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 that for which it is changed shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
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These are the commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 27:26-34
Why exclude the firstborn from dedication by vow? Cf. Exodus 13:2.
Is the firstborn of an unclean beast under consideration in Leviticus 27:27?
How reconcile Leviticus 27:27 with Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20?
A devoted thing was different than one which was vowed or given in a vow. What was the difference?
Leviticus 27:28 and Leviticus 27:29 seem to be discussing two different forms of a devoted thing. Discuss the difference.
Why not vow a tithe to the Lord? Cf. Exodus 13:2.
Why would anyone want to redeem his tithe?
What is meant by the expression whatsoever passeth under the rod? Cf. Ezekiel 20:37.
The tithe of the flock could not be changed. Why not? What was to be done if there was a change?
The entire book of Leviticus was given at what time and in what place?
PARAPHRASE 27:26-34
You may not dedicate to the Lord the firstborn of any ox or sheep, for it is already His. But if it is the firstborn of an animal that cannot be sacrificed because it is not on the list of those acceptable to the Lord, then the owner shall pay the priest’s estimate of its worth, plus twenty per cent; or if the owner does not redeem it, the priest may sell it to someone else. However, anything utterly devoted to the Lordpeople, animals, or inherited fieldsshall not be sold or redeemed, for they are most holy to the Lord. No one sentenced by the courts to die may pay a fine instead; he shall surely be put to death. A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord’S, and is holy. If anyone wants to buy back this fruit or grain, he must add a fifth to its value. And the Lord owns every tenth animal of your herds and flocks and other domestic animals, as they pass by for counting. The tenth given to the Lord shall not be selected on the basis of whether it is good or bad, and there shall be no substitutions; for if there is any change made, then both the original and the substitution shall belong to the Lord, and may not be bought back! These are the commandments the Lord gave to Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.
COMMENT 27:26-34
Leviticus 27:26-27 The firstborn has always belonged to the Lord. We have learned of the four classes of objects which can be vowed or promised to the Lord, i.e.: (1) personsLev 27:2-8; (2) animalsLev 27:9-13; (3) housesLev 27:14-15; (4) landsLev 27:16-25. There are two exceptions to these votive offerings. They are: (1) the firstborn; (2) the devoted thing. Exodus 13:2 says: Sanctify, consecrate, set apart to Me all the firstborn males whatsoever is first to open the womb among the Israelites, both of man and of beast is Mine. (Amplified) It would therefore be meaningless to offer to God what already belongs to Him. An unclean beast could be purchased or redeemed by paying the price set by the priest plus 20% more and then the worshipper could sell it. If an unclean animal was not redeemed by the one who brought it, it was to be offered for sale by the priest. As this was at variance with Exodus 13:13 and Exodus 34:20, where it is enacted that the firstborn of an ass is either to be redeemed with a sheep, or is to be put to death, the authorities of the second Temple interpreted the expression in the passage before us as not applying to the firstborn of the unclean animals, but to unclean animals generally which were dedicated for the repairs of the sanctuary. (Ginsburg)
Leviticus 27:28-29 These verses discuss the objects that could be given to God by the worshipper for God’s use and property. They actually belonged to God. They could not be redeemed by the owner who had thus given them to God, nor could they be sold to anyone else by the officials of the Tabernacle. A man (himself or his slaves), an animal, a field, or a house belongs to the priest for the use of God’s service. An Israelite could at any time devote such to God. Leviticus 27:28 discusses those objects devoted by man to God. Leviticus 27:29 discusses objects God Himself had chosen to come under this ban. In such cases they were doomed or devoted to destruction and therefore must not, and cannot be redeemed. The beast at Sinai, that touched the mountain would be doomed or -devoted.-’ The fields of Gilboa, wet with the blood of Saul and Jonathan, were devoted, or doomed by David. Cf. 2 Samuel 1:21. Ahab was told by the Lord that Benhadad was doomed or devoted. Such were the Canaanites; such was Jericho (Joshua 6:17), with all its spoil, hence the awful aggravation of Achan’s sin. (Bonar) The vows of men could not in any way affect these objects.
Leviticus 27:30-33 A tenth part of whatever the soil produces belongs to God. Man cannot vow to God what does not belong to him; neither can man give to God that which is already His. If a man wanted to use the seed of his soil he could redeem the tithe of the seed by paying what it was worth plus 20%. Cf. Numbers 18:21-24, Deuteronomy 14:22-29.
The Amplified version renders Leviticus 27:32 as: and all the tithe of the herd or of the flock, whatsoever passes under the herdsman’s staff (by means of which each tenth animal as it passes through a small door is selected and marked), the tenth shall be holy to the Lord (Cf. 2 Corinthians 9:7-9). We see in this rendering the custom of counting and marking the animals for God. Cf. Jeremiah 33:13; Ezekiel 20:37. There is to be no selection or substitution in this counting. If there is, then both animals belong to God. We refer the reader to our work on the subject of tithing as found in THE CHURCH IN THE BIBLE, page 407ff.
Leviticus 27:34 These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites. We take this to refer particularly to this chapter, but more generally to the entire book of Leviticus.
Thus, on this first day of March, 1975, I have completed our study of this grand book. It has been a night and day pursuit for several months, but it has been most personally rewarding to the writer. How I hope many of you have travelled with me from the first verse to the last. It is my earnest expectation and prayer that many will so travel and be benefitted in the days yet to come. What a joy to meditate upon His word!
FACT QUESTIONS 27:26-34
Name the four classes of objects upon which vows could be exercised.
Name the two where vows could not be used.
Is there a contradiction in Leviticus 27:29 and Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20? Explain.
It was no light matter to devote something to God. Discuss this thought with present day implications.
God had certain objects and persons He had devoted to Himself. What were they, and what was to be done with them?
Discuss the tithe of the soil and the flock as it relates to man and God, and to us.
What has been your greatest benefit in your study of Leviticus?