Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, October 1st, 2023
the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
Bible Commentaries
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible Coffman's Commentaries
Copyright Statement
Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliographical Information
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Leviticus 27". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bcc/leviticus-27.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Leviticus 27". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/
Whole Bible (40)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (2)
Verse 1
The nature of this last chapter has led some to question the appropriateness of its placement in this context. Leviticus 26:46 appears to be the logical end of the book, and that makes this chapter to appear somewhat as an afterthought. It should be remembered, however, that Moses did not write five books; he wrote only one, not even dividing it into chapters. Such things as chapters, verses, and paragraphs are merely the devices of men, adopted for greater convenience in locating specific passages.
Besides that, there are very excellent and logical reasons for the appearance of the instructions in Leviticus 27 just where they are found. Kellogg noted that:
From this it is easy to see why the instructions regarding vows would not have fit into any other location earlier in Leviticus. Voluntary religious actions have no place whatever among those duties God has commanded his servants to obey. Thus, they appear here last of all, which is exactly where they belong. Of course, they have a supplementary relation to the rest of Leviticus; "But there is no reason to doubt its Mosaic authorship."[2]
This whole chapter deals with vows and tithes. The custom of making vows to God is very old, and the Mosaic law recognized the right of an individual to make a vow to God in case he of his own volition decided to do so, but none was required. However, in case a vow was made, God's law required it to be done (paid). Vows were made with reference to: (1) oneself;
(2) any member of his family (or all of them);
(3) his animals (clean or unclean);
(4) his crops;
(5) his land (whether rented or owned);
(6) his house; or
(7) his slaves, in fact, "whatever he had a right over."[3]
This chapter falls into this outline:
<MONO>
Verse 9
"And if it be a beast, whereof men offer an oblation to Jehovah, all that any man giveth of such unto Jehovah shall be holy. 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 was changed shall be holy. 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; and the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou the priest valuest it, so shall it be. But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part thereof unto thy estimation."
Leviticus 27:9 forbade any substitutions. Once a beast was designated in a vow, the decision regarding the animal was irrevocable. In case a substitute was offered, the penalty required that both animals be forfeited. In the matter of unclean beasts (Leviticus 27:11), although these could not be sacrificed; "But they could be used by the priest, or sold for profit."[6] In case the giver wanted to redeem the unclean beast, he could do so by paying the estimated value plus twenty percent.
Leviticus 27:11 appears to forbid any haggling over price. Like the decisions of an umpire in a baseball game, the priest's evaluations were not subject to challenge. "As the priest valuest it, so shall it be!"
Verse 14
"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. And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add a fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall he his."
One reason, no doubt, for the monetary penalties for the redemption of things vowed to God was that of discouraging rash and thoughtless vows. Clements commented on this:
Wenham was probably correct in supposing that the "houses" referred to in these verses "were town houses that did not figure as part of the family's estate and therefore could be bought and sold freely."[8]
Verse 16
"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. If he sanctify his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand. 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. 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. And if he will not redeem the field, or if he hath sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more: 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. And if he sanctify unto Jehovah a field which he hath bought, which is not of the field of his possession 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. 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. And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel."
In these instructions regarding the devotions of fields, the thing that stands out is precedence of the year of Jubilee. Unalienable rights to the land by the descendants of the original possessors of Canaan could not be given away permanently, not even to the priests, except in instances where some fraud existed. Furthermore, all calculations of the right of redemption were made with reference to how many years still remained in the Jubilee. It appears that the right of redeeming devoted lands was calculated on a basis that would have favored the one wishing to redeem it. A value of fifty shekels was placed upon the amount of land that could be sowed with a homer of barley, "according to the sowing of a homer of barley" (Leviticus 27:16), but that fifty shekels paid for the full time of fifty years between Jubilees. That means one shekel per year. Some have attempted to read this valuation as a shekel a year for the amount of land that yielded a homer of barley, but we reject this on the basis that the yield of a field is not necessarily constant, whereas, the sowing of a field was a standard understood by everyone. It is true, as Wenham said, that, "Most commentators understand it" as we have indicated here.[9]
The instructions as to the kind of shekel to be used in redemption of vows were required because a shekel long in circulation would become worn and have less weight than the twenty gerahs (the standard weight of the shekel). The full weight of 10 shekels would therefore have been 200 gerahs, which might have required eleven worn shekels to be sufficient. "`According to the shekel of the sanctuary' therefore means the shekel at its full value, before worn by use in traffic."[10]
Verse 26
"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. 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."
Some things could not be redeemed, and this passage cites the first of these, namely, the firstborn (firstling) of either ox or sheep. The reason was simply that all the firstborn belonged to Jehovah already. Therefore, they could not be devoted, much less redeemed. They were already devoted and were the property of the priests. In this connection, the regulations concerning unclean animals, already given in Leviticus 27:11-13, are repeated.
There was still another category of devoted things that under no circumstances could be redeemed, and that was immediately stated.
Verse 28
"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. No one devoted, that shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death."
The word "devoted" in this passage has the simple meaning of "accursed."[11] We may be certain, therefore, that the authority thus to "devote" another human being did not belong to any individual in the ancient Jewish society. Meyrick has this further explanation:
Another example of a person so devoted is that of Agag, king of the Amalekites, whom Saul spared alive, contrary to the will of God (1 Samuel 15). A footnote in the old Polyglot Bible gives the meaning of this passage perfectly.
"Any allegations to the effect that the Mosaic Law permitted human sacrifice is false. When God gave a list of animals that could be offered to him in sacrifice, humans were expressly omitted, therefore forbidden to be offered in sacrifice."[14]
Verse 30
"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. And if a man will redeem aught of his tithe, he shall add unto it the fifth part thereof. And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto Jehovah. 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."
The tithe is here introduced as something already known and accepted. It will be remembered that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, and that Jacob also vowed to give "a tenth" unto God. Mentioning the conduct of the Pharisees, Jesus spoke of their "righteousness," including a reference to their payment of tithes, stating at the same time that except our "righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees" we cannot please God. The nearest thing in the N.T. to specific commandment that Christians should pay tithes is found in Hebrews: "Here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth" (Hebrews 7:8, KJV). This certainly falls short of a commandment, but declares the acceptability of tithes by Christ in heaven itself. The spirit of Christianity has, in general, accepted the responsibility.
It is odd that one could redeem the tithe of his crops and fruit trees, but that he could not redeem the tithe of his flocks and herds. The tenth passed into the hands of the priests, which they received as an unalienable right.
In fact, it was forbidden to the person giving a tithe that he should be able to select the animals given. "He shall not search whether it be good or bad" (Leviticus 27:33). Coleman tells how the tithe was taken:
The recognition of tithing as a constant obligation of God's people is here inherent in the fact that laws concerning it appear in the list of things that could not be redeemed, "from of old, belonging to the Lord and incapable of being vowed."[16]
Verse 34
"These are the commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai."
This is indeed an appropriate ending for Leviticus, and it has the effect of tying all of the regulations to the Sinaitic covenant. "It is in accord with the total impression given by Leviticus, that it consists of laws given to Moses (by Almighty God) for Israel at Sinai."[17] "This final verse is a repetition of the concluding verse of Leviticus 26, and has the effect of showing that this chapter (Leviticus 27) also is a valid part of the Sinai covenant."[18]
We have now come to the end of these somewhat tedious chapters in Leviticus, where there is much material with little application to our own times and situations, "giving inevitably an appearance of dryness and formality";[19] but as Spurgeon once said, "There is honey in the rock if we only take the time and patience to seek it." We praise the Lord who enabled us to discover some of it. How marvelous is the typology, for example, in the consecration of Aaron and his sons, witnessing to some of the most important truth in the Dispensation of Christ, and how merciful of the Lord that in many instances where certain penalties were required, exceptions were made for those who through poverty were unable to comply with the laws! Here, even as in Exodus, it is evident that God's mercy ranked higher than his law, and who is there who cannot rejoice in this glorious O.T. truth?