Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Leviticus 27:1 - 27:13

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Leviticus 27:1 - 27:13


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Of Men and Beasts

v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

v. 2. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow,
an exceptional, unusual, special promise to the Lord, which involved the offering of his own body to the Lord for some service in His worship, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation; the redemption from the obligations of the promise had to be made in accordance with the estimate given out, first by Moses and later by the priest in charge. The fulfillment of the vow consisted in this, that the person concerned paid the price of the estimation to the Sanctuary.

v. 3. And thy estimation shall be of the male,
in the case of a man, from twenty years old even unto sixty years old; even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the Sanctuary (about $32).

v. 4. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels
(about $19. 20).

v. 5. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels
(about $12. 80)and for the female ten shekels (about $6. 40).

v. 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
(about $3. 20),and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver (about $1. 92).

v. 7. And if it be from sixty years old and above,
at the time of life when the bodily strength usually will not permit strenuous service; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels (about $9. 60)and for the female ten shekels (about $6. 40).

v. 8. And if he be poorer than thy estimation,
if he cannot afford the price of redemption according to the priest's estimate, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him, fix the price of redemption in proportion to the person's ability to pay; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him. This special ordinance made it possible even for the very poor to dedicate themselves to the Lord by a vow; for the Lord's mercy and kindness at all times stands out with special force.

v. 9. And if it be a beast whereof men bring an offering unto the Lord,
that is, if the vow concerns such an animal, all that any man giveth of such unto the Lord shall be holy, dedicated to Him, set aside subject to His orders.

v. 10. He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad or a bad for a good;
for the vow, having once been made, could not be recalled; and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy, both of them devoted to the Lord, subject to His disposal, those without blemish being used for sacrifices, those not perfect being allotted to the priest.

v. 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;


v. 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.
The priest was to fix a medium price, neither too high nor too low, for the proceeds of the sale were used in the interest of the Sanctuary.

v. 13. But if he will at all redeem it,
for his own use, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation, as a sort of compensation for his act in taking the animal back for his own use.