Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Leviticus 27:14 - 27:34

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Leviticus 27:14 - 27:34


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



Of Houses, Fields, and Firstlings

v. 14. And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the Lord,
in a vow devoting its value to the service of Jehovah, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad; as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand, his medium valuation should be final.

v. 15. And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house,
desiring to have it back for his own use, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.

v. 16. And if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession,
the price of its valuation being intended for the use of the Sanctuary, as a gift, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof, according to the amount of seed used in putting the field to grain; an homer (a little over eight bushels) of barley-seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver (about $32. 40).

v. 17. If he sanctify his field from the Year of Jubilee,
immediately after its close, when the land was again cultivated, according to thy estimation it shall stand. The valuation once fixed would hold good till the nest Tear of Jubilee, and the one that made the vow would be obliged to make his yearly payments accordingly.

v. 18. But if he sanctify his field after the Jubilee,
after some years had elapsed, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the Jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy estimation. In the case of a field of barley, for instance, if twenty years still remained till the nest Tear of Jubilee, then the person concerned would have twenty shekels to pay, plus the one-fifth which was added for the sake of compensation, if it was so arranged.

v. 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.

v. 20. And if he will not redeem the field,
by the regular payment of the price of valuation, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more; if a person lapsed in his payments, he forfeited his ownership of the field.

v. 21. But the field, when it goeth out in the Jubilee,
out of the hands of the man that bought it in the mean time, shall be holy unto the Lord, as a field devoted, and thus the property of the Sanctuary; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.

v. 22. And if a man sanctify unto the Lord a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession,
does not belong to the land which is the perpetual inheritance of his family,

v. 23. then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the Year of the Jubilee,
the total sum due as the price of redemption; and he shall give thine estimation in that day, make payment of the required sum at once, as a holy thing unto the Lord. This provision obviated the possibility of the land's being devoted to the Sanctuary and thus being lost to the original owner, who was to regain possession of it in the year of the Jubilee.

v. 24. In the year of the jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong,
and who could not dispose of it absolutely, but only until the year of redemption.

v. 25. And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the Sanctuary,
the standard of weight for all money transactions; twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.

v. 26. Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the Lord's firstling,
Exo_13:2-12, no man shall sanctify it: these animals could not be used in the event of vows; whether it be ox or sheep; it is the Lord's.

v. 27. And if it be of an unclean beast,
one that could be used neither for sacrifices nor as food for the priests, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it there to; or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation, for the benefit of the Sanctuary.

v. 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,
while it is under the vow;every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord, a gift which cannot be redeemed, surrendered to the Lord to be disposed of at His will, irrevocably cut off from all common use.

v. 29. None devoted, which shall be devoted of men,
dedicated to the Lord in this special sense, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death; the person was irredeemable, and Jehovah's sentence of destruction was sure to be carried out.

v. 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,
absolutely at His disposal, and Jehovah executed the ban.

v. 31. And if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add there to the fifth part thereof,
as a penalty or compensation.

v. 32. And concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod,
that is, under the staff of the shepherd, who keeps a careful record of the animals in his care, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord, the tenth part of the annual increase was set apart for the use of the Lord and His Sanctuary.

v. 33. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it,
v. 10; and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

v. 34. These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai,
this last Chapter on vows being an appendix to the Book of Leviticus, the types of whose sacrifices point forward to the Lord, our Righteousness; for they were prescribed to the Jews of the Old Covenant because of transgressions, until the promised Seed should come.