Leviticus 27:1-8

APPENDIX: CONCERNING VOWS 27:1-34
A. VOWS OF PERSONS 27:1-8
TEXT 27:1-8

1

And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

2

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.

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 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

669.

In fulfilling a vow a price was placed upon the person or persons involved. Why?

670.

The money paid represented something. What was it?

671.

Why call it estimation if the price is pre-determined?

672.

A man from the age of 20 to 60 is of the most value. Why?

673.

Notice that a woman from 20 to 60 is worth the same amount for which our Lord was sold. Any significance?

674.

Why include such young ones in vows?

675.

A man is not worth much after 60. Is this the thought of Leviticus 27:7?

676.

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

669.

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?

670.

The money paid represented symbolicallywhat did it represent?

671.

Sex and age determined the cost. Why? Name the four classes.

672.

How long would the vow last? Imagine two or three possible purposes or projects for a vow.

673.

Those who were devoted to God and wanted to make a vow but had no money could do it. How?