XXVII. (1) AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES. — Like the group of enactments contained in Leviticus 25:1 to Leviticus 26:45, the regulations about the different kinds of vows are introduced with the formula which indicates that the section before us constitutes a separate Divine communication. As sundry... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL MAKE A SINGULAR VOW. — Better, _shall consecrate a vow._ (See Leviticus 22:21.) According to the interpretation of this phrase which obtained during the second Temple it denotes _shall pronounce a vow._ Hence the ancient Chaldee Versions render it, “shall distinctly pronounce a vow.” According... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THY ESTIMATION SHALL BE OF THE MALE. — Better, _Then thy estimation of the male shall be_ (_as follows_). FROM TWENTY YEARS OLD EVEN UNTO SIXTY YEARS OLD. — The estimation not only begins with the male, who is the most important person, but takes special notice of his age. The years here specif... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT BE A FEMALE... THIRTY SHEKELS. — As the woman is the weaker vessel, and her labour is of less value, if she vows herself or dedicates by a vow any other one of her own sex to the sanctuary, she is to pay thirty shekels, or £3 17s. 6d., provided she is within the above-named limits of age.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF IT BE FROM FIVE YEARS OLD, EVEN UNTO TWENTY YEARS. — From the fact that a child of five years is here mentioned it is evident that the vows hero spoken of are not simply those which a man makes with regard to his own person, but which he also makes about others, since a vow involving the payment... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM A MONTH OLD EVEN UNTO FIVE YEARS OLD. — That is, if a parent, or any other person, devotes his or anyone else’s child to the sanctuary, he is obliged to be redeemed according to the prescribed valuation. The formula used in such a case during the second Temple was, “Behold the estimation of thi... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM SIXTY YEARS OLD AND ABOVE. — Being almost past labour, the old man is next in value to the child. A MALE... FIFTEEN SHEKELS. — The old man is therefore to be redeemed at £1 18s. 9d. THE FEMALE TEN SHEKELS. — The old woman, from sixty and upwards, is estimated at exactly the same value as the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF HE BE POORER THAN THY ESTIMATION. — That is, if the person who makes the vow possesses less than the specified legal rates required to redeem it. THEN HE SHALL PRESENT HIMSELF BEFORE THE PRIEST. — The man pleading poverty is to appear before the priest, who is to examine into his circumstanc... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT BE A BEAST, WHEREOF MEN BRING AN OFFERING. — That is, if what a man vows consists of sacrificial quadrupeds, viz., bullocks, sheep, or goats. SHALL BE HOLY. — That is, must not be redeemed at all. They were delivered to the sanctuary: they were sold by the priests to those Israelites who... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL NOT ALTER IT, NOR CHANGE IT. — The identical animal vowed is to be delivered; no change whatever, even if it is in the substitution of a better for an inferior animal, is permitted. The stress laid upon this part of the enactment is indicated by the employment here of two verbs of the same... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT BE ANY UNCLEAN BEAST. — That is, if what he vows consists of an unclean beast, which does not belong to the three kinds of sacrificial quadrupeds, and which cannot therefore be sacrificed on the altar. According to the authorities during the second Temple, however, the expression “unclean... [ Continue Reading ]
WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD. — That is, the priest shall estimate its value according to the condition of the animal, whatever that may be, whether it is of good quality or bad.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF HE WILL AT ALL REDEEM IT. — Better, _and if he wishes to redeem it,_ that is, the man himself who vowed it for the sanctuary. The estimate put upon the animal in question was intended for anyone who wished to purchase it, not excluding, however, the person who vowed it. HE SHALL ADD A FIFTH... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN A MAN SHALL SANCTIFY HIS HOUSE. — That is, devotes it to the service of God by a vow, when it has to be sold and the money used by the authorities for the maintenance and repair of the sanctuary, unless it is required as a dwelling for the priests, or for some other purpose connected with t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF HE THAT SANCTIFIED IT WILL REDEEM HIS HOUSE. — Though the net price thus fixed by the priest is all that anyone else who wishes to buy it has to pay for the house, yet if the former owner of it, or, according to the practice which obtained during the second Temple, his son, wife, or nearest o... [ Continue Reading ]
SOME PART OF A FIELD OF HIS POSSESSION. — That is, if he consecrates by a vow to the service of the sanctuary a portion of a field which he inherits from his forefathers, and which, therefore, constitutes a part of his inalienable patrimony, thus distinguishing it from a field which he has acquired... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE SANCTIFY HIS FIELD FROM THE YEAR OF JUBILE. — That is, the above-named valuation of fifty shekels only applies if he makes the vow immediately after the expiration of the year of jubile, when the period covered by this estimation is forty-nine years.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF HE SANCTIFY HIS FIELD AFTER THE JUBILE. — If, however, the vow is made after the jubile, the priest is to value the field according to the number of years from the time of the vow to the next jubile year. AND IT SHALL BE ABATED FROM THY ESTIMATION. — That is, the years which have elapsed sin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF HE THAT SANCTIFIED THE FIELD WILL IN ANY WISE REDEEM IT. — Better, _and if he wishes to redeem the field that sanctified it._ (See Leviticus 27:13.) This is sure to be the case, since the low value fixed per acre was designed that the field should be redeemed by him. According to the legislat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF HE WILL NOT REDEEM THE FIELD. — That is, if after all the advantages which the law affords to the vower to redeem his patrimonial inheritance before the jubile year, he is base enough to forego the privilege of redemption, thus showing no desire to perpetuate his family name, — OR IF HE HAVE... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE FIELD, WHEN IT GOETH OUT IN THE JUBILE. — That is, when it quits the hand of the purchaser, since in jubile every buyer was to part with the land which he bought, (see Leviticus 25:25) — SHALL BE HOLY UNTO THE LORD, AS A FIELD DEVOTED. — It shall not revert to the original owner who first vo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF A MAN SANCTIFY UNTO THE LORD A FIELD WHICH HE HATH BOUGHT. — But if a man vows a field which he has acquired by purchase, and which is only his till the next jubile, when it reverts to its original owner (see Leviticus 25:25), the case is necessarily different. Such a leased field, when vowed... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE PRIEST SHALL RECKON UNTO HIM. — In this case the vower is not to pay the low rate fixed for a field which is the family inheritance (see Leviticus 27:16), but the priest is to value it in proportion to the number of crops which it will produce up to the year of jubile, in the same way as fi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIELD SHALL RETURN UNTO HIM OF WHOM IT WAS BOUGHT. — In accordance with the law laid down in Leviticus 25:23, the field thus vowed did not return to the purchaser in the year of jubile, but to the, hereditary owner, of whom the person who had vowed it to the Lord had bought it.... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE SHEKEL OF THE SANCTUARY. — As the proceeds of these vows were devoted to the maintenance and repair of the sanctuary, all the valuations are to be made and paid according to the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. (See Exodus 30:13.)... [ Continue Reading ]
ONLY THE FIRSTLING OF THE BEASTS. — Better, _nevertheless the firstlings,_ &c, as this rendering also suits Leviticus 27:28, which begins with the same particle, and which is translated in the Authorised Version, “not withstanding.” Having laid down the regulations about the four classes of objects... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT BE OF AN UNCLEAN BEAST. — That is, if he vows the firstling of an unclean beast he could redeem it according to the valuation of the priest with the addition of one-fifth over and above the fixed value. If he did not redeem it the treasurer of the sanctuary sold it to anyone who liked to b... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTWITHSTANDING NO DEVOTED THING. — Better, _Nevertheless, no banned thing_ (see Leviticus 27:26), that is, unlike those things consecrated to God by the vow hitherto spoken of, anything which the vower devoted to God under a solemn ban cannot be redeemed. BOTH OF MAN AND BEAST, AND OF THE FIELD OF... [ Continue Reading ]
NONE DEVOTED, WHICH SHALL BE DEVOTED OF MEN. — Better, _Every one banned, which shall be banned of men,_ that is, every one banned from amongst men, or every human being banned, is not to be redeemed. Like the cattle and the patrimonial estates, when once devoted to God by a vow of banning, the man... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE TITHE OF THE LAND. — That is, of the soil, or what grows on it, in contradistinction to the tithes of the land mentioned in Leviticus 27:32. The last things mentioned which cannot be dedicated to the Lord by a vow are tithes. Like the firstborn of Animals (see Leviticus 27:26), they alre... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF A MAN WILL AT ALL REDEEM. — Better _And if a man wishes to redeem._ (See Leviticus 27:13; Leviticus 27:19) Though a man may not vow tithes, being already the Lord’s, yet if he wishes he may redeem them by adding one-fifth to the actual value of them. According to the authorities during the se... [ Continue Reading ]
WHATSOEVER PASSETH UNDER THE ROD. — That is, for the purpose of counting and tithing them. The manner in which this was done is described by the Jewish canonists as follows: “The owner is to gather all his lambs or all his calves into the fold and make a little door to it, so that two should not be... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL NOT SEARCH WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD. — That is, the owner is not to pick out the good ones from the bad, but, as described above, is to mark every tenth one as it comes out of the fold as belonging to the Lord. AND IF HE CHANGE IT AT ALL. — See Leviticus 27:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THE COMMANDMENTS. — That is, the laws laid down in Leviticus 27:1. IN MOUNT SINAI. — In the mountainous district of Sinai. (See Leviticus 26:46.)... [ Continue Reading ]