Leviticus 27:1-34
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD 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 above; 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 present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him.
9 And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy.
10 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 it and the exchange thereof shall be holy.
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:
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.
13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.
14 And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand.
15 And if he that sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be his.
16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD some part of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.
17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand.
18 But if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain, even unto the year of the jubile, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.
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.
20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.
21 But the field, when it goeth out in the jubile, shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest's.
22 And if a man sanctify unto the LORD a field which he hath bought, which is not of the fields of his possession;
23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD.
24 In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.
25 And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel.
26 Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the LORD'S firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD'S.
27 And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.
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: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD.
29 None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.
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.
31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
33 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 the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.
34 These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.
THE PERSONAL VOW (vv. 1-8)
This was not a matter of a law requiring anything, but of a voluntary vow made to God. Though it was not required, yet when the vow was made, then it was absolutely required to be kept. If one were to consecrate to the Lord one of his family, the value of this was estimated in currency. A male from 20 to 60 years of age was estimated at 50 shekels of silver (v. 3). A female of the same age was valued at 30 shekels; a boy between 5 and 20 years was 20 shekels, and a girl of that age 10 shekels (v. 5). A little boy, from 1 month to 5 years was valued at 5 shekels and a little girls 3 shekels (v. 6). For a higher age, 60 years and older, the valuation for a male was 15 shekels and for a female 10 shekels (v. 7).
This was law. Israel had vowed to do all that the Lord commanded (Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:2; Exodus 24:7). God held them to it, but they did not keep this vow. Every individual therefore had incurred a debt they have never paid, nor can pay. Their condition for that reason is hopeless. Only God's grace can meet it, grace that came in the person of the Son of God, but which Israel then refused. Only when their minds are changed will they receive such grace.
Because of man's proven unfaithfulness proven by Israel under law, the Lord Jesus warned people not to vow at all (Matthew 5:33). In other words, we are not to trust ourselves. Our trust must be only in the Lord, whose word can never fail.
Verse 8 makes one exception in the case of valuation. If one was too poor to pay, the priest was allowed to lower the valuation to accommodate the person's poverty. This is not absolute law, but law tempered by mercy, which does show, even at that time, that God is a God who delights in mercy.
A DEVOTED SACRIFICE (vv. 9-13)
Next we have the question of animals given to the Lord. All that were given as sacrifices were holy: once given there could be no change of mind (v. 9). No substitute was allowed in any case. If one decided to exchange it for another, both animals would be forfeit and holy (v. 10).
If an unclean animal was devoted to the Lord, therefore one not qualified as a sacrifice, the priest would set a value on the animal, and if it was to be redeemed, then one-fifth was to be added to the valuation, and it could be redeemed (vv. 11-13). In other words, if anything was given to God, God must gain from it, for His glory is to be supremely recognized. Thus, in the sacrifice of Christ, God has been infinitely glorified. The gain was His. Yet, when God gains, we shall gain too, as is wonderfully true in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.
A HOUSE SANCTIFIED (vv. 14-15)
There is again a higher significance in this case than simply the matter of a person's house being set apart for the Lord. This was true of the temple in Israel: being sanctified, it was God's property, and the Lord called it “My Father's house” (John 2:16). In the epistles of the New Testament, however, the house of God is no longer a material building, but a house composed of all believers, “a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). Every believer is a stone a living stone in that building, a house exclusively for God, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). Again, God is to gain by this house being sanctified for Him.
Another principle is introduced in the case of one desiring to redeem his house. If so, one-fifth was to be added to its estimated worth (v. 15). The Lord Jesus will yet redeem the house of Israel by virtue of His sacrifice already accomplished, which has more than paid for the value of the house: therefore it can be said, “it shall be His.”
A FIELD SANCTIFIED (vv. 17-25)
If a field was devoted to the Lord, its value would be estimated according to the value of the seed that could be planted in it (v. 16). This tells us that the crop was more important than the field. Typically, “the field is the world” (Matthew 13:38), and the seed speaks of the word of God (Mark 4:14) which produces fruit in believers in the world, who are more important than merely the literal earth. The world today has been devoted to God for judgment, though the day of Jubilee will bring a wonderful liberation at the coming of the Lord Jesus in power and glory. The judgment of the world will issue then in its liberation from bondage.
If the first owner of the field wanted to redeem it, again he must add the fifth part to its valuation. So also, the redemption of the world requires the price the Lord Jesus has already paid in His marvelous sacrifice of Calvary, which is greater than the value of the world. Today the world has been purchased (Matthew 13:44), not yet been redeemed, though all believers have been redeemed; and the world itself will be redeemed when the Lord takes His great power and reigns over all (Romans 8:21).
The case of one who does not want to redeem his field, or of his selling the field to another man, is added in verse 20. If this were so, then the field, when released in the Jubilee, would be sanctified to the Lord and become the possession of the priest (v. 21). This indicates that in the millennium the Lord Jesus, as God's Priest, will inherit the earth, while Israel will be a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6), identified with Him, and therefore also inheriting the earth (Matthew 5:5).
FIRSTBORN OF ANIMALS (vv. 26-27)
Under law, in every case, the firstborn of an animal was devoted to the Lord. It could not therefore be a voluntary offering: it must be sacrificed because it belonged to the Lord.
But an unclean animal could not be sacrificed to the Lord. Therefore a provision was made for its redemption. One might pay the priest's estimated value of it plus one-fifth. However, Exodus 13:13 makes one exception. The firstborn of a donkey was to be redeemed with a lamb, but if not redeemed, the donkey must have its neck broken. The significance of this is plain. Man is like a wild donkey's colt, unclean, untamed and rebellious. He must be redeemed by the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, or else have his stiff-necked rebellion broken in dreadful judgment. All humans are like unclean animals, needing to be redeemed.
DEVOTED TO DESTRUCTION (vv. 28-29)
This is the case of something, or someone being placed “under the ban” (v. 29) because of the serious corruption of sin. Once this devoting to destruction has taken place, there is no release, no redemption. Therefore, whether it may be principles of evil or humans identified with the evil, once the pronouncement of God has taken place against the evil, it cannot be reversed. God deals constantly in great grace seeking to bring people to repentance, but in spite of this, some resist this great mercy of God and eventually manifest themselves as enemies of God, determined to act in rebellion. Therefore, they become as Romans 9:22 describes, “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,” and “they stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which also they were appointed” (1 Peter 2:8).
We do not decide when people have crossed the line to assume positive hostility against God, but we should continue preaching the gospel to them as long as they will listen. But God knows, and when once He has decided that they are under the ban of devotion to destruction, nothing can change this. How dreadful a consideration for those who dare to resist the gracious pleadings of the Spirit of God! This is the case of those spoken of in Hebrews 6:4 and Hebrews 10:26.
THE TITHE INVOLVING COMPLETE SANCTIFICATION (vv. 30-34)
The Book of Leviticus fittingly closes with the tithe (one tenth) of the fruit of the land being sanctified to the Lord (v. 30). The number 10 speaks of responsibility, so Israel was responsible to render to God one-tenth of all that He gave them. If so, God would greatly bless them. If a man wanted to redeem a tithe he must add one-fifth to its value (v. 31). This would keep Israel from making greed a motive.
One was not to first inspect his animals with the object of keeping the best and using the other as a tithe, but to give one-tenth without any such inspection (v. 33). A proposed exchange would forfeit the exchange.
In one way this conclusion of Leviticus is prophetic of Israel's eventual great blessing when they give the Lord Jesus His true place. Because He will be honored, they will be greatly blessed. This is just as true for us also. In the measure in which we honor Him now, we shall be spiritually blessed, and in eternity when He is in full measure honored, His saints shall be in full measure blessed. Wonderful anticipation!