Leviticus 27:16

_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._ If a man ... In the case of acquired property in land, if not redeemed, it returned to the donor at the Jubilee; whereas the part of a hereditary estate which had been vowed did not revert to the owner, but remained attached in perpetuity to the sanctuary. The reason of this remarkable difference was to lay every man under an obligation to redeem the property, or stimulate his nearest kinsman to do it, in order to prevent a patrimonial inheritance going out from any family in Israel....

14-25 Our houses, lands, cattle, and all our substance, must be used to the glory of God. It is acceptable to him that a portion be given to support his worship, and to promote his cause. But God would not approve such a degree of zeal as ruined a man's family....

Verse Leviticus 27:16. SOME PART _OF A FIELD_] Though the preceding words are not in the text, yet it is generally allowed they should be supplied here, as it was not lawful for a man to vow his _whole_ _estate_, and thus make his family beggars, in order to enrich the Lord's sanctuary: this God would not permit. The rabbins teach that the land or field, whether good or bad, was valued at _forty-eight_ shekels, for all the years of the jubilee, provided the field was large enough to sow a _homer_ of barley. The חמר _chomer_ was different from the עמר _omer_: the latter held about _three quarts_, the former, _seventy-five gallons three pints_; Exodus 16:16. Some suppose that the land was rated, not at _fifty shekels_ for the whole of the years...

SOME PART OF A FIELD OF HIS POSSESSION - Rather, a part of the land of his inheritance. THE SEED THEREOF - i. e. the quantity of seed required to sow it properly. Thus the value of about 5 1/2 bushels (an homer) was about 6 pounds, 9 shillings, 2d. (50 shekels. See Exodus 38:24.)...

APPENDIX. EXPOSITION The final chapter, attached to the book after the concluding exhortation, is a short treatise on persons (Leviticus 27:2), animals (Leviticus 27:9-3), houses (Leviticus 27:14, Leviticus 27:15), lauds (Leviticus 27:16-3), vowed to God; and on the commutation of vows. A man might vow to the service of God whatever he had a right over, that is, himself, his wife, his children, his slaves, his beasts, his houses, his fields. In case persons were vowed, the rule was

AND IF A MAN SHALL SANCTIFY UNTO THE LORD [SOME PART] OF A FIELD OF HIS POSSESSION,.... That which he enjoyed by inheritance from his father, to distinguish it from a field of his own purchase, as in Leviticus 27:22; and which might be devoted, not all of it, but a part of it; partly that he might have something to live upon, or to improve for a livelihood for himself and family, and partly that estates might not be alienated entirely from their families and tribes in which they were: THEN THY ESTIMATION SHALL BE ACCORDING TO THE SEED THEREOF; not according to the field, the goodness or badness of that, one field being good and another bad, as Jarchi observes, but according to the quantity of seed which it produced, or rather which it required for the sowing of it; AN HOMER OF BARLEY SEED [SHALL BE VALUED] AT FIFTY SHEKELS OF SILVER;

VII. CONCERNING VOWS The Claims of Jehovah Realized CHAPTER 27 _ 1. The singular vow (Leviticus 27:1)_ 2. The sacrifice (Leviticus 27:9) 3. Concerning the house (Leviticus 27:14) 4. Concerning the land (Leviticus 27:16) 5. Concerning the firstling (Leviticus 27:26) 6. Devoted things (Leviticus 27:28) 7. All holy to Jehovah ...

COMMUTATION FOR LAND. In this case the question of the interval before Jubile arises, as, in the case of a man, the period when he will be past work (Leviticus 27:7). The standard taken is the sowing of a homer of barley, which is regarded as equivalent to the labour of a man in his prime, about £ 7. A homer= about 11 bushels (p. 115). Kennedy (HDB, Weights) points out that in the Mishna the size of a field is often computed by the amount of seed needed to sow it. The area of 2 seahs is fixed in the Mishna as the area of the Tabernacle, 100 × 50 cubits. Thus, the standard taken is a field which will need 11 bushels to sow it, _i.e._ about 4 acres. If the period of fifty years has run part of its course, deductions are made on the principle of a partly expired lease. If the field is bought back for a lump sum, the additional 20 per cent, is to be paid. If the person who has vowed the l

HOMER. Hebrew. _homer,_ as in Numbers 11:32.Isaiah 5:10; Ezekiel 45:11; Ezekiel 45:13; Ezekiel 45:14.Hosea 3:2. To be distinguished from _'omer,_ in Exodus 16:16; Exodus 16:18; Exodus 16:22;...

_fifty shekels of silver_ meaning apparently that at the rate of one shekel a year this shall be the maximum amount of redemption payment. The standard in these cases was to be -the shekel of the sanctuary." See Driver, Exodus 30:13 (where the same words are used), for discussion as to the meaning and value of the shekel thus denominated....