Leviticus 27:17

_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....

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

IF HE SANCTIFY HIS FIELD FROM THE YEAR OF JUBILEE,.... The very year, as Aben Ezra, while it is current, or when it is past, and he immediately sanctifies it for an holy use, and one comes to redeem it, as Jarchi says, as soon as ever it is devoted, and a priest has valued it, and there is a purchaser of it: ACCORDING TO THY ESTIMATION IT SHALL STAND; what price soever the priest set upon it, that it was to go at, and he that had a mind to purchase it might have it for it, unless it was he that devoted it, and then he was to give a fifth part more, as afterwards expressed....

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

IF. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, and Syriac, read "And if"....

ACCORDING TO THY ESTIMATION IT SHALL STAND— _According to the value of it, it shall stand._...

C. VOWS OF HOUSES AND FIELDS 27:14-25 TEXT 27:14-25 14 And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy unto Jehovah, 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 Jehovah part of the field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the sowing thereof: the sowing of a homer of barley _shall be valued_ at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he sanctify his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand. 18 But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain unto the year of jubilee; and an abatement shall be ma...

VOWS AND TITHES AND THEIR REDEMPTION 1-29. Law of vows and their redemption. The making of vows is a very ancient and universal practice connected with prayer. In order to secure his desire the suppliant adds a vow to his prayer. Vows may be either positive or negative. A man may promise either to devote something to God, or to abstain from some comfort or necessary of life. Instances of the latter, vows of abstinence, are to be found in Numbers 6:1; Numbers 30; 1 Samuel 14:24; Psalms 132:2, and of the former in Genesis 28:20;...