27:1–2a This is the last speech of the Lord recorded in Leviticus. The final verse will note that these words are spoken from Sinai.

27:2b–7 Voluntary offerings are introduced with the personal vow of dedication.313 This is called a “special vow,” a phrase found only one other time, there regarding the Nazirite, a person who has dedicated himself to the Lord for a season by voluntarily taking on the purity requirements of the priesthood and living out his consecration by abstaining from wine and all fruit of the vine, not coming near a corpse, and, most conspicuously, leaving his hair untrimmed (Num. 6:2–8). It is a special vow because it exceeds normal expressions of devotion by making explicit what in the sacrificial system is implicit—the giving of one’s self to the Lord (cf. Leviticus 1). While both describe a similar dedication of oneself, the Nazirite lives his out while the vower may fulfill his through money paid to the sanctuary.

People could be pledged to serve the Lord as temple servants (cf. 1 Chron. 9:2; Ezra 2:43), and in certain cases a child might be dedicated to Nazirite status from the womb (Judg. 13:4–5; 1 Sam. 1:22–28). While the custom of vowing a child to the temple was known in the ancient world,314 it appears this is less common in Israel, in which a priestly tribe is elected to serve. Every firstborn is to be dedicated to the Lord’s service because he was redeemed at the exodus. In practical terms, however, the Levites take the place of the firstborn and are consecrated to serve on holy ground instead (Num. 3:12–13; 8:16–19). The firstborn male is redeemed, or bought back, at a redemption price of five shekels (Ex. 13:13; 34:19–20; Num. 18:15–16).

The redemption prices registered here (cf. table 3.7) are in the same tradition as the firstborn—the vow of one’s intended service is calculated in terms of its equivalence in silver. The differing prices, which are embedded within the context of legislation that deals with economic transactions related to sanctuary pledges, reflect labor capacity or potential. Valuations represent the equivalent of a person’s labor dedicated to the sanctuary and are given in the standard sanctuary shekel (Lev. 27:25). They are not a statement of personal worth nor the relative value of men and women in Israelite society. In fact the inestimable value of human life is communicated in laws on homicide that emphatically reject monetary compensation for the loss of life (Num. 35:31–34).

TABLE 3.7: Redemption Prices

A person’s labor potential varies by age. The youngest age group (one month to five years)315 represents the lowest valuation, given that children are too young to contribute but instead require a significant investment. The second lowest valuations are found in persons over the age of sixty, when age decreases capability for manual labor. Yet this valuation represents only a modest decrease from ages five to twenty for males while remaining the same for females and speaks to the great respect accorded to the elderly for their contribution in wisdom and life experience. As expected, labor in the prime of life between twenty and sixty years is valued most highly.

One of the more noticeable aspects of redemption prices is the lower valuation of female to male. The greatest disparity is found in five to twenty age range, with women’s value half that of men. This coincides with a young woman’s childbearing years, which begin soon after marriage at puberty and curtail her labor potential. It bears repeating that these numbers do not reflect the inherent worth of a person.

27:8 Redemption prices are not insignificant. Based on such passages as the yearly wage of ten pieces of silver for priestly duties (Judg. 17:10), it is estimated that the average wage was a shekel a month.316 If a laborer in his prime saved all his earnings, it would take him a little over four years to pay his redemption price. If a person is unable to redeem his pledge, he presents himself to the priest for a fair assessment according to his means, recalling the extenuating provisions for the poor that are worked into the sacrificial laws (Lev. 5:7; 12:8; 14:21–22). Anyone can petition the Lord as an expression of worship, not least of all the poor.

27:9–10 The most common pledge is an animal offered as a sacrifice (7:16; 22:18–19, 21; 23:37–38). Vowed to the Lord, it acquires the status of “holy,” meaning it is incorporated into the sanctuary as the Lord’s property. Once the animal is pledged, a substitute will not be accepted, either of greater or lesser value or even of a different species. In fact if a person seeks to exchange his pledge for another, then both animals will be holy—the one vowed and the one intended to replace it. This shows that the vow was considered binding when it was spoken: “You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth” (Deut. 23:23; cf. Num. 30:3–5).

But why would someone make a substitution? It could be out of dishonesty; Malachi chastises worshipers who own better animals that they choose to make the subject of their vow, offering the lesser valued instead (Mal. 1:12–14). Or it could be that the vow was open ended, with the person pledging to dedicate the next born from the flock or herd for a sacrificial feast only to find that the animal born was undesirable for the feast (Lev. 7:16; Deut. 12:17, 26; 14:23).317 Either way, a person cannot replace what he has vowed. It has become holy to the Lord.

27:11–13 If the pledge is an unclean animal that cannot be offered on the altar, then the vower must present it to the priest to be assessed. Instead of a fixed valuation, as with persons, the amount is determined by the priest according to the particular situation. If the vower wishes to buy back his pledged animal, he must pay a fifth more than the assessment price. This amount is familiar from the reparation offering but differs in its application (cf. Lev. 5:16). There is no sin involved, but there is a breach of intention. The additional fifth may especially relate to the fact that the animal is moved out of the Lord’s domain and into the owner’s possession (cf. 22:14).318 It also may serve as a deterrent from entering unadvisedly into rash vows: “It is a snare to say rashly, ‘It is holy,’ and to reflect only after making vows” (Prov. 20:25).

27:14–15 A person may also wish to dedicate his house to the Lord. There is debate whether this is being thought of in this passage as a spontaneous vow (cf. Prov. 20:25) or as a simple declaration of dedication (perhaps Judg. 17:3), though in either case the house has become consecrated, that is, committed to the holy domain of the Lord. And, whereas some vows might take some time to fulfill (since the object becomes dedicated only after a prayer is answered), the consecration in view here becomes effective as it is declared.

When a person consecrates his house as a “holy gift,” the priest appraises it and gives a valuation. If the donor wishes to redeem it, it can be bought back for its original appraisal plus an additional fifth of its value.

27:16–19 Arable land can also be dedicated to the Lord. The priest arrives at an appraisal by determining the amount of barley seed required to sow the parcel. The measure of a homer, deriving from a word for “donkey,” is the load of seed that a donkey could carry, roughly 29–53 gallons (135–240 l).319 It is estimated a homer would sow 3.75 acres.320 The field’s valuation is then calculated at fifty shekels per homer if consecrated on a jubilee year or, if otherwise, prorated to adjust for the years remaining till the jubilee (Lev. 25:15–16). If the donor wishes to redeem the field, he must add a fifth to its valuation to withdraw it from the sacred domain.

Land may exchange hands, but it is not considered permanently given over to the sanctuary; only its agricultural yield belongs to the sanctuary, and that for a specified period of time—until redemption by its donor or the jubilee (25:10, 28). At the jubilee all land reverts to the original allotments in order to restore each family’s access to the means of production and to God’s provision of covenant blessing. The law does not inordinately favor the priesthood over common Israelites, in stark contrast to the economies of neighboring Mesopotamia and Egypt, where palaces and temples controlled vast estates.

There is debate on who works the consecrated field. Some commentators believe it to be the priests (cf. 27:21). (While the tribe of Levi may not have been allotted an inheritance, this did not preclude it from holding land.) Alternately, if the consecrated parcel was part of a larger estate, the owner may have continued to work it on behalf of the priests, bringing its yield to the sanctuary. Deciding between these is difficult, as the precise arrangement is not spelled out, and the interest of these laws is the redemption of consecrated property. What we do know is that it took many hands to work the land (Ruth 2).

27:20–21 This next case is difficult but seems to suggest the following: a person sells his field to a buyer and then subsequently consecrates it to the Lord.321 The jubilee laws suppose the only reason anyone would part with his inheritance is because he can no longer afford to work the land (Lev. 25:25). If this is read within the context of the circumstances envisioned in chapter 25, we see that a person who has fallen on hard times may sell his land to pay off his debts. Should he not seek to redeem his field but desires to consecrate it to the Lord instead, it is with the understanding that he intends to relinquish his ancestral inheritance permanently. When the field is released from the buyer in the jubilee year, rather than reverting to the owner it passes into the landholdings of the sanctuary and can never be bought back; it is a permanent consecration likened to a nonredeemable devoted object (cf. comment on 27:28–29). The land comes into the possession of the priest, meaning the priesthood will work or manage it. Although the tribe of Levi is allotted no land, property could pass into its control if permanently devoted to the sanctuary. The case of the nonredeemable land begins to cast a look forward to the second part of the chapter.

27:22–24 In a different scenario a person who has purchased a field that is not his ancestral inheritance may still consecrate it to the sanctuary. The priest appraises it as outlined above (vv. 16–18), and the donor pays the full amount on the day of its appraisal. In this way the owner of the field may redeem and reclaim his land at any time from the lessee, with no competing claims from the sanctuary. There is no mention of the additional added fifth, possibly because it is not his land.

27:25 The standard for assessing the redemption prices is the sanctuary shekel, weighing under half an ounce (up to 12 grams) and valued at 20 gerahs (Ex. 30:13; Num. 3:47; Ezek. 45:12; cf. comment on 5:15). The sanctuary ensures just weights and measures for all transactions in the land.

27:26–27 The transition to offerings that may not be redeemed opens with firstborn animals, which by virtue of the Lord’s historic saving acts already belong to him and cannot be rededicated through a separate vow. When God strikes down the firstborn of Egypt, he claims all the firstborn of Israel—whether children or animals—as his own, and every subsequent act of a firstborn’s dedication is a celebration and reminder of the Lord’s saving power (Ex. 13:2, 11–15). Therefore a firstborn animal may not be pledged to the Lord, for it already is his own. (Firstborn sons were redeemed; Ex. 13:13; Num. 18:15–16.)

In contrast an unclean firstborn animal that cannot be offered on the altar may be bought back by the vower, providing he pays its valuation price and an additional fifth. If he chooses not to redeem it, the priests may make use of the animal (such as a donkey on a farm) or sell it at the cost of its set value.

27:28–29 Another category of property and persons that belong unequivocally to the Lord are those that have been devoted as kherem, withdrawn from secular use and consecrated exclusively to the Lord for his purposes. The concept in its most general sense covers that which is forbidden from common use. This is encountered in two ways in the Bible: in the context of peace as an especially sacred offering (Lev. 27:28) and in the context of warfare as an offering of total destruction (v. 29).322 (Since Israel’s battles were fought as holy war, these are not unrelated.) In this law’s usage kherem is a binding dedication similar to an oath, whereby the vow is irrevocable and its substance unrecoverable.

Devoted property declared kherem has become “most holy” and incorporated into the Lord’s sphere of possessions; it cannot be bought back (as v. 21). The inclusion of persons devoted to destruction (v. 29) could anticipate Israel’s wars of conquest (Num. 21:2), and even extend to the idolater within the community (Ex. 22:19; Deut. 13:13–15). This law seeks to prevent a misstep such as that by Saul, who allows the king of the Amalekites and the best of the flock to live even though they had been “devoted to destruction” (1 Sam. 15:9).

27:30–33 The tithe is the Lord’s by virtue of his kingship over Israel. He is honored with a tenth of the produce of the land and increase of the flock in the manner that kings in the ancient world were paid taxes and tribute (1 Sam. 8:15–17; 2 Kings 3:4). A tithe to the Lord is first vowed by Jacob as he leaves his father’s house: “Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go . . . then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you” (Gen. 28:20–22). Jacob promises covenant allegiance that will be demonstrated by building the Lord a place of worship and supplying it with his tithe. Tithes of grain, wine, oil, and animals of the flock and herd supply the house of the Lord for its sacrificial ministry and provide for his servants (Num. 18:21–24; Neh. 13:10–12).

If it becomes necessary for a person to retain a portion, “some of his tithe,” likely by reason of need, the Lord will allow for the agricultural produce of crops and orchards to be bought back at their valuation plus a fifth. Tithe animals, however, are not subject to this accommodation (Num. 18:17). The Lord himself selects every tenth newborn of the flock and herd as it passes under the shepherd’s staff to be counted, whether “good or bad” (Jer. 33:13; Ezek. 20:37). Should anyone attempt to replace it with a substitute, both will be regarded as holy and forfeited to the sanctuary (cf. comment on 27:9–10).

27:34 The concluding words of the book echo the closing statement of 26:46.323