Leviticus 27:29 Komentář

The last verse of the foregoing chapter seemed to close up the statute-book; yet this chapter is added as an appendix. Having given laws concerning instituted services, here he directs concerning vows and voluntary services, the free-will offerings of their mouth. Perhaps some devout serious people among them might be so affected with what Moses had delivered to them in the foregoing chapter as in a pang of zeal to consecrate themselves, or their children, or estates to him: this, because honestly meant, God would accept; but, because men are apt to repent of such vows, he leaves room for the redemption of what had been so consecrated, at a certain rate. Here is, I. The law concerning what was sanctified to God, persons (Lev 27:2-8), cattle, clean or unclean (Lev 27:9-13), houses and lands (Lev 27:15-25), with an exception of firstlings, (Lev 27:26, Lev 27:27). II. Concerning what was devoted (Lev 27:28, Lev 27:29). III. Concerning tithes (Lev 27:30, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVEITICUS 27 This chapter contains various laws concerning vows made unto the Lord, whether of persons whose estimation was to be made by the priest, according to their age, sex, and condition, Lev 26:1; or of beasts, clean and unclean, good or bad, Lev 26:9; or of houses, fields, and lands, the estimation of which was to be according to its seed, and the time of its being set apart, whether from or after the year of jubilee, and the number of years to it, Lev 26:14; with this exception to the above laws, that no firstling of the Lord's might be sanctified, and if an unclean beast it might be redeemed, but nothing devoted to the Lord, whether of man, beast, or field, might be sold or redeemed, Lev 26:26; and the chapter is concluded with some laws concerning the redemption or change of tithes, what might or what might not be redeemed or changed, Lev 26:30;.

And all the tithe of the land,.... Of which there were various sorts, the first tithe, the tithe out of the tithe, the second tithe, and the poor's tithe, which are generally reduced to three,"The first tenth part of all increase I gave to the sons of Aaron, who ministered at Jerusalem: another tenth part I sold away, and went, and spent it every year at Jerusalem:'' (Tobit 1:7)so Maimonides (p) says,"after they had separated the first tithe every year, they separate the second tithe, as it is said Deu 14:22; and in the third year, and in the sixth, they separate the poor's tithe, instead of the second tithe:''so that, properly speaking, there were but two tithes, though commonly reckoned three; the tithes of all eatables were given to the Levites every year, and a tenth part of that given by the Levites to the priests, and the second tithe was eaten by the owners; instead of which, according to the above writer, in the third and sixth years it was given to the poor, and called theirs; of this second tithe, Jarchi interprets this law, and so does Maimonides (q): whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: is to be given to him as an acknowledgment of his being the proprietor of the land, and that all the increase of it is owing to his blessing, and therefore is given in way of gratitude to him: the former of these takes in all sorts of corn that is man's food, as wheat and barley; and the latter wine and oil, and all sorts of fruits that are eatable; for it is said to be a general rule, that whatever is for food, and is preserved (having an owner, and not being common), and grows up out of the earth, is bound to tithes (r): it is holy unto the Lord; the first tithe was eaten by the priests and Levites only, and the other before the Lord in Jerusalem only, and that by clean persons. Something of this kind obtained among the Heathens, it may be in imitation of this, particularly among the Grecians; Pisistratus (s) tells Solon, that everyone of the Athenians gave a tenth part of his inheritance, not to me, says he, who was their governor, but for public sacrifices, and the common good, and when engaged in war, to defray the charge of it; and so, by the oracle of Apollo, the Corcyraenans were directed to send to Olympia and Delphos the tenth part of the produce of their fields (t); and by the same oracle, the island of the Syphnians, in which was a golden mine, were ordered to bring the tenth of it to the same place (u). So the Pelasgi (w) in a time of scarcity vowed the tithes of all their increase to the gods, and having obtained their wish, devoted the tenth of all their fruits and cattle to them. (p) Hilchot Maaser Sheni, c. 1. sect. 1. (q) Hilchot Maaser, c. 1. sect. 2. (r) Misn. Masserot, c. 1. sect. 1. (s) In Laert. Vit. Solon. p. 36. (t) Pausan. Phocica, sive, l. 10. p. 624. (u) Ibid. p. 628. (w) Dionys. Halicarnass. apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 4. p. 159.

Laws concerning vows, Lev 27:1, Lev 27:2. Of males and females from twenty to sixty years of age, and their valuation, Lev 27:3, Lev 27:4. Of the same from five to twenty years, Lev 27:5. Of the same from a month to five years of age, Lev 27:6. Of males and females from sixty years old and upwards, and their valuation, Lev 27:7. The priest shall value the poor according to his ability, Lev 27:8. Concerning beasts that are vowed, and their valuation, Lev 27:9-13. Concerning the sanctification of a house, Lev 27:14, Lev 27:15. Concerning the field that is sanctified or consecrated to the Lord, to the year of jubilee, Lev 27:16-24. Every estimation shall be made in shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, Lev 27:25. The firstlings of clean beasts, being already the Lord's, cannot be vowed, Lev 27:26. That of an unclean beast may be redeemed, Lev 27:27. Every thing devoted to God shall be unalienable and unredeemable, and continue the Lord's property till death, Lev 27:28, Lev 27:29. All the tithe of the land is the Lord's, Lev 27:30; but it may be redeemed by adding a fifth part, Lev 27:31. The tithe of the herd and the flock is also his, Lev 27:32. The tenth that passes under the rod shall not be changed, Lev 27:33. The conclusion of the book, Lev 27:34.

Which shall be devoted of men - Every man who is devoted shall surely be put to death; or, as some understand it, be the Lord's property, or be employed in his service, till death. The law mentioned in these two verses has been appealed to by the enemies of Divine revelation as a proof, that under the Mosaic dispensation human sacrifices were offered to God; but this can never be conceded. Had there been such a law, it certainly would have been more explicitly revealed, and not left in the compass of a few words only, where the meaning is very difficult to be ascertained; and the words themselves differently translated by most interpreters. That there were persons, devoted to destruction under the Mosaic dispensation, is sufficiently evident, for the whole Canaanitish nations were thus devoted by the Supreme Being himself, because the cup of their iniquity was full; but that they were not sacrificed to God, the whole history sufficiently declares. Houbigant understands the passage as speaking of these alone; and says, Non alios licebat anathemate voveri, quam Chananaeos, quos jusserat Deus ad internecionem deleri. "It was not lawful to devote any persons to death but the Canaanites, whom God had commanded to be entirely extirpated." This is perfectly correct; but he might have added that it was because they were the most impure idolaters, and because the cup of their iniquity was full. These God commanded to be put to death; and who can doubt his right to do so, who is the Maker of man, and the Fountain of justice? But what has this to do with human sacrifices? Just nothing. No more than the execution of an ordinary criminal, or a traitor, in the common course of justice, has to do with a sacrifice to God. In the destruction of such idolaters, no religious formality whatever was observed; nor any thing that could give the transaction even the most distant semblance of a sacrifice. In this way Jericho was commanded to be destroyed, Jos 6:17, and the Amalekites, Deu 25:19; Sa1 15:3 : but in all these cases the people commanded to be destroyed were such sinners as God's justice did not think proper to spare longer. And has not every system of law the same power? And do we not concede such power to the civil magistrate, for the welfare of the state? God, who is the sovereign arbiter of life and death, acts here in his juridical and legislative capacity; but these are victims to justice, not religious sacrifices. It may be necessary just farther to note that two kinds of vows are mentioned in this chapter: - 1. The נדר neder, (see on Leviticus 7 (note))., which comprehends all those things which, when once devoted, might be redeemed at a certain price, according to the valuation of the priest. 2. The חרם cherem, those things vowed to God of which there remained no power of redemption; they were most holy, i. e., so absolutely devoted to God that they could neither be changed, alienated, nor redeemed: probably because no mental reservation had been made, as in the above case may be supposed. On this ground the word was afterward applied to the most solemn and awful kind of excommunication, meaning a person so entirely devoted to the stroke of vindictive justice, as never to be capable of receiving pardon; and hence the word may be well applied in this sense to the Canaanites, the cup of whose iniquity was full, and who were consigned, without reprieve, to final extermination.

CONCERNING VOWS. (Lev. 27:1-18) When a man shall make a singular vow, &c.--Persons have, at all times and in all places, been accustomed to present votive offerings, either from gratitude for benefits received, or in the event of deliverance from apprehended evil. And Moses was empowered, by divine authority, to prescribe the conditions of this voluntary duty. the persons shall be for the Lord, &c.--better rendered thus:--"According to thy estimation, the persons shall be for the Lord." Persons might consecrate themselves or their children to the divine service, in some inferior or servile kind of work about the sanctuary (Sa1 3:1). In the event of any change, the persons so devoted had the privilege in their power of redeeming themselves; and this chapter specifies the amount of the redemption money, which the priest had the discretionary power of reducing, as circumstances might seem to require. Those of mature age, between twenty and sixty, being capable of the greatest service, were rated highest; young people, from five till twenty, less, because not so serviceable; infants, though devotable by their parents before birth (Sa1 1:11), could not be offered nor redeemed till a month after birth; old people were valued below the young, but above children; and the poor--in no case freed from payment, in order to prevent the rash formation of vows--were rated according to their means.

shall surely be put to death--This announcement imported not that the person was to be sacrificed or doomed to a violent death; but only that he should remain till death unalterably in the devoted condition. The preceding regulations were evidently designed to prevent rashness in vowing (Ecc 5:4) and to encourage serious and considerate reflection in all matters between God and the soul (Luk 21:4).

The directions concerning vows follow the express termination of the Sinaitic lawgiving (Lev 26:46), as an appendix to it, because vows formed no integral part of the covenant laws, but were a freewill expression of piety common to almost all nations, and belonged to the modes of worship current in all religions, which were not demanded and might be omitted altogether, and which really lay outside the law, though it was necessary to bring them into harmony with the demands of the law upon Israel. Making a vow, therefore, or dedicating anything to the Lord by vowing, was not commanded, but was presupposed as a manifestation of reverence for God, sanctified by ancient tradition, and was simply regulated according to the principle laid down in Deu 23:22-24, that it was not a sin to refrain from vowing, but that every vow, when once it had been made, was to be conscientiously and inviolably kept (cf. Pro 20:25; Ecc 5:3-5), and the neglect to keep it to be atoned for with a sin-offering (Lev 5:4). - The objects of a vow might be persons (Lev 27:2-8), cattle (Lev 27:9-13), houses (Lev 27:14, Lev 27:15), and land (Lev 27:16-25), all of which might be redeemed with the exception of sacrificial animals; but not the first-born (Lev 27:26), nor persons and things dedicated to the Lord by the ban (Lev 27:28, Lev 27:29), nor tithes (Lev 27:30-33), because all of these were to be handed over to the Lord according to the law, and therefore could not be redeemed. This followed from the very idea of the vow. For a vow was a promise made by any one to dedicate and given his own person, or a portion of his property, to the Lord for averting some danger and distress, or for bringing to his possession some desired earthly good. - Besides ordinary vowing or promising to give, there was also vowing away, or the vow of renunciation, as is evident from Num 30. The chapter before us treats only of ordinary vowing, and gives directions for redeeming the thing vowed, in which it is presupposed that everything vowed to the Lord would fall to His sanctuary as corban, an offering (Mar 7:11); and therefore, that when it was redeemed, the money would also be paid to His sanctuary. - (On the vow, see my Archaeologie, 96; Oehler in Herzog's Cycl.)