.[Commentary from our MUST READ/MUST BUY Pentateuch and Haftorah, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz. Translation is EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]
REDEMPTION OF VOWS AND TITHES
The Book of Leviticus concludes, as it opened, with a chapter of Sanctuary-regulations—voluntary contributions to the upkeep of the Sanctuary, such offerings being a true expression of devotion to the House of God.
Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 27
2-8. VOWING AND VALUATION OF A PERSON
1 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:
2 Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: Any-man-when he would make a vow-offering in your assessed-equivalent of persons to YHVH,
clearly utter a vow. By setting a valuation upon himself or any of his family, the money being paid into the treasury of the Sanctuary.
3 your assessment shall be: (if) a male, from the age of twenty years up to the age of sixty years, your assessment shall be fifty silver shekels by the Holy-shrine shekel. 4 And if it is a female, your assessment shall be thirty shekels.thirty shekels. The valuation seems to have been made on the basis of what might be called the market value of the individual’s labour. A woman, not possessing the physical strength of a man, had a lower valuation set upon her.
5 If the age (is) from five years up to the age of twenty years, your assessment for a male is twenty shekels, and for a female, ten shekels. 6 If from the age of a month up to the age of five years, your assessment is for a male, five silver shekels, and for a female, your assessment, three silver shekels.from a month old. No valuation is placed in regard to a child under a month old. In Jewish law there are no mourning rites to be observed for a child who dies within a month of birth.
7 If from the age of sixty years and upward, if it is a male, your assessment shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female, ten shekels.8 If he sinks down (in poverty), lower than the assessment, he is to be stood before the priest, and the priest is to assess (the amount) for him, according to what the hand of the one-making-the-vow can reach, the priest is to assess him.
according tot he means. ‘If he (the person making the vows) be too poor to pay for valuation, then he shall set him (the person vowed) before the priest, and the priest shall value him.’ The priest, in forming his estimate of what he could pay, must leave him sufficient means for his necessities (Talmud).
9-13 REDEMPTION OF AN ANIMAL
9 If it concerns an animal from which they bring-near a near-offering for YHVH, all of what he gives from it to YHVH is to be a holy-portion.if it be a beast. If a ‘clean’ animal, that and none other had to be presented.
shall be holy. It became the property of the Sanctuary, and all profane use of it will be interdicted.
10 He is not to substitute for it and he is not to exchange it, good for ill or ill for good, if they exchange, yes, exchange animal for animal, it will be that it and its exchanged-one will be a holy-portion.not alter it. Even for one of greater value, Alter is to replace one species by another, e.g. a bull for a sheep; change refers to different members of the same species.
11 If it (concerns) any tamei animal from which there may not be brought-near a near-offering for YHVH, the animal is to be stood before the priest,12 and the priest is to make-assessment for it, between good and ill, according to your assessment by the priest, thus shall it be.
good or bad. i.e. whether it be of much value or little.
13 And if he (wants to) redeem, yes, redeem it, he is to add its fifth-part to your assessment.14-15. REDEMPTION OF A HOUSE
14 Now a man-when he hallows his house as holy-property to YHVH, the priest is to assess it, between good and ill; as the priest assesses it, thus shall (its cost) be-established.sanctify. Dedicate.
15 And if the one-who-hallows-it would redeem his house, he is to add a fifth-part (to the) silver of your assessment, and it shall remain his.redeem. As in v.13. The law of XXV,29 applied to this case where the redeemer was not the owner. If the house was in a walled city, it could be redeemed by the owner within a year; and if not redeemed, it remained for ever in the possession of the buyer. In the case of a house situated in a village, the Jubilee-year brought its restitution to the owner.
16-25 REDEMPTION OF THE LAND
16 If from the field of his holding any-man hallows (part) to YHVH, your assessment shall be according to its seed-requirement: the seed-requirement of a homer of barley, fifty silver shekels.possession. An inherited field, as contrasted with a price of land which he had bought (v.22).
the sowing thereof. The value of the land was estimated by the quantity of seed required to sow it. For each homer of seed used in sowing barley, the valuation was placed at fifty shekels for the whole period of 49 years. A homer was ten ephahs, and nearly six bushels in capacity.
17 If as of the year of Homebringing he hallows his field, as your assessment (its cost) will be-established.from the year of jubilee. From the conclusion of the year.
it shall stand. At the valuation of 50 shekels for each homer of seed.
18 but if it is after the Homebringing that he hallows his field, the priest is to reckon for him the silver according to the years left until the Year of Homebringing, and it is to be subtracted from your (first) assessment.an abatement. A proportionate reduction in the price.
19 If he wants to redeem, yes, redeem the field, the one hallowing it, he is to add a fifth-part ofthe silver of your assessment of it, and (its cost) is to be-established for him.
20 But if he does not want to redeem the field, or if he has sold the land to another man, it cannot be redeemed again-
if he will not redeem. If the redeemer of the field is not the owner, the Sanctuary becomes the de jure owner of the field, which at the next Jubilee becomes the inalienable property of the Sanctuary.
21 the field shall be, when it goes-free in the Homebringing, a holy-portion for YHVH, like a field specially-devoted; for the priest it shall be, for his holding. 22 And if his purchased field that is not a field of his holding (is what) he hallows to YHVH,bought. Since he bought the field until the Jubilee only, it is clear that his gift tot he Sanctuary is only temporary.
23 the priest is to reckon for him the value of your assessment, until the Year of Homebringing, he is to give your assessment (in payment) at that time, as a holy-portion for YHVH.in that day. The price had to be paid in one sum and in full-weight shekels.
24 In the Year of Homebringing the field shall return to the one from whom it was purchased, the one whose holding of land it is.25 All your assessments are to be according to the Holy-shrine shekel, twenty grains being the (one) shekel.
26-27. REDEMPTION OF A FIRSTLING
26 However, a firstborn that is assigned-as-firstborn to YHVH, among animals- no man may hallow it; whether ox or sheep, it is YHVH’S.to the LORD. As a firstling, it ipso facto belonged to God. Therefore the owner cannot vow it again as a gift to the Sanctuary; it was not his to give away.
shall sanctify. i.e. devote, as a voluntary offering.
27 Now if (it is) of a tamei animal, he is to redeem it at your assessment, adding its fifth-part to it, and if it is not redeemed, it is to be sold at your assessment.an unclean beast. i.e. a dedicated clean animal that became blemished, in which case the proceeds of the sale were to be used for Temple repair (Rashi).
28-29. LAW OF THE BAN
28 However, everything specially-devoted that a man devotes for YHVH from all that is his, whether of man or of beast or of field of his holding, is not to be sold and not to be redeemed, everything specially-devoted-it is a holiest holy-portion for YHVH.devoted thing. lit. ‘cut-off, excluded’, irrevocably given up. There were three varieties of the ban, of differing degrees of stringency: the war ban, the justice ban, and the private ban. This verse deals with the last-named. The ‘devoting’ of anything to the Temple was a more solemn act than a mere presentation. The human being, animal, or field became ‘most holy’, i.e. remained the inalienable property of the Sanctuary, and passed into the possession of the priests.
field of his possession. Only an inheritance could be ‘devoted’, not a purchased field, since the latter only belonged to the owner temporarily, and passed out of his possession in the Jubilee. In the same manner, a Hebrew slave could not be ‘devoted’ because he regained his freedom in the seventh year.
sold. To another person.
redeemed. By the owner.
29 Anyone specially-devoted that has been devoted-to-destruction, among humans, is not to be ransomed; he is to be put-to-death, yes, death.devoted. i.e., doomed.
of men. ‘The reference here is to the justice-ban; in other words, to the judicial sentence by the proper authorities on such malefactors as the idolater and the blasphemer’ (Kennedy). The individual was not permitted to carry out such a ban. Deut. XII,31 forbids human sacrifice, and the putting to death of a slave is forbidden in Exod. XXI,20.
30-33 REDEMPTION OF THE TITHE
30 And every tithe of the land, (whether) from the seed of the land or from the fruit of the tree: for YHVH it is, a holy-portion for YHVH.tithe of the land. The so-called ‘second tithe’, described in Deut XIV,22, was analogous to the firstling of sacrificial animals, and the same law of redemption applied.
is the LORD’S. Tithes belong to God as the real owner of the land. They are a kind of rent paid by the people as His tenants. Being already God’s, they cannot be made the subject of vows (Dummelow).
31 If a man wants to redeem, yes, redeem (any) of his tithes, its fifth-part he is to add to it;32 and every tithe of herd or flock, from all that passes under the (shepherd’s) rod, (each) tenth-one, is to be a holy-portion for YHVH.
tithe of the herd. Every tenth animal born of the herd or flock had to be treated like the tenth of the produce of the field. The animals were sacrificed and the flesh consumed in Jerusalem.
passeth under the rod. The Mishnah thus describes the procedure: The new-born animals were herded in a pen with one narrow exit, through which they could only pass in single file. As they came out, each tenth animal was touched on the back with a rod coated with red paint, and in this manner distinguished for the tithe.
33 He is not to search between good and ill, he is not to make-exchange for it; but if he makes-exchange, yes, exchange for it, then it and its exchange are a holy-portion, they cannot be redeemed.he shall not inquire. The owner could not select which animals should form part of the tithe. If he substituted one of the designated animals for another, whether of better or inferior quality, he forfeited both.
these are the commandments. This verse seems to be the subscription of the concluding chapter only.
The Massoretic Note states the number of verses in Leviticus to be 859; its Sedrahs (parshiyoth) 10; its Sedarim, smaller divisions according to the Triennial Cycle, 23; and its chapters 27.