"This last chapter in the book of Leviticus deals with how the priest applies valuation to property, livestock, or people that have been consecrated to the Lord."
Leviticus 27 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Rules concerning Valuations
27 Again, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man makes a [a]special vow [consecrating himself or a member of his family], he shall be valued according to your [established system of] valuation of people belonging to the Lord [that is, the priest accepts from the man making the vow a specified amount of money for the temple treasury in place of the actual person]. 3 If your valuation is of a male between twenty and sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 Or if the person is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is between five years and twenty years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels. 6 But if the child is between one month and five years of age, then your valuation shall be five shekels of silver for the male and three shekels for the female. 7 If the person is sixty years old and above, your valuation shall be fifteen shekels for the male, and ten shekels for the female. 8 But if the person is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be placed before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of the one who vowed, the priest shall value him.Rules concerning Valuations
9 ‘Now if it is an animal of the kind which men can present as an offering to the Lord, any such that one gives to the Lord shall be holy. 10 He shall not replace it or exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; but if he does exchange an animal for an animal, then both the original offering and its substitute shall be holy. 11 If it is any unclean animal of the kind which men do not present as an offering to the Lord, then he shall bring the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; it shall be as you, the priest, value it. 13 But if he ever wishes to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of it to your valuation.
14 ‘If a man consecrates his house as sacred to the Lord, the priest shall appraise it as either good or bad; as the priest appraises it, so shall it stand. 15 If the one who consecrates his house should wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of your valuation price to it, so that it may be his.
16 ‘And if a man consecrates to the Lord part of a field of his own property, then your valuation shall be proportionate to the seed needed for it; a homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand according to your valuation. 18 But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price for him in proportion to the years that remain until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your valuation. 19 If the one who consecrates the field should ever wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of the appraisal price to it, so that it may return to him. 20 If he does not redeem the field, but has sold it to another man, it may no longer be redeemed. 21 When the field reverts in the Jubilee, the field shall be holy to the Lord, like a field set apart (devoted); the priest shall possess it as his property. 22 Or if a man consecrates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not part of the field of his [ancestral] property, 23 then the priest shall calculate for him the amount of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and the man shall give that [amount] on that day as a holy thing to the Lord. 24 In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom it was purchased, to whom the land belonged [as his ancestral inheritance]. 25 Every valuation of yours shall be in accordance with the sanctuary shekel; twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
26 ‘However, the firstborn among animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may consecrate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is [already] the Lord’s. 27 If it is among the unclean animals, the owner may redeem it in accordance with your valuation, and add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold in accordance with your valuation.
28 ‘But nothing that a man [b]sets apart [that is, devotes as an offering] to the Lord out of all that he has, of man or of animal or of the fields of his own property, shall be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction (banned, cursed) is most holy to the Lord. 29 No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed [from death], he shall most certainly be put to death.
30 ‘And all the tithe (tenth part) of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem any part of his tithe, he shall add one-fifth to it. 32 For every tithe of the herd or flock, whatever [c]passes under the [shepherd’s] staff, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. 33 The man is not to be concerned whether the animal is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it. But if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy; it shall not be redeemed.’”
- TITHES. Here, God established to the Israelites as a nation what their forefathers did in the past to give honor and glory to God (Abraham and Jacob), giving a tenth of everything back to God. Everything belongs to God, all the 100% came from Him-- and yet He is just asking the tenth to be "holy to the Lord."
"Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then I will take the Lord to be my God, And this stone which I have put up for a pillar will be God's house: and of all you give me, I will give a tenth part to you." Genesis 28:20-22
"Take from among you an offering to the Lord; everyone who has the impulse in his heart, let him give his offering to the Lord; gold and silver and brass" Exodus 35:5
"They came, men and women, all who were ready to give, and gave pins and nose-rings and finger-rings and neck-ornaments, all of gold; everyone gave an offering of gold to the Lord." Exodus 35:22
"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, crushed down, full and running over, they will give to you. For in the same measure as you give, it will be given to you again." Luke 6:38
34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai for the children of Israel.
Footnotes: Leviticus 27:2 Or explicit. A man could consecrate (dedicate) himself to the Lord or he could consecrate another family member, his house, his property, his animals, his field, or other possession. The priest set an established value on the person, animal, or property and the man paid the set amount instead of transferring ownership. Consecrating someone or something to the Lord was not the same as “devoting” or “setting apart” something to the Lord (see vv 21, 28).
Leviticus 27:28 In OT times “devoting” or “setting apart” was a different and much more serious act than “consecrating” something or someone to God. The thing “devoted” belonged exclusively to God. It was an irrevocable command or vow. Anyone who kept for himself something that had been “devoted” or placed under a ban, placed himself under a sentence of death (Josh 7).
Leviticus 27:32 Each tenth animal was marked as it passed through a small door.
- VALUATION. Valuation means 'an estimation of something's worth, especially one carried out by a professional appraiser.' In reality, everyone is valuable in God's sight, and everyone can be used by God, someway somehow. It's all about our hearts, and God sees our hearts. If we desire to be used by God mightily in His Kingdom, we must pray and surrender everything to Him that we may receive His grace, through Lord Jesus Christ.
After reading, I always check out the Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik (very helpful!):
a. When a man consecrates by a vow certain persons to the LORD: What did it mean to consecrate a person to the LORD? It could be done either for one's self, or on behalf of another (such as consecrating a child unto the LORD). This was a completely voluntary act, meant to demonstrate that this person was totally given to God.
i. For example, a man from the tribe of Judah, in a time of distress, or out of gratitude, or out of a sense of calling, wants to consecrate his son to the LORD. He could not give his son to the service of the tabernacle, because he was not a priestly family. So to consecrate his son, he would follow the procedures in the following verses.
b. When a man consecrates by a vow certain persons to the LORD: The beauty of these commands is that it gave the one making a vow of consecration something definite to do; the vow of consecration was therefore far more than mere words, it had a definite action associated with it - and prevented people from making empty vows to God.
a. If your valuation is of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old: Persons were assigned a value according to their age and general usefulness to society; especially in an agricultural society, there was a definite sense in which a man between 20 and 50 was more "valuable" than a child one month to five years old.
b. If he is too poor to pay your valuation: Importantly, no one was prohibited from fulfilling a vow of consecration because they did not have enough money; if they were poor, the priests would be flexible with the valuation
i. Everyone can give their life to the LORD; there are none who are too small, or too insignificant, or too useless. God wants to use each and every one.
b. Which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai: As we have seen before in Leviticus, the phrase before the LORD occurs more than 60 times - more than any other book in the Bible. What happens in Leviticus happens before the LORD, and every point of obedience it calls us to illustrates - either in specific command or in precious picture - how to walk before the LORD.
Reference and credits to https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Lev/Lev-27.cfm © 2004 David Guzik
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