This final chapter of Leviticus is a departure from the preceding 26 chapters where God instructs Moses regarding the laws, statutes, and ordinances that He rightfully expected His people to abide by. Obedience to them was not optional! God was preparing His people to occupy the land He had promised them; and gave them these laws so that they would not follow the pagan customs or behavior of its previous occupants – the ones that, because of their evil ways, God would drive out before the Israelites. Those first 26 chapters dealt with detailed compulsory offerings and laws that were given to them for their own good. Those same laws also give us deeper appreciation for the grace we now enjoy – being no longer under “law”, but “grace” – unmerited favor and liberty purchased for us by His Son, and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And while we do not live under those rigid laws, they still have value, offering us wisdom and guidance for a godly life. This final chapter is unlike the others: what it prescribes is strictly voluntary. Leviticus 27 deals with God’s rules for vows we may choose to make to Him of our own volition – we are under no obligation to make any of them – but if we do, we are most certainly obligated to fulfil any that we voluntarily make; and He gives Moses the rules for these vows. These vows may dedicate the person making the vow, his children, or others - which could include servants, slaves, or even animals or inanimate property such as fields or houses. Verses 2-8 are the rules for vows dedicating a person, or persons, to the LORD. Those rules call for estimating the value of the persons being dedicated by the vow. The possessive pronoun “your” in “by your valuation” in verse 2 refers to Moses. The rules call for the person making the vow to pay the estimated value. It also seemed to provide for “redeeming”, “reversing” or “buying back” the person or thing that was dedicated by the vow – but at a cost higher than the initial valuation. God seems to have made this provision in anticipation of well-meaning people who are “caught up in the moment” and offer something that they may not be willing or able to fulfil – to save them from their own impetuosity - because to promise something to God and then renege is not taken lightly by God. (Eccles.5:2-5) The Bible has many examples of vows made to the LORD and fulfilled. Here are two: In I Sam.1:11, Hannah, the barren wife of Elkanah, petitioned the LORD for a son; and she made such a vow to the LORD, dedicating her yet unconceived and unborn son to the service of the LORD. Then, as soon as he was born and weaned, she brought him (Samuel) to Eli, the priest in the sanctuary in Shiloh, where he then served (see I Sam.3:1). However, that passage makes no mention of an estimation of value, as set forth here in Lev.27. In Judges 11:29-40, we have the story of Jephthah, who made a rash vow – and fulfilled it at a painful cost. 1The LORD said to Moses, 2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the LORD by giving their equivalent value, 3Set the value for a man between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; 4For a woman, thirty shekels; 5For a male between five and twenty years, twenty shekels; and for a female, ten shekels; 6For a young child between one month and five years, set the value for a boy at five shekels and for a girl at three shekels; 7For a man sixty years old or older, fifteen shekels; and for a woman, ten shekels. 8If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay these specified amounts, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set a value according to what the one making the vow can afford. 9‘And if your vow involves an animal that is acceptable to the LORD, that animal that is given to the LORD will be considered holy. 10He shall not alter it, nor exchange it, either good for a bad, or bad for a good: and if he does substitute animal for animal, then both it and its substitute shall be holy. 11And if it is any unclean animal, one which they do not offer as a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall present the animal before the priest: 12And the priest shall value it (judge its value), whether it is good or bad: and however you, who are the priest, value it, so it shall be. 13But if the owner wishes to redeem it, then a fifth must be added to its value. 14‘And if someone dedicates his house as something holy unto the LORD, then the priest shall value it, whether good or bad: whatever the priest shall assess it, so shall it stand. 15And if the one who sanctified it wishes to redeem his house, then he must add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall become his. 16‘And someone dedicates unto the LORD some part of his family possession, such as a field, then its valuation shall be according to the amount of seed required for it: an homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17If he dedicates his field in the year of jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand. 18But if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain until the next year of the jubilee, and it shall be reduced accordingly from its valuation. 19And if anyone who sanctified the field will in any way redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of its valuation for it, and it shall be restored to him. 20But if he will not redeem (buy back) the field, or if it has been sold to someone else, it shall never be redeemed again. 21But when the field is released (when it goes out) in the jubilee, it shall be holy unto the LORD, as a field devoted; such a possession shall become the property of the priest. 22And if a man dedicates unto the LORD a field which he has bought, but is not of the fields of his family possession (inheritance); 23Then the priest shall assess for him its value up to the year of the jubilee: and the owner must pay its valuation on that day, as something holy unto the LORD. 24In the year of the jubilee, the field shall revert to the person from whom it was bought, the person whose possession it had been. 25All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to a shekel. 26‘No one shall dedicate the firstborn of the animals to the LORD, whether it be ox, or sheep: since the firstborn already belongs to the LORD. 27And if it is of unclean animals, then he must be redeemed (bought back) according to its set valuation, and a fifth shall be added to it: or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to its valuation. 28‘Nothing that someone owns and dedicates unto the LORD of all that he owns, whether a person, animal, or a field of his family possession, may be sold or redeemed: everything so devoted is most holy unto the LORD. 29No person set apart for destruction (sentenced to death) may be bought back (redeemed) – such a person shall surely be put to death. 30‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether of seed, or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD: it is holy to the LORD. 31And if anyone wants to redeem (buy back) any of their tithes, they must add a fifth of the value to it. 32And count every tenth animal of the herd, or of the flock, whatever animal passes under the caretaker’s rod, that tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. 33He must not pick the good or the bad, nor shall he exchange any: and if he does exchange or substitute at all, then both it and its substitute shall become holy; it shall not be redeemed, or bought back.’” 34These are the commands which the LORD gave to Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. 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