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The vows discussed in Leviticus 27 are voluntary and extraordinary, beyond what is required, to be dedicated to service in the Tabernacle. This is how you can do more than what is required, if you feel lead to do so. The type of vow described here is similar to a monastic vow, in which someone promises to serve God in His temple for an extended period, or even for one’s entire life.
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man makes a difficult vow, he shall be valued according to your valuation of persons belonging to the LORD.” (Leviticus 27:2 NASB)
Much of this final chapter of Leviticus talks about how to take up this type of vow and how to get out of the vow if some time type of circumstance comes that one needs to give up the vow. The persons or animals given to the Tabernacle or Temple in this type of vow are given to the Tabernacle to work in the Tabernacle, not to die in the Tabernacle.
The guidelines on getting out of a difficult vow, which for most of the items or people, is to pay 20% above the original value to redeem it.
These valuations of men, women, children, animals, land, etc. does not concern the issue of slavery but about dedication to service in God’s tabernacle. The fact that a man’s value is higher than a woman’s value is not because God esteems men more than women. God is no respecter of persons and all human beings have access to God’s salvation.
These monetary values are set at level so that one could redeem oneself if the vow became too hard to bear. The reason that women are valued less than men is that they would have less monetary means to redeem themselves from a vow. God is not in the business of entrapping women into lifetime vows or giving men an unfair advantage in changing their minds about submitting to a long-term vow of Temple service.
You can offer yourself, an animal you own, or land, or a home you own to God anytime you want, not having to wait for a certain event or time. There’s no chaos of confusion. These are not spur of the moment offerings.
Regardless of whether you are a rich man or a poor man, your value is the same to God. These values are set at the amount that one can ransom oneself back from the vow.
The value of items such as land, homes etc that were dedicated to God were assessed by the priest, not by the person donating the property.
When it comes to a flock of animals, every 10th animal is given to God. If you only have an increase of 9 animals, than you aren’t obligated to give a tithe. God is not out to take from everyone.
Yeshua’s parable about counting the cost is a good illustration of this chapter. It’s why Yeshua discourages people from making extraordinary vows.
It is not a sin of you don’t take this kind of vow upon yourself, the Torah here is just detailing guidelines on how these special vows are to be taken and how they are to be redeemed.
What does God have in mind in this? If something is devoted to God, it can’t be redeemed, except the first-born son. If it’s devoted the priesthood to the tabernacle, it can be redeemed back at its face value plus 20 percent.
Reader: Jeff. Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.