Leviticus 27: 1-13, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation. And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value him. And if it be a beast, whereof men bring an offering unto the LORD, all that any man giveth of such unto the LORD shall be holy. He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange thereof shall be holy. And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the LORD, then he shall present the beast before the priest: And the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad: as thou valuest it, who art the priest, so shall it be. But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a fifth part thereof unto thy estimation.”
Even though every person in Israel had obligation under their ceremonial system, there was an extra system whereby people could make an extra act of devotion to the Lord and make a vow. Whatever they wanted to give to the Lord, say their house or their land, could be redeemed because, even though the Land belonged to the Lord, each family had tenure over the land in perpetuity as long as the people kept to the terms of the contract they had made with the Lord. A person could also dedicate himself as a living sacrifice to the Lord as well. In every case there was a defined sum required for a person to redeem themselves from the vow so that they could continue to acts as productive and contributing members of the nation. The same was true of a animal that was dedicated to the Lord but not for a regular sacrifice. It was a wonderful picture for the nation to see themselves as dedicated to the Lord but continuing to work for His glory till the end of their days.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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