CHAPTER 27 Mar. 19 
Regulations concerning Vows
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man makes a vow, the persons shall be for Yahweh by your valuation. 3Your valuation shall be of a male from twenty years old even to sixty years old, even your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4If it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5If the person is from five years old even to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6If the person is from a month old even to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7If the person is from sixty years old and upward; if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him. 9If it is an animal, of which men offer an offering to Yahweh, all that any man gives of such to Yahweh becomes holy. 10He 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 animal for animal, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. 11If it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer as an offering to Yahweh, then he shall set the animal before the priest; 12and the priest shall value it, whether it is good or bad. As you the priest values it, so shall it be. 13But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of it to its valuation. 14When a man dedicates his house to be holy to Yahweh, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad: as the priest shall evaluate it, so shall it stand. 15If he who dedicates it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his. 16If a man dedicates to Yahweh part of the field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it: the sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17If he dedicates his field from 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 to the Year of Jubilee; and a reduction shall be made from your valuation. 19If he who dedicated the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall remain his. 20If he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore; 21but the field, when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be holy to Yahweh, as a field devoted; it shall be owned by the priests. 22If he dedicates to Yahweh a field which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession, 23then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and he shall give your valuation on that day, as a holy thing to Yahweh. 24In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs. 25All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel. 26Only the firstborn among animals, which is made a firstborn to Yahweh, no man may dedicate it: whether an ox or sheep, it is Yahweh’s. 27If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back according to your valuation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it; or if it isn’t redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. 28Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man shall devote to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy to Yahweh. 29No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed: he shall surely be put to death. 30All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh. 31If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it. 32All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh. 33He shall not analyze whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it; and if he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed’.34These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Commentary

27:1 This chapter is as it were an appendix to the Law because it concerns vows which were freewill decisions to give something to God and weren’t part of the legal demands which God made upon His people in the previous chapters. It’s good for us to at times make a special commitment to God from a joyful heart. The values attached to people in the next verses seem to speak of the price that should be paid if a person wished to cancel the dedication of themselves or even of others which they had made. It seems Jephthah may have been ignorant of these provisions and therefore suffered immensely from not paying attention to all God’s law (Jud. 11:31-40).
27:8 This provision seems to foresee the possibility that a totally poor person would dedicate themselves to God’s service (e.g. doing some work related to the maintenance of the sanctuary) and yet need to change that commitment (perhaps to care for a sick and dying relative), and yet have nothing to pay for his own redemption. This freewill dedication of oneself to God’s service is alluded to when Paul praises some of the Macedonian believers for devoting their own selves to the Lord (2 Cor. 8:5), and the family of Stephanas for having ‘ceremonially consecrated’ themselves to serving their fellow believers (1 Cor. 16:15 Gk.). What could we devote ourselves to do, remembering that wealth is no barrier to making this kind of devotion?
27:10 Changing what we have given to God according to new circumstances isn’t encouraged; we should give and assume that what we gave is now not ours any longer. Giving should be frank and final, with no thought of regret afterwards or considering what might have been if we had not given it- e.g. letting our mind wander around the possibilities of what we could have used money for if we’d not given it to God.
27:23 The value of all things is relative to the Year of Jubilee, which speaks of the return of Christ (see on 25:10,15,20).
27:26 We should avoid the temptation to give what we owe to God anyway as if it is a gift of special freewill devotion.
27:33 Not analyze whether it is good or bad- We should not be carefully calculating in our giving to God, trying to do so at minimal cost to ourselves.