Leviticus 27 Study Notes

27:2-8 People who were dedicated by vow to the Lord’s service could be redeemed through a sum of money established by God or the priest. Hannah promised Samuel to the Lord (1Sm 1:11), but if she had wanted to keep the child, God would have allowed her to take him back through monetary redemption. The Bible also affirms that the Nazirites made vows that included people (Nm 6).

27:9-13 These instructions concern vows of animals. Will be holy means that it becomes the property of the sanctuary.

27:14-25 This concerns houses (vv. 14-15) or fields (vv. 16-24) that are dedicated to the sanctuary (the meaning of consecrate).

27:26-33 These instructions concern exceptions to the previous laws on vows.

27:26-27 No one could consecrate a firstborn because he already belonged to the Lord (Ex 13:2; 34:19-20).

27:28-29 The penalty for disobeying God’s law regarding things set apart . . . to the Lord was death. It is possible that Ananias and Sapphira in the early church were guilty of breaking this law as well as lying to the Holy Spirit (Ac 5:1-11).

27:30-33 The tithe is not a human invention but a divine command. The first time the tithe is mentioned in the Bible was when Abram gave a tenth of what he had to Melchizedek (Gn 14:20). The Israelites are told to tithe from their land’s produce (cp. Dt 14:22-24). During the monarchy, the tithe was important because it provided the capital necessary for the day-to-day operation of the temple. The giving of the tithe was revived by Nehemiah during the postexilic era since it seems that the practice had been ignored (Neh 13:10-13,37-38). Through the prophet Malachi, God rebuked the people for robbing God by not bringing their tithes to the temple (Mal 3:8-10).