Chapter 27 has to do with dedicating oneself to the Lord or dedicating a person or animal or some type of possession to the Lord. This dedication doesn't involve the death or destruction of whoever or whatever is dedicated to the Lord, but it involves the "redeeming" of the person or animal or thing by paying a price to the Lord that is based on a set value of whoever or whatever is being dedicated.
I'll use the following modern example of dedicating a person to the Lord. In my church we don't perform infant baptisms but we do hold services known as "baby dedications". In these services the parents bring the infant to the front of the sanctuary and the pastor anoints the baby's forehead with oil in the shape of the cross. The parents acknowledge before the Lord that the child is His, for He is the Creator of everyone and everything. The parents vow before the Lord and the congregation to bring up the child in the faith. Then the pastor and the parents and the congregation pray together. A similar thing is happening in the verses of Leviticus 27 we'll be studying today. A person is being dedicated to the Lord. The person may be making a vow on their own behalf to dedicate their life to the Lord or they may be making the vow on behalf of another person. The person being dedicated is not sacrificed to the Lord, of course. A specific amount of money is paid into the treasury of the Lord's house as part of the ritual of dedication. This symbolizes the seriousness of their vow.
If living for the Lord doesn't cost a person anything, is he actually living for the Lord at all? Living for the Lord usually means swimming against the stream and going against the unbelieving culture around us. It means saying no to things that are ungodly, and this can sometimes be difficult. We have to fight against our carnal natures when we say no to ungodly things. Following the Lord may mean not being as popular as we'd like or being ridiculed for standing firm in our faith or being passed over for certain opportunities because we don't join in with the sinful pursuits of our co-workers and superiors who are unbelievers. Living for the Lord will cost us something, so money is paid for the dedications made in Leviticus 27 because the Lord doesn't want anyone making empty promises to follow Him. He wants them to think about what they're getting into before they get into it. The Lord Jesus counseled anyone interested in following Him to count the cost before vowing to commit their hearts and lives to Him. He said following Him had to mean more to them than anything else, or else they were not true disciples. (Luke 14:25-35)
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate a person to the Lord by giving the equivalent value, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; for a female, set her value at thirty shekels; for a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels; for a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver; for a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, the person being dedicated is to be presented to the priest, who will set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford." (Leviticus 27:1-8)
I was concerned about why females were valued less than males when it came to the price paid at the sanctuary. I was also concerned about why the price for an older adult was smaller than that for a younger adult. I don't believe the Lord participates in discrimination or that He values one life above another life or one soul above another soul. From the research I did, it appears that the most common opinion among Bible scholars is that the people being dedicated are having a monetary value assigned to them according to the work they are able to perform in the agricultural society in which they live. Generally speaking, a male has more physical strength than a female due to his larger build. Men in an ancient agricultural society would be expected to perform more physical labor outside the home than the females, since married females of childbearing age were often pregnant (there were little to no methods of birth control available) and would also be occupied with the tending of small children and the running of the household. The price paid to the sanctuary for a younger person is greater than that paid for an older person because, generally speaking, a younger person has more strength and endurance than an older person. A young man of twenty-five would be expected to be able to harvest more crops in a day than a man of seventy-five. If the amount of money paid at the sanctuary is intended to reflect the amount of work each person is potentially capable of doing, the difference in amounts makes sense. We see, though, that even infants being dedicated must have a price paid to the sanctuary when their parents vow to bring them up in the reverence of the Lord. An infant can perform no work, but a value must still be paid into the treasury at their dedication, so a very small amount is assessed to symbolize the hoped-for contributions they will make to their society.
The Lord doesn't discriminate against anyone for their sex or their age. He also doesn't discriminate against anyone for their poverty. We see in verse 8 that the poor are not prevented from making vows of dedication if they can't pay the specified amounts. A person who loves the Lord and wants to make a vow of dedication to Him for themselves or for a member of their household can still go talk to the priest at the sanctuary and have a value assessed according to their ability to pay. The Lord accepts what is in the person's heart even though very little is in the person's wallet. As the Apostle Paul pointed out in 2 Corinthians 8:12, "For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have."
Some people are able to give very large amounts to the church. Some people are able to give very little. The Lord doesn't pour out more grace on the wealthy (who gives more) than He pours out on the poor (who gives little). The Lord pours out grace according to the condition of the person's heart. If a person gives a huge amount to the church but has little love in his heart for the Lord, his gift may be a big help to the church but it doesn't "buy" the favor of the Lord. Likewise, a person may love the Lord with all his heart, and he may have a very strong desire to give huge amounts to the church so the church can minister to the community, but this person may only be able to put a small amount into the offering. The Lord doesn't treat this person's small offering with scorn; the Lord accepts this offering in the spirit in which it was given. In Luke's gospel account we find Jesus commending the very small amount a poor widow dropped into the offering plate. He said she had given more than all the wealthy people who had dropped their offerings in because it really cost her something to part with the money. (Luke 21:1-4)
The Lord knows our hearts. He knows whether what we bring to Him is brought with a sincere heart or whether it's brought out of a sense of obligation or to be seen by others. He blesses accordingly.
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