H. DIRECTIONS CONCERNING VOWS ch. 27

The blessings and curses (ch. 26) were in a sense God's vows to His people. This chapter deals with His people's vows to Him. Another connection between these chapters is that in times of divine discipline (26:14-33) people tend to make vows to God. Chapter 27 shows how God wanted the Israelites to honor their vows.³⁰³

"The directions concerning vows follow the express termination of the Sinaitic lawgiving (chap. xxvi. 46), as an appendix to it, because vows formed no integral part of the covenant laws, but were a freewill expression of piety common to almost all nations, and belonged to the modes of worship current in all religions, which were not demanded and might be omitted altogether, and which really lay outside the law, though it was necessary to bring them into harmony with the demands of the law upon Israel."³⁰⁴

"Just as the whole of the giving of the Law at Sinai began with ten commandments, so it now ends with a list of ten laws. The content of the ten laws deals with the process of payment of vows and tithes made to the Lord."³⁰⁵

God did not command the Israelites to make vows or to promise anything to Him. However vowing is a natural desire of people who love God or want things from God. Therefore God gave the Israelites regulations that were to govern their vowing and dedicating. Though God did not command vows He expected that once His people made them they would keep them (cf. Prov. 20:25; Eccles. 5:3-5). It may be that part of the purpose of these regulations was to discourage rash swearing by fixing a relatively high price on the discharge and changing of vows.³⁰⁶

"A vow to God placed a person or property in a special consecrated relationship which stood outside the formal demands of the law."³⁰⁷

Old Testament examples of people who made vows are Jephthah (Judg. 11:30-31) and Hannah (1 Sam. 1:11). Votive offerings were offerings made in payment of vows.

A vow was a promise to give oneself or one's possessions to God so He would bestow some blessing or because He had already bestowed a blessing. People made vows to do something or not to do something. Vows were normally temporary. When a person wanted to get back what he had vowed to God he had to pay a certain price to the sanctuary to buy back what he had given to God. This constituted redeeming what the person had vowed.

 1. Vows concerning persons 27:1-8

The amount of money that a person had to pay at the end of a vow in which he pledged a person depended on the age and sex of the individual. Some people were worth more in this respect than others.

"These figures are very large. The average wage of a worker in biblical times was about one shekel per month.³⁰⁸It is little wonder that few could afford the valuations set out here (v. 8)."³⁰⁹

 2. Vows concerning animals 27:9-13

The Israelites could offer animals that the Mosaic Law classed as clean or unclean to God in payment for a vow. The priests probably used the unclean animals for various purposes other than sacrifice, or they could sell them for a profit.

 3. Vows concerning other property 27:14-29

God treated houses (vv. 14-15) the same as unclean cattle (cf. vv. 11-12). He calculated land value in relationship to the year of jubilee. The people evidently were to pay for land they inherited and then vowed year by year (vv. 16-21). However they normally were to pay for land they purchased and then vowed in one payment (vv. 22-25). They could not vow first-born animals because these already belonged to God (vv. 26-27). Neither could they vow people or objects that had already been dedicated to God for good purposes (e.g., the spoil of Jericho) or bad purposes (e.g., a condemned murderer; vv. 28-29).

 4. The redemption of tithes 27:30-34

God claimed as His possession one tenth of the seed, fruit, and livestock of the Israelites. If the owner wished to keep some of this himself, he had to pay the value of what he kept to God plus 20 percent. This tithe was a commonly recognized obligation to God and for this reason it was not part of the Mosaic Law (cf. Gen. 14:20; 28:22).³¹⁰Probably Moses included the directions concerning it in this section of Leviticus because this tithe was a gift to God.

The Israelites were to devote the Sabbath entirely to God as a reminder that all their days belonged to Him. Likewise they were to tithe their income as a reminder that all their possessions belonged to Him. The tithe was not just the part the Israelites owed God. It was a reminder that they owed everything to God.³¹¹

"Lev. 27 points out that holiness is more than a matter of divine call and correct ritual. Its attainment requires the total consecration of a man's life to God's service. It involves giving yourself, your family, and all your possessions to God."³¹²

God has given quite different directions to guide the giving of Christians under the New Covenant (cf. 1 Cor. 16; 2 Cor 8-9; Phil. 4). He has not specified a percentage that His people must give. He wants us to give joyfully, sacrificially, proportionately, and as He has prospered us. Teaching Christians to give as God instructed the Israelites under the Old Covenant often has the effect of limiting their giving rather than increasing it. Many Christians erroneously think that when they have given 10 percent they have satisfied God.