John Gill Commentary Leviticus 27

And the Lord spoke to Moses After he had delivered the body of laws in the preceding chapter, which by the close of the last seem to have been finished; but here some rules and instructions concerning vows are given, which a man was not obliged to make, but which he did of his own freewill and good pleasure: saying; as follows.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them
This being an affair which only concerned them; for the Jewish writers say ^F8, by this phrase, the children of Israel, Gentiles are excluded:

when a man shall make a singular vow ;
an unusual, an uncommon one, a very distinguished one, and even what is wonderful, as the word signifies; as when a man, through uncommon zeal for God and his service, devotes himself, or his children, or his cattle, or his houses or fields, to the Lord:

the word "man", the Jewish writers say ^F9, includes every male, and even a Gentile; yes, it is said all estimate and are estimated, vow and are vowed, priests, and Levites, and Israelites, women and servants ^F11 :

the persons shall be for the Lord by your estimation: as when a man devoted himself or any that belonged to him to the service of the sanctuary, out of his great zeal for it, as to assist the priests and Levites in the meaner sort of work, as to carry wood and draw water, and sweep the tabernacle, and the like. They were not allowed to do these things, partly because it was not the will of God that any or every Israelite should be employed in such menial service, and partly because there were men appointed for such work, as well as to prevent too great a number of persons in the sanctuary, which would be troublesome, and only stand in one another's way. Wherefore, on every devoted person to such service a value or price was set, according to the rules after given, which were to be paid in to the priests for the service of the sanctuary, the repair of the house, &c. see (2 Kings 12:4 2 Kings 12:5);

the word may be rendered, agreeably to the accents, "according to your estimation of souls (or persons) the vow shall be to the Lord" ^F12 ; that is, the price of the person devoted, according to the estimation of the priest, or as settled by the Lord in some following verses, shall be given to him:

the word "souls" being used, the Jewish doctors understand it of estimation or value of that on which the soul or life depends; thus, for instance, if a man says, the value of my hand or of my feet be upon me, he says nothing; but if he says, the value of my head or of my liver be upon me, he gives the whole value, i.e. of himself; if he says, the half of my value be upon me, he gives the half of it; but if he says, the value of half of me, he gives the whole value. This is the general rule, that on which the soul or life depends pays the whole value ^F13 ; for a man cannot live without his head, or without his liver, or when half of himself is taken away.

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Eracin, c. 1. sect. 2.
• F9: Ibid.
• F11: Misn. Eracin, sect. 1.
• F12: (hwhyl tvpn Kkreb) "pro tua aestimatione animarum, votum erit" Domino, Reinbeck de Accent. Heb. p. 320;
• F13: Misn. Eracin, c. 5. sect. 2, 3.

And your estimation shall be
The estimation of the man himself that vowed, or of the priest for him, was not left to be made by either of them at their pleasure, but was to be made according to the following rules, in proportion to the age a person was of to be estimated:

of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old :
the account begins with these, because men of an age from the one to the other are fittest for labour, and therefore to be set at the highest price, as they are in the next clause:

even that estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the
shekel of the sanctuary ;
a shekel was about half a crown of our money, or somewhat less, so that fifty of these amounted to about six pounds: these shekels were to be of the full weight, according to the standard that was kept in the sanctuary, and were the highest price that was set upon any; and this was paid equally by all of the same age, whether rich or poor:

hence it is said, ``in estimations there is nothing less than one shekel, nor more than fifty ^F14 .''

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Misn. Eracin, c. 2. sect. 1.

And if it [be] a female
That is, of the same age, full twenty years of age, and not more than sixty:

then your estimation shall be thirty shekels ;
about three pounds ten shillings of our money, the price of a servant, (Exodus 21:32) ; the reason of this difference of estimation between a man and a woman is, because the woman is the weaker vessel, and her labour and service of less importance and worth, such as spinning, washing

And if [it be] from five years old, even unto to twenty years
old
Not that one of five years old is supposed to vow or to make an estimation, but one grown up, that says, the estimation of this little one, who is five years of age, be upon me; and such an one was bound to pay the value of him, which is as follows:

then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the
female ten shekels ;
which were for the one above two pounds, and for the other more than one pound; these were valued at a less price than the former, partly because, generally speaking, there are more die between the age of five and the age of twenty years than between twenty and sixty; and partly because within that time they are not capable of so much work and service as in the latter; and it may be observed, that the females of this age are not valued in proportion to the females of the other; the estimation of these being just half that of the males, whereas that of the other is more than half; the reason is, that women above twenty years of age, their service bears, a better proportion to that of men, than that of young women to young men under twenty.