Leviticus 27:23

Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Then the priest shall reckon unto him.—In this case the vower is not to pay the low rate fixed for a field which is the family inheritance (see Leviticus 27:16), but the priest is to value it in proportion to the number of crops which it will produce up to the year of jubile, in the same way as fields are valued in ordinary purchases. (See Leviticus 25:14-16.)

And he shall give thine estimation in that day.—This valuation the vower or his relatives had to pay all at once, without, however, the additional fifth part of its value; whilst in the case of vowing an hereditary field, the vower had the advantage of paying the small sum by yearly installments.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:14-25 Our houses, lands, cattle, and all our substance, must be used to the glory of God. It is acceptable to him that a portion be given to support his worship, and to promote his cause. But God would not approve such a degree of zeal as ruined a man's family.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Devoted - See Leviticus 27:28 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16-24. if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some aprt of a field of his possession, &c.—In the case of acquired property in land, if not redeemed, it returned to the donor at the Jubilee; whereas the part of a hereditary estate, which had been vowed, did not revert to the owner, but remained attached in perpetuity to the sanctuary. The reason for this remarkable difference was to lay every man under an obligation to redeem the property, or stimulate his nearest kinsman to do it, in order to prevent a patrimonial inheritance going out from any family in Israel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The worth of thy estimation, i.e. the price or sum at which thou, O priest, shalt reckon it. So it is only a change of the person, which is frequent; or, the price which thou, O Moses, by my direction hast set in such cases. Unto the year of the jubilee, i.e. as much as it is worth for that space of time between the making of the vow and the year of jubilee; for he had no right to it for any longer time, as the next verse tells us.

He shall give thine estimation, without the addition of the fifth part, which he was to pay for his lands of inheritance, Leviticus 27:19, as being of a better and more durable tenure than purchased lands, which were his only till the jubilee.

As a holy thing; as that which is to be consecrated to God instead of the land redeemed by it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of jubilee,.... The priest was to estimate the field of purchase sanctified, and set a price upon it according to the best of his judgment, and give it to the person that sanctified it, or whoever would redeem it; and this estimate was made, according to the number of years there were to the year of jubilee:

and he shall give thine estimation in that day; the price set upon the field by the priest immediately, either the sanctifier, but without adding the fifth part, as in Leviticus 27:19; so Maimonides (g) observes, or any other purchaser:

as a holy thing unto the Lord; to sacred uses, as the repairs of the temple, &c. to which the purchase money was appropriated.

(g) Hilchot Eracin, c. 4. sect. 26.

Geneva Study Bible

Then the priest shall reckon unto him the worth of thy estimation, even unto the year of the jubile: and he shall give {m} thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing unto the LORD.

(m) The priests evaluation.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

23. thy estimation] The Heb. representing these two words presents a grammatical anomaly, although parallels are not absolutely wanting in the MT. But see on Leviticus 27:13.

Leviticus 27:23

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

If on the other hand any one dedicated to the Lord a "field of his purchase," i.e., a field that had been bought and did not belong to his patrimony, he was to give the amount of the valuation as estimated by the priest up to the year of jubilee "on that day," i.e., immediately, and all at once. This regulation warrants the conclusion, that on the dedication of hereditary fields, the amount was not paid all at once, but year by year. In the year of jubilee the field that had been vowed, if a field acquired by purchase, did not revert to the buyer, but to the hereditary owner from whom it had been bought, according to the law in Leviticus 25:23-28.