Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 27:16
And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD [some part] of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: a homer of barley seed [shall be valued] at fifty shekels of silver.
16. fifty shekels of silver ] meaning apparently that at the rate of one shekel a year this shall be the maximum amount of redemption payment. The standard in these cases was to be ‘the shekel of the sanctuary.’ See Driver, Exo 30:13 (where the same words are used), for discussion as to the meaning and value of the shekel thus denominated.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Some part of a field of his possession – Rather, a part of the land of his inheritance.
The seed thereof – i. e. the quantity of seed required to sow it properly. Thus the value of about 5 1/2 bushels (an homer) was about 6 pounds, 9 shillings, 2d. (50 shekels. See Exo 38:24.)
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. Some part of a field] Though the preceding words are not in the text, yet it is generally allowed they should be supplied here, as it was not lawful for a man to vow his whole estate, and thus make his family beggars, in order to enrich the Lord’s sanctuary: this God would not permit. The rabbins teach that the land or field, whether good or bad, was valued at forty-eight shekels, for all the years of the jubilee, provided the field was large enough to sow a homer of barley. The chomer was different from the omer: the latter held about three quarts, the former, seventy-five gallons three pints; See Clarke on Ex 16:16. Some suppose that the land was rated, not at fifty shekels for the whole of the years of the jubilee, for this would be but about 3s. per annum; but that it was rated according to its produce, fifty shekels for every homer of barley it produced.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A field of his possession, i.e. which is his by inheritance, because particular direction is given about purchased lands, Lev 27:22. And he saith part of it, because it was unlawful to vow away all his possessions, because thereby he had disenabled himself from the performance of divers duties by way of sacrifice, almsgiving, &c., and made himself burdensome to his brethren.
According to the seed thereof, i.e. according to the quantity and quality of the land, which is known by the quantity of seed which it can receive and return.
Fifty shekels of silver, not to be paid yearly, till the year of jubilee, as some would have it, but once for all, as is most probable,
1. Because here is no mention of any yearly payment, but only of one payment, and we must not add to the text.
2. Because it is most probable that lands and all things were favourably and moderately valued, so that men might be rather encouraged to make such vows upon just occasions, than to be deterred from them by excessive impositions. But if this were yearly rent, it was an excessive rate, and much more than the land ordinarily yielded. For an omer is but the tenth part of an ephah, Exo 16:36, and therefore not above a pottle of our measure, which quantity of seed would not extend very far, and in some lands would yield but an inconsiderable crop, especially in barley, which was cheaper than wheat, and which for that reason, among others, may seem to be here mentioned rather than wheat.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16-24. if a man shall sanctify untothe Lord some aprt of a field of his possession, c.In the caseof acquired property in land, if not redeemed, it returned to thedonor at the Jubilee whereas the part of a hereditary estate, whichhad been vowed, did not revert to the owner, but remained attached inperpetuity to the sanctuary. The reason for this remarkabledifference was to lay every man under an obligation to redeem theproperty, or stimulate his nearest kinsman to do it, in order toprevent a patrimonial inheritance going out from any family inIsrael.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And if a man shall sanctify unto the Lord [some part] of a field of his possession,…. That which he enjoyed by inheritance from his father, to distinguish it from a field of his own purchase, as in
Le 27:22; and which might be devoted, not all of it, but a part of it; partly that he might have something to live upon, or to improve for a livelihood for himself and family, and partly that estates might not be alienated entirely from their families and tribes in which they were:
then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof; not according to the field, the goodness or badness of that, one field being good and another bad, as Jarchi observes, but according to the quantity of seed which it produced, or rather which it required for the sowing of it;
an homer of barley seed [shall be valued] at fifty shekels of silver; which was near six pounds of our money; and here we must carefully distinguish between an “omer”, beginning with an “o”, and an “homer”, beginning with an “h”; not observing this has led some learned men into mistakes in their notes on this place, for an “omer” was the tenth part of an “ephah”, Ex 16:36; and an “ephah” is but the tenth part of an “homer”, Eze 45:11; which makes a very great difference in this measure of barley, for an homer of it contained ten ephahs or bushels; and even according to this account a bushel of barley is rated very high, for ten bushels at fifty shekels, reckoning a shekel half a crown, or them at six pounds five shillings, are at the rate of twelve shillings and sixpence a bushel, which is too high a price for barley; wherefore as an ephah, the tenth part of an homer, contained three seahs or pecks, and which some call bushels, then an homer consisted of thirty bushels, which brings down the value of it to little more than two shillings a bushel, which is much nearer the true value of barley; but the truth of the matter is, that the value of barley for sowing is not ascertained, as our version leads us to think; for the words should be rendered, if the “seed be an homer of barley”, it, the field, shall be valued “at fifty shekels of silver”: if the field take so much seed to sow it as the quantity of an homer of barley, then it was to be rated at fifty shekels of silver; and if it took two homers, then it was to be rated at an hundred shekels, and so on.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With regard to the vowing of land, a difference was made between a field inherited and one that had been purchased.
Lev 27:16 If any one sanctified to the Lord “of the field of his possession,” i.e., a portion of his hereditary property, the valuation was to be made according to the measure of the seed sown; and an omer of barley was to be appraised at fifty shekels, so that a field sown with an omer of barley would be valued at fifty shekels. As an omer was equal to ten ephahs (Eze 45:11), and, according to the calculation made by Thenius, held about 225 lbs., the fifty shekels cannot have been the average value of the yearly produce of such a field, but must be understood, as it was by the Rabbins, as the value of the produce of a complete jubilee period of 49 or 50 years; so that whoever wished to redeem the field had to pay, according to Mishnah, Erachin vii. 1, a shekel and a fifth per annum.
Lev 27:17-19 If he sanctified his field from the year of jubilee, i.e., immediately after the expiration of that year, it was to “stand according to thy valuation,” i.e., no alteration was to be made in the valuation. But if it took place after the year of jubilee, i.e., some time or some years after, the priest was to estimate the value according to the number of years to the next year of jubilee, and “ it shall be abated from thy valuation, ” sc., praeteritum tempus, the time that has elapsed since the year of jubilee. Hence, for example, if the field was vowed ten years after the year of jubilee, the man who wished to redeem it had only forty shekels to pay for the forty years remaining up to the next year of jubilee, or, with the addition of the fifth, 48 shekels. The valuation was necessary in both cases, for the hereditary field was inalienable, and reverted to the original owner or his heirs in the year of jubilee without compensation (cf. Lev 27:21 and Lev 25:13, Lev 25:23.); so that, strictly speaking, it was not the field itself, but the produce of its harvests up to the next year of jubilee, that was vowed, whether the person making the vow left it to the sanctuary in natura till the year of jubilee, or wished to redeem it again by paying the valuation price. In the latter case, however, he had to put a fifth over and above the valuation price (Lev 27:19, like Lev 27:13 and Lev 27:15), that it might be left to him.
Lev 27:20-21 In case he did not redeem it, however, namely, before the commencement of the next year of jubilee, or sold it to another man, i.e., to a man not belonging to his family, he could no longer redeem it; but on its going out, i.e., becoming free in the year of jubilee (see Lev 25:28), it was to be holy to the Lord, like a field under the ban (see Lev 27:28), and to fall to the priests as their property. Hinc colligere est, redimendum fuisse ante Jubilaeum consecratum agrum, nisi quis vellet eum plane abalienari ( Clericus ). According to the distinct words of the text (observe the correspondence of … ), the field, that had been vowed, fell to the sanctuary in the jubilee year not only when the owner had sold it in the meantime, but also when he had not previously redeemed it. The reason for selling the field at a time when he had vowed it to the sanctuary, need not be sought for in caprice and dishonesty, as it is by Knobel. If the field was vowed in this sense, that it was not handed over to the sanctuary (the priesthood) to be cultivated, but remained in the hands of the proprietor, so that every year he paid to the sanctuary simply the valuation price, – and this may have been the rule, as the priests whose duties lay at the sanctuary could not busy themselves about the cultivation of the field, but would be obliged either to sell the piece of land at once, or farm it, – the owner might sell the field up to the year of jubilee, to be saved the trouble of cultivating it, and the purchaser could not only live upon what it yielded over and above the price to be paid every year to the sanctuary, but might possibly realize something more. In such a case the fault of the seller, for which he had to make atonement by the forfeiture of his field to the sanctuary in the year of jubilee, consisted simply in the fact that he had looked upon the land which he vowed to the Lord as though it were his own property, still and entirely at his own disposal, and therefore had allowed himself to violate the rights of the Lord by the sale of his land. At any rate, it is quite inadmissible to supply a different subject to from that of the parallel , viz., the priest.
Lev 27:22-24 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 Lev 25:23-28.
Lev 27:25 All valuations were to be made according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 16-21:
This law pertains to the ancestral possession of a man. He might sanctify it to the Lord, under the following conditions:
1. The priest must appraise it, based upon the estimated production of grain. The value was based upon an amount of fifty shekels (about $260.00) per homer (five and a half bushels) of barley.
2. If the vow were made the year of or the year following the Jubilee, the full price was assessed.
3. If the vow were made after the first year, the priest deducted the amount of the previous harvests from the total.
4. In the event one sold his interest in the field before making the vow, he paid nothing. No redemption was allowed. And title to the field passed to the sanctuary as the priests’ possession in the Jubilee Year, and did not revert to the original owner.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(16) Some part of a field of his possession.That is, if he consecrates by a vow to the service of the sanctuary a portion of a field which he inherits from his forefathers, and which, therefore, constitutes a part of his inalienable patrimony, thus distinguishing it from a field which he has acquired by his own purchase. (See Lev. 27:22.) The words, some part which are in italics, are implied in the Hebrew construction of these words. No man was allowed to vow the whole of his estates to the sanctuary, as he would thereby impoverish his own family.
Thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof.Better, thy estimation shall be according to its seed, that is, he is not to part with the field thus vowed for the sanctuary, but the priest is to value the area according to the quantity of seed required for sowing it.
An homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.That is, if the piece of land which he vowed could properly be cropped with one homer, or five bushels and a half of barley seed, he is to value it at 6 9s. 2d. (See Lev. 27:3.) According to the authorities during the second Temple, these fifty shekels covered the value of the produce for the whole period of forty-nine years, that is, from one jubile year to another, so that a plot of land of the dimensions here described was estimated at a little more than one shekel per annum. The person who made the vow could, under these circumstances, always redeem it, as it would almost amount to a gift to let any stranger buy it at this price. The low value put upon it was evidently designed not to deprive the family of their means of subsistence, since the patrimonial estates were almost always the only source of their livelihood.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Some part of a field The words “some part,” in the authorized version, are in italics for no good reason, since they exactly express the meaning of the Hebrew partitive preposition min of. It is generally allowed that it was not lawful for a man, under the high pressure of religious impulse, to alienate his whole patrimony and thus pauperize his own family.
According to the seed thereof Since the quantity of seed usually sown upon an acre is quite uniform, this may be taken in lieu of the rods and roods of square measure.
A homer of barley About five and a half bushels enough to sow two or three acres. To redeem this amount of land fifty shekels of silver, $30 28, were demanded, and at this rate for any number of homers of seed. The average value of the yearly produce of this field was not estimated, but the value of the crops during the complete ante-jubilee period of forty-nine years. Hence the annual redemption was at the rate of about a shekel and a fifth, or seventy-two cents multiplied by the number of homers vowed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Price For The Redemption of a Field Of His Possession Dedicated To Yahweh ( Lev 27:16-21 ).
A field of his possession refers to one the possession of which is given to him when the first share out is made in Canaan, a field which if sold would normally come back to him at the year of Yubile. To vow such a field was to seek to enter into something of the blessing of the Levite whose possession was Yahweh Himself (Jos 13:33).
Lev 27:16
“And if a man shall sanctify to Yahweh part of the field of his possession, then your estimation shall be according to its sowing, the sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.”
If the vow affects part of the field of his possession then the cost of redemption is assessed by how much grain or fruit that part of the field would produce. The assumption will be that a homer of barley would be worth fifty shekels of silver. Thus the quantity of homers of barley it might produce must be estimated in order to value the field.
Lev 27:17
“If he sanctify his field from the year of jubilee, according to your estimation it shall stand.”
If the vow is made at the beginning of the forty nine year period to the next yubile, then the assessment is made on that basis, depending on what barley could be produced in that time.
Lev 27:18
“But if he sanctify his field after the yubile, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain to the year of yubile; and an abatement shall be made from your estimation.”
However if the assessment is made after the year of Yubile then the proportion of time remaining is the amount which has to be taken into account.
Lev 27:19
“And if he who sanctified the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your estimation to it, and it shall be assured to him.”
In the end the price that must be paid for its redemption so that it again belongs to the man whose inheritance it first was is the estimated price plus one fifth redemption offering. If that is paid then the field is again his. But now in his sight it is a blessed field, for it has belonged to Yahweh.
Lev 27:20-21
“And if he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more, but the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, shall be holy to Yahweh, as a field devoted. The possession of it shall be the priest’s.”
But if a man has vowed the field and will not redeem it, or if he has vowed it and sold it to someone else (and therefore cannot redeem it), then at the year of Yubile it will be holy to Yahweh and will not be able to be redeemed. From then on it is the possession of the priests.
This would seem to be the only way by which the family fields could permanently be lost. In this case they had been given back to Yahweh and were therefore irrecoverable. The man had to consider the full consequences of his vow.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 27:16. If a man shall sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession Bishop Patrick observes, that this intimates it not to have been lawful for a man to vow his whole field or estate; because God would have no man’s family made beggars to enrich his sanctuary. The valuation here is an homer of barley-seed at fifty shekels:i.e. so much land as an homer of barley would sow, was to be rated at fifty shekels: (see on Lev 27:2-3.) and so proportionably for greater or less quantities of ground so devoted. Houbigant is of opinion, that not the seed to be sown, but the seed produced by the land, is here referred to as the mode of valuation. The homer here, (as we have before observed) is a different measure from the omer mentioned in Exo 16:16.: that was but the tenth part of an ephah; this was ten ephahs; Eze 45:4. By this, Isa 5:10 may be explained, the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah, i.e. ten bushels shall yield but one. The homer, called also cor, was the largest measure of capacity for things dry; and was equal to about seventy-five gallons five pints English. In the following verses, proper rules are given for the just valuation of fields with regard to the year of jubilee. Thy estimation, is rendered by some, the valuation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
homer. Hebrew. homer, as in Num 11:32. Isa 5:10. Eze 45:11, Eze 45:13, Eze 45:14. Hos 3:2. To be distinguished from ‘omer, in Exo 16:16, Exo 16:18, Exo 16:22, Exo 16:32, Exo 16:33, Exo 16:36. See App-51.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
some part: Though the words “some part” are not expressed, yet it is generally allowed that they should be supplied here; as it was not lawful for a man to alienate in this manner his whole patrimony. He might express his good will for the house of God but he must not impoverish his own family.
of a field: Act 4:34-37, Act 5:4
an homer: or, the land of an homer, etc. i.e. as much land as required a homer of barley to sow it, The homer was very different from the omer; the latter held about three quarts, the former seventy-five gallons three pints. Isa 5:10, Eze 45:11-14, Hos 3:2
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 27:16. Shall sanctify some part of his field This intimates that it was not lawful for a man to vow his whole field or estate, because God would have no mans family made beggars to enrich his sanctuary. The design of consecrating a part to God, was to procure his blessing upon the rest of their possessions. Thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof That is, it shall be valued according to the quantity of seed required to sow it. A homer of barley-seed shall be valued at fifty shekels That is, so much land as a homer of barley would sow was to be rated at fifty shekels, or about five pounds seventeen shillings; and so, proportionably, for greater or less quantities of ground so devoted. There is a great difference between this measure and that which occurs Exo 16:16; this is written homer, and that ghomer. Now, a ghomer was but the tenth part of an ephah, as we learn from Exo 16:36; whereas the homer, which is the measure here spoken of, was ten ephahs, Eze 45:11. By this we may explain that threatening in Isa 5:10, The seed of a homer shall yield an ephah; that is, ten bushels shall yield but one.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 27:16-25. Commutation for Land.In this case the question of the interval before Jubile arises, as, in the case of a man, the period when he will be past work (Lev 27:7). The standard taken is the sowing of a homer of barley, which is regarded as equivalent to the labour of a man in his prime, about 7. A homer= about 11 bushels (p. 115). Kennedy (HDB, Weights) points out that in the Mishna the size of a field is often computed by the amount of seed needed to sow it. The area of 2 seahs is fixed in the Mishna as the area of the Tabernacle, 100 50 cubits. Thus, the standard taken is a field which will need 11 bushels to sow it, i.e. about 4 acres. If the period of fifty years has run part of its course, deductions are made on the principle of a partly expired lease. If the field is bought back for a lump sum, the additional 20 per cent, is to be paid. If the person who has vowed the land had himself bought it on lease (i.e. till the Jubile) he must pay the price in cash, as the original owner could at any time redeem the field. The sacred shekel weighed nearly twice the ordinary shekel; the gerah (Lev 27:25) weighed probably about 10 grains.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
27:16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the LORD [some part] of a field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed thereof: an {i} homer of barley seed [shall be valued] at fifty shekels of silver.
(i) Homer is a measure containing ten ephahs, read of an ephah in Exo 16:16; Exo 16:36.