Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 27:20
And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.
If he will not redeem the field, to wit, when the priest shall set a price upon it, and offer it to him in the first place to redeem it.
If he have sold; he, who? Either,
1. The man that vowed it; if he after such a vow made shall neglect to pay his vow, and shall sacrilegiously sell the same land to another man; or, if he sell it, i.e. suffer it to be sold to another, and will not prevent that by redeeming it to himself. Or rather,
2. The priest, or some in his name, who, though not expressed, is sufficiently understood out of the foregoing clause, If he will not redeem or buy again the field, to wit, of the priest, who is now the seller of it; or, or rather and, for this seems to be added by way of accumulation, if he, i.e. the priest, of whom he might have redeemed it, upon his refusal, offers it to sale, and
have sold the field to another man. Add to this, that none but the priest could sell this land, after it was once vowed and declared to be so, and offered by the priest to him again to redeem it, which is apparently the present case.
It shall not be redeemed any more, i.e. he shall for ever lose the benefit of redemption.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And if he will not redeem the field,…. He that sanctified it, does not care to give for it the settled price of the fifth part besides, but chooses it should be disposed of for the uses he devoted it to:
or if he have sold the field to another man; that is, either the original owner having bought it and sold it again, or rather the priest, the treasurer, as Jarchi, who had the disposal of it, for the uses and purposes for which it was devoted, when sold by him:
it shall not be redeemed any more; it was not in the power of him that sanctified it to make a purchase of it again; the buyer of it might not sell it to him again, for otherwise, by that means, he might come at it cheaper than the law directs; besides, there is another reason for it, which is suggested in Le 27:21.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) And if he will not redeem the field.That is, if after all the advantages which the law affords to the vower to redeem his patrimonial inheritance before the jubile year, he is base enough to forego the privilege of redemption, thus showing no desire to perpetuate his family name,
Or if he have sold the field to another man.Better, and if he yet sells the field to another man, that is, if in addition to this absence of family honour he surreptitiously sells the field which he has vowed to the sanctuary to another man, thus adding sacrilege to baseness,
It shall not be redeemed any more,then he loses all right ever to redeem it at all.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. If he will not redeem Since the priests were employed in the sanctuary and could not secularize themselves by cultivating patches of land scattered through the country, the land vowed lay idle or was still cultivated by its proprietor. As a penalty for his neglect to pay the redemption year by year, the land was forfeited to the sanctuary in the jubilee. “Hence it is to be inferred that a consecrated field must have been redeemed before the jubilee unless any one manifestly wished it to be alienated.” Clericus.
If he have sold Knobel thinks that only culpable caprice or dishonesty could have induced the proprietor to sell a field after he had vowed it to the Lord. The fact that it became irredeemable after such an act seems to favour this theory. The fault, for which the forfeiture of the field is a penalty, may have consisted in the fact that he still assumed undisputed ownership of a field which he had solemnly consecrated to the Lord, to whose rights he had done violence by the sale.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 27:20. And if he will not redeem the field, &c. Our version here is very ambiguous. Houbigant renders it more clearly after the Vulgate; but if he will not redeem the field, and it be sold to another person, it shall not, &c.] The Arabic version has it, and if the priest have sold it, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 27:20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.
Ver. 20. Or if he have sold the field. ] And so, sacrilegiously robbed God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Lev 27:24 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
27:20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have {k} sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.
(k) For their own necessity or godly uses.