Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; and if it is a female, set her value at thirty shekels. If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If it is a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver. If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will set the value for him according to what the man making the vow can afford. " 'If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. If what he vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord -the animal must be presented to the priest, who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be. If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, he must add a fifth to its value. " 'If a man dedicates his house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. If the man who dedicates his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become his. " 'If a man dedicates to the Lord part of his family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed. If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. If the man who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become his. If, however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the Lord; it will become the property of the priests. " 'If a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, which is not part of his family land, the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord. In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom he bought it, the one whose land it was. Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel. " 'No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord; whether an ox or a sheep, it is the Lord's. If it is one of the unclean animals, he may buy it back at its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If he does not redeem it, it is to be sold at its set value.
" 'But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the Lord-whether man or animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord. " 'No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; he must be put to death.
" 'A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it. The entire tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod—will be holy to the Lord. He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.' "
These are the commands the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites." Leviticus 27
The final chapter of Leviticus deals with the dedication and devotion of things to the Lord. Whether dealing with people, animals, households or land, one thing we see right away is that the Lord expects anything that He has either created or provided to be attributed and committed to Him.
So the scripture steps down through covering the various items that could be dedicated to the Lord. The dedicated items would become property of the tabernacle unless the provider redeemed the item back by paying either a set fee in some instances or a fee set by the priest on matters where an item's value was in question. The priest in those instances would establish the value and the subsequent required for redemption. Note as well that there are provisions written in for the poor. If they didn’t have the means to redeem at face value, the priest was to examine what the person could afford and adjust the redemption value accordingly.
There is a separate matter of devotion mentioned and it was distinct from the dedication expectations. For anything devoted to the Lord was fully His. It could not be redeemed or sold because it belonged to God and God alone.
The chapter concludes with guidance on tithing and there is little doubt that the Lord required tithing. For the passage states, "'A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord." By definition, a tithe is a "tenth part of something paid as a voluntary contribution…for the support of a religious establishment." Here, the tithe was to be dedicated to the Lord to care for the tabernacle and the priests. And the requirement for tithing hasn’t changed today. We should still seek to return a portion of what the Lord blesses us with…that which rightfully belongs to Him.
Through all this, keep in mind three central points:
1. The Lord provides us all things and expects that those things be dedicated to Him.
2. The Lord expects us to dedicate a portion of what He provides back to Him and the work of His church.
3. Redemption does not come without a cost.
These three closing points gleaned from Leviticus can help us establish a base foundation for our own Christian living. Let me explain.
First, when we acknowledge that all things come from the Lord, we gain a greater appreciation for what we have. We see things in a whole different light and attitude and we should gain a greater sense of stewardship and accountability in the way of either taking care of or properly using everything that God provides. And when we acknowledge that all things come from the Lord, we can’t help but turn to Him in a spirit of dedication and thanksgiving…asking Him to reveal His will to us so we might use everything that He provides to His glory. When we truly do this, then and only then are we living in the spirit of dedication that God desires.
Second, the church or other ministries ordained by the Lord can only go forth and do great work in His name with the proper resources to do so. I never realized how much the church relied on the tithes and offerings of its members until I was ordained as an elder and had a first hand look at how the church struggles to carry out the Great Commission when the lack of funds dedicated becomes the great omission. The Lord blesses us with what He wants us to have in accordance with His will. He also expects that we dedicate a portion of what He blesses us with back to Him. Yet, too many people withhold their end of the deal. They possess their blessings like it is theirs and theirs alone…and in doing so, disobey God and hurt His work through the church and other ministries here in His kingdom. Giving requires sacrifice but don’t think we’re not sacrificing to One who hasn’t sacrificed for us. And this takes me to my final point as I wrap up the study of Leviticus.
Redemption does not come without a cost.
Mankind was fully on the way to destruction through their sinful nature without some form of redemption. And to cover all mankind, the sacrifice would have to be substantial. Something of great value would have to be paid in order to redeem every man, woman and child of the world.
God could have just allowed us to perish if He only cared about Himself. After all, He could do anything without anyone else. And yet…
"God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Redemption of the magnitude of all mankind required the greatest sacrifice…God’s one and only Son, Jesus. The cost calculated to cover the cost of creation’s sinful ways was life. The lives of all people for the lives of One Perfect Savior…Jesus Christ. That was the transaction made at Calvary. That was the cost of redemption for you and I and everyone else.
Question: Given the cost paid for you, is there anything you can’t give back in return? As you ponder the answer, never forget that redemption…yours and mine…did not come without a cost.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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