Matthew Henry on Leviticus 27:1-13
This is part of the law concerning singular vows, extraordinary ones, which though God did not expressly insist on, yet, if they were consistent with and conformable to the general precepts, he would be well pleased with. Note, We should not only ask, What must we do, but, What may we do, for the glory and honour of God? As the liberal devises liberal things (Isa 32:8), so the pious devises pious things, and the enlarged heart would willingly do something extraordinary in the service of so good a Master as God is. When we receive or expect some singular mercy it is good to honour God with some singular vow.
I. The case is here put of persons vowed to God by a singular vow, Lev 27:2. If a man…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Leviticus 27:1
And the Lord spake unto 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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Leviticus 27:1-34
As a conclusion to the book, this chapter discusses various types of vows and ends with a provision for redeeming one’s tithes (see also ch 25). Under certain circumstances, such as an emergency, an individual might make a vow promising something to God, usually in exchange for God’s answering his or her prayer (see Jon 2:9). Once the prayer is answered, the individual might be tempted to discount the vow. Scripture requires that vows be made carefully (see Lev 5:4; Eccl 5:4-6) and then carried out. Jesus taught that oaths should not be commonly or carelessly made (Matt 5:33-37; 23:16-22).
Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
