Matthew Henry on Leviticus 27:14-25
Here is the law concerning real estates dedicated to the service of God by a singular vow.
I. Suppose a man, in his zeal for the honour of God, should sanctify his house to God (Lev 27:14), the house must be valued by the priest, and the money got by the sale of it was to be converted to the use of the sanctuary, which by degrees came to be greatly enriched with dedicated things, Kg1 15:15. But, if the owner be inclined to redeem it himself, he must not have it so cheap as another, but must add a fifth part to the price, for he should have considered before he had vowed it, Lev 27:15. To him that was necessitous God would abate the estimation (Lev 27:8); but to him that was fickle and humour…
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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.
Adam Clarke on Leviticus 27:16
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 חמר chomer was different from the עמר omer: the latter held about three quarts, the former, seventy-five gallons three pints; See the note on Exo 16:16. Some suppose that the land was rated, not at fifty shekels for…
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