Leviticus 27:19

And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it.—Better, and if he wishes to redeem the field that sanctified it. (See Leviticus 27:13.) This is sure to be the case, since the low value fixed per acre was designed that the field should be redeemed by him. According to the legislation during the second Temple, the rule here included his wife and his heirs, any one of whom had the right to redeem it. But the family in redeeming it had, as usual, to add one-fifth over and above the valuation price, for the reason already stated. (See Leviticus 27:13; Leviticus 27:15.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

27:14-25 Our houses, lands, cattle, and all our substance, must be used to the glory of God. It is acceptable to him that a portion be given to support his worship, and to promote his cause. But God would not approve such a degree of zeal as ruined a man's family.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Exodus 38:24.)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16-24. 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.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And if he that sanctified the field shall in any wise redeem it,.... Is desirous of it, and determined upon it at any rate, repenting that he had parted with it in this manner:

then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation to it: the Jerusalem Targum is, the fifth part of the shekels of silver: that is, if he has a mind to redeem it, and is resolved on it, as soon as he has sanctified it, then, besides the fifty shekels of silver it is rated at, and might be sold for to another, he must pay a fifth part thereof, that is, ten shekels more, for reasons before given, Leviticus 27:15,

and it shall be assured to him; remain firm and stable with him, abide by him, and he in the possession of it as his property, ever after, as if he had never sanctified it.

Geneva Study Bible

And if he that sanctified the field will in any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Leviticus 27:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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. Leviticus 27:21 and Leviticus 25:13, Leviticus 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 (Leviticus 27:19, like Leviticus 27:13 and Leviticus 27:15), that it might be left to him.