Wednesday Bible Study: The End of all things- Leviticus

I while back I bought a book about studying "the wastelands of the Bible"- chapters like this one at the end of Leviticus in which it is hard to find what applies or even is recognizable.  So I knew that there would be something to find even in this wasteland. And in trying to figure it out, I learned a few things- and found a 'succulent' in the desert to take home.

Basically, what we are dealing with in Leviticus 27 is an appendix to the Law laid down beforehand.  That appendix concerns vows made to God.  Now, all you need to know about vows in a general way is found in Deuteronomy 23:

Deu 23:21  "If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Deu 23:22  But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin.
Deu 23:23  You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.


In other words, you weren't REQUIRED to make any vows- the Jews stress that, for one to be valid, it must be voluntary- but if you did, it was darn serious business.  And much of the chapter is an attempt by God to 'close the loopholes' in the process, as He knew His people were quite ingenious in turning rules their own way.  That's why Jesus had to teach this:

Mar 7:9  And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
Mar 7:10  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.'
Mar 7:11  But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban"' (that is, given to God)--
Mar 7:12  then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother,
Mar 7:13  thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do."

Thus, for the most important thing you can 'vow' to God- another human being- a strict value was set, to discourage doing it very often.  In fact, as I studied this, I learned the Jews (according to The Jewish Encyclopedia) had a clever little way out here:

(1) A voluntary promise to bring a sacrifice which he who makes the vow is not otherwise in duty bound to bring; or a promise to give a certain sum to purposes of common charity or education. Such vows are called "nidre heḳdesh" (= "dedications"), and of these there are two specific kinds. (a) When he who promises points toward the object which he intends to give, and says, "This I dedicate to suchand such a holy or charitable cause," then he is not bound to replace the thing if it is lost. (b) If, on the other hand, he says, "I promise such and such an object, or such and such a sum of money, to be devoted to that purpose," then he is bound to replace it if it becomes lost. The former kind of vows are called "nedabah" (= "gift"); the latter kind "neder" (= "promise"). 

So it only counts IF you decide to tack on the monetary value!  Now God set the valuation on people- say you wanted to dedicate your daughter, but changed your mind and wanted to redeem her- purposefully high, I'm sure with thoughts of avoiding it altogether, or at least taking any frivolity out of it.  There's a different twist on animals and the like, which I'll get to in a moment.  Plus, the Jews had a fail-safe that if you regretted your vow, one ordained teacher (or three non-ordained teachers) could invalidate it.  In addition, if you were a woman making a vow, your hubby or dad could call it off- if it was 'harmful to the woman', and if he called it off at the very day he heard about it.

Then God had to explain what COULDN'T be vowed.  The first born of any animal belonged to the Lord; your tithes belonged to the Lord; and anything proscribed ( for example, when God told Saul to wipe out every living thing of the Amalekites, and he disobeyed by saving out king Agag and his flocks).

Now, having explained the process behind all this, as best as I can figure it out, let me reveal that one thing I found that you can apply to your life (other than the value of not making un-thought-out vows).  It comes with that little twist about non-human vows:

Lev 27:11  And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the LORD, then he shall stand the animal before the priest,
Lev 27:12  and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be.
Lev 27:13  But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation. 

And so it goes for everything else you vow and want to buy back:  Where a tithe is 10%, 'buying back from God' costs 20%!  And while I mused on this at work one morning, the application became clear.  Despite always praying to give the day to God and leave all troubles in HIS hands, the minute something goes wrong, I snatched it right back.  In doing so, things got worse- little problems seemed huge, one odd occurrence became 10, and my mood went straight to the dumpster. THEN, I realized, I was 'buying back' the day from God by trying to control things, and it was costing me double in problems and stress.  I gave it back to God, and while the problems and stress didn't go away completely, they eased.  I was paying 10% for grace, and 20% for problems!



So the second lesson is, when you give God the wheel, it's costly to try and take it back.