Context No. 3564 of 4322 · Leviticus

Leviticus 27:1-8: in context

1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When a man consecrates a person to the LORD in a vow, according to your valuation, 3your valuation of a male from twenty years old to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4If she is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5If the person is from five years old to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6If the person is from a month old to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7If the person is from sixty years old and upward; if he is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall assign a value to him. The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay.

This law sets values for vows in which someone dedicated a person to the LORD, and to modern eyes the schedule of prices can feel strange. But notice the provision that comes at the end: if a man is too poor to pay the set valuation, he is brought before the priest, who values him according to what he can afford.

No one was to be shut out of making a vow to God by a lack of money. The poor were assessed by their ability to pay, not by a fixed sum they could never meet. There is real mercy woven into the law here. God did not want poverty to keep anyone from devoting themselves and their vows to him. His requirements bend to meet people where they actually are, asking of each according to what they have, never demanding of the poor what only the rich could give. What God wants is a devoted heart, and he makes a way for the poor as well as the rich to bring it to him.

Do I trust that God meets me according to what I actually have, asking of me what I can give rather than shutting me out for lack of means?

Sources

Leviticus 27:8: "But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest... The priest shall assign a value according to his ability to pay."
Leviticus 27:2: "When a man consecrates a person to the LORD in a vow, according to your valuation."
Mark 12:44: "She, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."