Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Laws are established concerning the vows of men, animals, houses, fields, and things devoted to destruction; again concerning tithes, verse 30. These laws, which are intricate here, we can distinguish and embrace clearly in a few words and in summary as follows:
I. Verse 2. A man who has devoted himself to God shall redeem himself at a price, which is here assessed by God according to age and sex.
II. Verse 9. An animal suitable for sacrifice, offered to God by vow, shall actually be given, not exchanged for another, nor redeemed.
III. Verse 11. An animal that cannot be sacrificed, if vowed to God, shall be sold at a price that the priest shall determine; but if the one who vowed wishes to give it, let him add a fifth part of the price besides.
IV. Verse 14. A house vowed to God shall be sold at a price assessed by the priest; but if the one who vowed wishes to redeem it, let him add a fifth part of the price to the assessed price.
V. Verse 16. An heir who vows a hereditary field may redeem it for fifty shekels to be paid in proportion to the years remaining until the jubilee; but if he does not redeem it, and the field is sold to another, he can never receive it back, not even in the jubilee; but the field shall absolutely and in perpetuity pass into the right of God and the priests.
VI. Verse 22. If the one who vows a field is not the heir but the purchaser of the field, he shall redeem it at a price that the priest shall assess according to the number of years until the jubilee; for in the jubilee the field must return as customary to the first heir.
VII. Verse 23. Every price shall be weighed by the weight, or shekel, of the Sanctuary.
VIII. Verse 26. A firstborn animal suitable for sacrifice, since it belongs entirely to God, cannot be vowed.
IX. Verse 27. An unclean firstborn shall be redeemed.
X. Verse 28. What has been consecrated to God by a vow of cherem, that is, of anathema, shall not be redeemed, but shall die either naturally or civilly.
XI. Verse 30. Tithes of all fruits and produce shall be offered to God.
XII. Verse 32. The tithe of animals, namely of sheep, cattle, and goats, shall be offered to God.
Vulgate Text: Leviticus 27:1-34
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: When a man shall have made a vow, and pledged his soul to God, he shall give the price under valuation. 3. If it be a male from the twentieth year to the sixtieth year, he shall give fifty shekels of silver by the measure of the Sanctuary; 4. if a woman, thirty. 5. From the fifth year to the twentieth, a male shall give twenty shekels; a female, ten. 6. From one month to the fifth year, for a male five shekels shall be given; for a female, three. 7. A man sixty years old and above shall give fifteen shekels; a woman, ten. 8. If he be poor and unable to pay the valuation, he shall stand before the priest; and however much the priest shall estimate and see that he is able to pay, so much shall he give. 9. But an animal that can be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone shall have vowed it, shall be holy, 10. and cannot be changed, that is, neither a better for a worse, nor a worse for a better; but if he shall have changed it, both the animal that was exchanged and that for which it was exchanged shall be consecrated to the Lord. 11. An unclean animal, which cannot be sacrificed to the Lord, if anyone shall have vowed it, shall be brought before the priest. 12. Who, judging whether it be good or bad, shall set the price; 13. which if the one who offers wishes to give, he shall add a fifth part above the valuation. 14. If a man shall have vowed his house and sanctified it to the Lord, the priest shall consider whether it be good or bad, and according to the price that shall have been set by him, it shall be sold; 15. but if he who had vowed wishes to redeem it, he shall give a fifth part of the valuation above, and he shall have the house. 16. But if he shall have vowed the field of his possession and consecrated it to the Lord, the price shall be estimated according to the measure of seed; if the land is sown with thirty modii of barley, let it be sold for fifty shekels of silver. 17. If he shall have vowed the field immediately from the year of the beginning of the jubilee, it shall be valued at as much as it can be worth; 18. but if after some time, the priest shall reckon the money according to the number of years remaining until the jubilee, and it shall be deducted from the price. 19. But if the one who had vowed wishes to redeem the field, he shall add a fifth part of the estimated money, and he shall possess it. 20. But if he shall not wish to redeem it, and it shall have been sold to anyone else, the one who had vowed can no longer redeem it, 21. because when the day of the jubilee shall have come, it shall be sanctified to the Lord, and the consecrated possession belongs by right to the priests. 22. If a field has been purchased and is not from the possession of ancestors, and it has been sanctified to the Lord, 23. the priest shall reckon the price according to the number of years until the jubilee; and the one who had vowed it shall give it to the Lord; 24. but in the jubilee it shall return to the previous owner, who had sold it and had held it as the lot of his possession. 25. Every valuation shall be weighed by the shekel of the Sanctuary. The shekel has twenty obols. 26. The firstborn that belong to the Lord, no one can sanctify and vow; whether it be an ox or a sheep, they are the Lord's. 27. But if it is an unclean animal, the one who offered it shall redeem it according to your valuation, and shall add a fifth part of the price; if he shall not wish to redeem it, it shall be sold to another for whatever amount it shall have been valued by you. 28. Everything that is consecrated to the Lord, whether it be a man, or an animal, or a field, shall not be sold, nor can it be redeemed. Whatever shall once have been consecrated shall be holy of holies to the Lord. 29. And every consecration that is offered by a man shall not be redeemed, but shall die the death. 30. All tithes of the land, whether of grain or of the fruits of trees, are the Lord's and are sanctified to Him. 31. But if anyone shall wish to redeem his tithes, he shall add a fifth part of them. 32. Of all the tithes of cattle and sheep and goats that pass under the shepherd's rod, whatever shall come as the tenth shall be sanctified to the Lord. 33. It shall not be chosen whether good or bad, nor shall it be exchanged for another; if anyone shall have exchanged it, both what was exchanged and that for which it was exchanged shall be sanctified to the Lord, and shall not be redeemed. 34. These are the precepts that the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel, on Mount Sinai.
Verse 2: When a Man Shall Have Made a Vow
2. WHEN A MAN SHALL HAVE MADE A VOW, AND PLEDGED HIS SOUL TO GOD, HE SHALL GIVE THE PRICE UNDER VALUATION. -- For "who shall have made a vow," the Hebrew is יפליא נדר iaphli neder, that is, "who shall have separated," or "who shall have made a wondrous vow": for, as Isychius says, it is admirable and very close to blessedness to offer oneself entirely to God, as one's soul; or, as the Septuagint translate, τιμὴν τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, that is, "the honor or price" (for the word signifies both price and honor) "of his soul," which he received from God, to dedicate to God.
"And he pledged his soul" -- that is, whoever vowed to devote himself to the divine worship in the tabernacle, namely to carry water or wood to the sanctuary for the sacrifices, to sweep the court, to maintain the roof and structure of the temple, to serve the Levites, etc.; for no one could perform the proper duties of the priests or Levites, and consequently no one could vow to do so, unless he was of the tribe of Levi. So say Abulensis, Cajetan, and others. Therefore only Levites and priests could vow to serve always in their sacred offices before the Lord, and then by vow they were bound to fulfill this, as is clear in the case of Samuel, who was a Levite, whom his mother vowed to the Lord, 1 Kings 1:11; but to the other lay duties in the tabernacle, mentioned just before, anyone from any tribe could offer and devote himself; but God here commands that vow to be carried out; for to this is added the vow, which is a new and special act of religion. For in a vow there is given to God not only the act itself, but also the power, namely the will and freedom, which are so renounced that the one who has vowed can no longer will otherwise. Therefore he who does a good act without a vow gives God the fruit of the tree; but he who vows the same and fulfills it by vow, this man consigns the whole tree with its fruits to God, as St. Anselm says in his Similitudes.
Plutarch recounts in the Laconica about a Laconian who, having bound himself by a vow to throw himself headlong from the Leucadian rock, climbed the mountain, and seeing the height, turned himself away. When this was reproached to him, he said: "I did not think that that vow needed a greater vow." For indeed he who conceives a great deed in his mind ought first to pray from the gods for a spirit equal to the deed. So far Plutarch. Such is it here to devote one's soul to God. For it is more to devote one's soul to God than merely to offer it.
UNDER THE VALUATION (which is assessed and prescribed here in the following verses) HE SHALL GIVE THE PRICE. -- The Hebrew here is involved; you may render it well and clearly with Vatablus thus: "When a man shall have separated a vow of souls to the Lord, according to your valuation (O priest: for it is him He addresses) it shall be valued, and the vow of souls that was made shall be redeemed," that is: When someone shall have uttered a vow by which he devotes himself to God, according to your valuation, O priest, he shall give the price, and his vow and shall redeem himself. For the vow of souls is that by which one devotes his soul, that is, himself, to God.
It is otherwise with the vows of Religious life in the new law, by which a person dedicates himself to the most noble ministries, which exceed all price, and therefore can be redeemed by no price. These vows did not exist in the old law, but if they had existed, they would have bound the Jews, just as the other vows bound them, by which they vowed something else in a determinate manner, as is clear in the case of the Nazirites: for these were bound to perform in a determinate way what they had vowed. So says Abulensis, Question VIII.
Allegorical Sense: Christ's Vow
Allegorically, the man who vows and pledges his soul is Christ, who at the first instant of His conception, seeing that it pleased the heavenly Father that He should offer Himself entirely for mankind unto death, even the death of the cross, and that this was His will, indeed His command (Philippians 2:8), accepted this very thing and bound Himself to it by a vow. For from that instant Christ consecrated Himself by a vow to God for the redemption of mankind, and to this end offered all the actions and sufferings of His life, and death itself and the cross, by a vow to God -- this is the probable teaching of Francisco Suarez, in Part III, Volume II, Question XXVIII, section 2, and the same is suggested by St. Augustine, Jerome, Theodoret, and Basil on that verse of Psalm 21:26: "I will pay my vows to the Lord"; for these words, as indeed the entire Psalm 21, are written literally about Christ. Therefore Christ, vowing His soul, paid its price, namely the blood that He shed on the cross. For this blood, since it was the blood of the Son of God, was equal in price to the very Son of God Himself, that is, Christ the Lord.
Tropological Sense: The Religious Vow
Tropologically, the Religious vows his soul, that is, his whole self to God: namely, his body through the vow of chastity, his wealth through the vow of poverty, his soul through the vow of obedience. Therefore such persons follow Christ most closely, and are martyrs, spouses, temples, and holocausts of God, as our Platus beautifully shows, in Book II of On the Good of the Religious State.
Verse 3: Fifty Shekels of Silver
3. HE SHALL GIVE FIFTY SHEKELS OF SILVER, BY THE MEASURE OF THE SANCTUARY -- which are to be of the most exact weight, after the standard of the weight preserved in the Sanctuary, as I explained at Exodus 30:13.
Verse 4: If a Woman, Thirty
IF A WOMAN, THIRTY -- that is, whatever man shall have been twenty years old or more, provided he does not exceed the sixtieth year, and shall have devoted himself to God, he shall give for the redemption of his vow 50 shekels, that is, 50 Brabantine florins; if it be a woman, she shall give 30. Note: A greater price is imposed here on men than on women or boys, because a man is worth more than a woman or a boy, both in himself and for works and labors. Understand this of free persons, not of slaves. Whence you will ask: what if someone had vowed his slave to God -- could he, and at what price did he have to redeem him? I respond with Abulensis, Questions LV, LVI, and LVII: Such a slave had to be redeemed like other men, or rather like fields and possessions; for a slave is the possession of his master. Therefore the master, for a Hebrew slave whom he had vowed, paid the price in proportion to the time during which the slave still had to serve him, namely so that, considering at what price he had bought him, and also considering how much time he still had to serve, he would pay as much of the price for which he bought him as corresponded to the years he still had to serve: for example, the master buys a slave immediately after the seventh or sabbatical year, in the first year, for 60 shekels, and vows him after the third year has elapsed; therefore, since the slave still has three years to serve, and in the seventh year, according to the law of Exodus 21:2, goes free, the master shall pay for his redemption half the price for which he bought him, namely 30 shekels; for these correspond to half the time, namely the three years during which the slave still has to serve. The master shall add besides a fifth part of the price, as was done in the redemption of other vows, namely 12 shekels; for 12 is the fifth part of 60. But if the master does not wish to redeem the slave, the priest shall assess and set for the slave the just price already mentioned, namely 30 shekels, at which he may be sold to another.
But if the slave were not a Hebrew but a Gentile, and therefore destined to serve in perpetuity, then he was sold for as much as he was absolutely worth for his entire life; and if his master wished to redeem him at the price already stated, he had to add a fifth part of the price besides.
Verse 5: From the Fifth Year
5. FROM THE FIFTH YEAR. -- That is, if his parents shall have vowed him; for a five-year-old boy, since he lacks the use of reason, cannot vow.
Verse 8: Before the Priest
8. BEFORE THE PRIEST -- even a lesser priest, who ministers at that time; for it is not specified here that it must be the high priest. So says Abulensis.
Verses 9 and 10: An Animal That Can Be Sacrificed
9 and 10. BUT AN ANIMAL THAT CAN BE SACRIFICED TO THE LORD, IF ANYONE SHALL HAVE VOWED IT, SHALL BE HOLY, AND CANNOT BE CHANGED -- that is, an animal suitable for sacrifice is, as it were, consecrated to God by the vow; whence I do not wish it to be exchanged for another. And so if anyone shall have vowed such an animal for sacrifice, that very animal which he vowed ought to be sacrificed. But if he did not specifically vow the animal for sacrifice, but only said in general: "I vow this animal to the Lord," then he shall give it to the priest as a thing consecrated to God, nor can he exchange it for another; but if he does exchange it, both the animal that was exchanged and that for which it was exchanged shall be consecrated to the Lord. The priest, however, is not bound to sacrifice to God what was vowed in general; but he can keep it for himself, or give or sell it to whom he wishes, just as he does with tithes and first fruits.
The same I say of an unclean animal that someone had vowed to God, namely that the priest could receive it and keep it for himself, or give or sell it to another, if the one who vowed and offered it did not wish to redeem it; for God willed and ordained that everything offered by vow should pass to the priest, Numbers 18:14.
Verses 11, 12, and 13: An Unclean Animal
Verses 11, 12, and 13. AN UNCLEAN ANIMAL WHICH CANNOT BE SACRIFICED TO THE LORD, IF ANYONE SHALL HAVE VOWED IT, SHALL BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE PRIEST, WHO, JUDGING WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD (whether of great or small value), SHALL SET THE PRICE; WHICH IF THE ONE WHO OFFERS WISHES TO GIVE, HE SHALL ADD A FIFTH PART ABOVE THE VALUATION -- so that by this fifth part, as an addition to the price, the burden of the priest may be compensated, by which he is bound to resell to the one who vowed and offered the unclean animal, if that person wishes to redeem it; but if he does not wish to redeem it, then the priest shall retain the animal, give it away, or sell it, as I have already said.
Note: This law applied equally to any other movable thing that was vowed to God; for it is likely that movable things were reckoned by this law of the animal, according to what will be said at verse 21. So says Abulensis.
Note secondly: All animals and all things vowed to God could be redeemed, except clean animals suitable for sacrifice.
Verses 14 and 15: A House Vowed to the Lord
14 and 15. IF A MAN SHALL HAVE VOWED HIS HOUSE AND SANCTIFIED IT (that is, consecrated it to the Lord by vow), IT SHALL BE SOLD; BUT IF THE ONE WHO HAD VOWED WISHES TO REDEEM IT, HE SHALL GIVE A FIFTH PART OF THE VALUATION ABOVE -- namely, above the price assessed and set by the priest. The reason for this fifth part I explained at verse 11.
Moreover, most people preferred to add the fifth part to the price in order to redeem their property, because if they had not redeemed their house or other immovable property, it would never have returned to them, not even in the jubilee, but would have passed absolutely into the ownership of the priests, who sold it; but in such a way that in the jubilee it would return to them as the original owners, as is clear from verse 21. Hence also the property was sold for more or less, depending on whether the jubilee was nearer or farther away, and consequently for less than if it had been sold and alienated in perpetuity. For this reason, therefore, those who vowed immovable property almost always redeemed it, and consequently few possessions devolved to the Levites and priests in the jubilee. So says Abulensis.
Verse 16: A Field of His Possession
16. BUT IF HE SHALL HAVE VOWED THE FIELD OF HIS POSSESSION (which he holds as heir and as his own), THE PRICE SHALL BE ESTIMATED ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF SEED; IF THE LAND IS SOWN WITH THIRTY MODII OF BARLEY, LET IT BE SOLD FOR FIFTY SHEKELS OF SILVER. -- If the field took more or less seed, the price was proportionally increased or decreased: so that if it were sown with 60 modii, it was sold for a hundred shekels; if only 15, it was sold for 25, and so on proportionally. It is likely, as Abulensis judges, that these 50 shekels were taken as an annual payment or rent of 50 shekels; for if for such a field that is sown with 30 modii, only 50 shekels had been paid once, that field would have been sold at too small and cheap a price. It seems therefore that it was sold for 50 shekels not once, but to be paid each year, that is, at an annual rent of 50 shekels. For a field that is sown with 30 modii of barley easily yields 50 shekels and more each year; for let us suppose that one modius of seed produces ten modii in the harvest, so that a field of 30 modii of seed produces 300 modii in the harvest; now let us suppose that each modius of barley at that time was worth only four stufers: from this it would follow that 300 modii were worth 60 florins or shekels.
Note: For "modii," the Hebrew is homer, which the Septuagint and the Chaldean translate as cor. From this passage, therefore, it is clear that the homer or cor contained 30 modii. Wherefore it does not seem true what the Hebrews say, that homer is derived from חמור chamor, that is, "donkey," because it is the measure that a donkey can carry; for a donkey cannot carry 30 modii.
Verse 17: From the Year of the Jubilee
17. IF HE SHALL HAVE VOWED THE FIELD IMMEDIATELY FROM THE YEAR OF THE BEGINNING OF THE JUBILEE, IT SHALL BE VALUED AT AS MUCH AS IT CAN BE WORTH. -- For "as much as it can be worth," the Septuagint and the Chaldean translate "according to the price or valuation of the field"; the Hebrew has "your valuation" (O priest); for it belonged to the priest to assess the price of the field, but according to the law already given, namely that for a field sown with 30 modii, 50 shekels should be paid, if that is, it were sold immediately from the jubilee, so that for each year one shekel was counted: for from one jubilee to the next there are 50 years; for the field was sold only until the jubilee, because then it had to return to the first heir and owner. That the shekel here is understood not as a simple payment but as an annual one, I said in the preceding verse.
If therefore a field were sown with 45 modii, it was the priest's duty to assess it at 25 shekels, if a complete jubilee period remained; if a complete one did not remain, but some years had already elapsed, so that only 10, 20, or 30 years remained, then in proportion to the time and years, it was the priest's duty to reduce the price, more or less. God here permits the owner, who is the heir, when vowing his field, to redeem it for 50 shekels to be paid in proportion to the years remaining until the jubilee; but if he does not redeem it, He ordains that the field shall never, not even in the jubilee, return to him, but shall absolutely pass into the right of God and the priests; for this is what follows:
Verses 20 and 21: The Consecrated Possession
20 and 21. BUT IF (the owner who vowed and offered the field) SHALL NOT WISH TO REDEEM IT, AND IT SHALL HAVE BEEN SOLD TO ANYONE ELSE, THE ONE WHO HAD VOWED CAN NO LONGER REDEEM IT: BECAUSE WHEN THE DAY OF THE JUBILEE SHALL HAVE COME, IT SHALL BE SANCTIFIED TO THE LORD -- that is, this field at the time of the jubilee shall never return to the owner who vowed it, but always to God, to whom it was sanctified, that is, consecrated, by a vow of cherem, or anathema; and consequently, returning in the jubilee not to the lay owner but to God, it is, as it were, newly sanctified, consecrated, and confirmed to Him. Therefore the owner who had vowed it can no longer redeem it, but it shall pass to the priests who hold God's place, who shall possess it in perpetuity by a kind of hereditary right. So says Vatablus; for this is what follows:
21. AND THE CONSECRATED POSSESSION BELONGS TO THE RIGHT OF THE PRIESTS. -- For "consecrated possession," the Hebrew is "field of cherem," that is, a field of anathema or of cutting off. As if to say: Just as a thing killed or cut down no longer returns to life, so this field consecrated to God by vow, and not redeemed, can no longer return to a lay or profane owner, but is consecrated to God in perpetuity, and passes to the priests, yet in such a way that they themselves do not possess that field, but at each jubilee sell it to someone from that tribe from which the one whose field it was originated, and who vowed and offered the field to God, and this so that the priests do not possess fields; for this seems to be forbidden at Numbers 18:20, and so that the possessions of the tribes are not diminished, or pass from one tribe to another. So says Abulensis, Question 36. The same law applied if anyone had devoted his field to the Sanctuary.
But in other things, if anyone had devoted them to the Sanctuary, the law was similar to that which was given concerning animals: for if the thing was such as could serve the uses of the Sanctuary, such as a victim, draft animals, bronze, iron, or gold, it could not be exchanged or redeemed, but passed to the treasury or ministry of the Sanctuary; but if the thing was unfit for the uses of the Sanctuary, such as weapons, books, or clothing, it was redeemed by the owner, with a fifth part of the price added besides; but if he did not wish to redeem it, the thing vowed was sold to others at the common price, and the price passed to the Sanctuary. So says Abulensis, Question 51.
Verse 22: A Purchased Field
22. IF THE FIELD HAS BEEN PURCHASED AND IS NOT FROM THE POSSESSION OF HIS ANCESTORS. -- The meaning of this verse and the two following is this: If some field is not the hereditary lot of the one who vows, but has been purchased by him, so that it must return to the heir and his tribe in the jubilee, then if the first, second, third, or even the twentieth purchaser shall vow it to God, the priest shall calculate how much time remains until the jubilee, and how much of the price for which the purchaser bought it corresponds to that time, and the one vowing shall pay that amount in place of the field, and shall give it to the priests. Whence it appears that the purchaser of the field, when he had vowed it to God, was not obligated to pay the full price of the field (for only this is expressed here), nor could the field be sold to another, and therefore the one who vowed was not required to add a fifth part of the price, as was commanded in the preceding case. The fair and just reason for this was that in the preceding case, the owner was free to redeem the field or not to redeem it; but the priest was bound to return it to the one wishing to redeem it. Here, on the contrary, the burden falls not on the priest but on the one who vows, who is compelled to redeem the field. Again, in the preceding case, the fifth part of the price was added by the vowing owner for the absolute and perpetual possession of the thing: for other purchasers of the thing bought it only until the jubilee at the common price, beyond which it was a very small matter for the owner redeeming the thing to add a fifth part of the price for its eternal possession; but in this case of this verse, the redemption of the field was only until the jubilee: for the one buying and vowing it had only bought it until the jubilee, nor could he possess it beyond that: for in the jubilee the field returned to the first heir and owner. Therefore, in this case, the purchaser who vows the thing is rightly and fairly compared with the other purchasers of the preceding case, who paid only the common price in redeeming the thing they had vowed, and not with the owner, who, as I said, is commanded to add a fifth part of the price for the absolute ownership of the thing and for the perpetual possession which he acquires and recovers by this redemption.
Verse 24: Return to the Former Owner
24. IT SHALL RETURN TO THE FORMER OWNER. -- The former owner here is not the purchaser who vowed the field, but is the first heir and possessor who originally sold the field, and consequently the field must return to him in the jubilee.
Verse 25: The Shekel of the Sanctuary
25. EVERY VALUATION SHALL BE WEIGHED BY THE SHEKEL OF THE SANCTUARY, -- that is, as the Septuagint says, every price shall be by holy weights, that is, every price shall be weighed by the holy standard and holy weight. Hence it is clear that the shekel which was paid on account of a vow had to be weighed against the shekel of the Sanctuary, not as though it were of a different value -- for then the text would have said "computed," not "weighed" -- but because the shekel kept in the Sanctuary was utterly uncorrupted and of the most exact weight; on which see what was said at Exodus 30:13.
Verse 26: The Firstborn Belong to the Lord
26. THE FIRSTBORN WHICH BELONG TO THE LORD, NO ONE SHALL BE ABLE TO SANCTIFY AND (that is) TO VOW, WHETHER IT BE AN OX OR A SHEEP (or a goat; for the Hebrew שה se comprehends this) THEY ARE THE LORD'S, -- as if to say: These firstborn of the ox, the sheep, and the goat must be sacrificed to the Lord by reason of their firstborn status, as is clear from Numbers 18:17. I do not want, therefore, that you vow them to Me, since they are entirely Mine, even if you do not vow them.
Hence Abulensis seems to teach that it is not properly a vow if someone vows a thing that is already commanded, for example, not to worship foreign gods; although such a person is more strictly bound than if he had not vowed. The reason of Abulensis is: Because, he says, a vow is only a spontaneous offering.
But this opinion is not absolutely true; for we can vow every good and holy thing, whether it be a matter of counsel or of precept: for it is good and praiseworthy to perform the same thing out of religion and a vow, which one was bound to perform out of obedience. For a new goodness of the virtue of religion from the vow is added to this act of precept and obedience. So Jacob, Genesis 28:21, vowed that the Lord would be his God, that is, that he would perpetually have and worship God as his supreme Lord of all: to which, however, he was already bound by precept.
You will say: A vow is a spontaneous offering. I respond: This is true with respect to the act of the one who vows; for this must be spontaneous: for to vow is spontaneous and free for everyone, commanded for no one. But it is false with respect to the thing vowed: for this is often not spontaneous, but necessary and commanded.
The fact, therefore, that God here did not want the Jews to vow firstborn animals, which were owed to Him by precept and were to be sacrificed, was a particular enactment, the reason for which was that those animals were already devoted and entirely consecrated to God by God's law; whence God did not want them to be vowed, lest the vow derogate in some way from the prior consecration, as if it had not been full and perfect, such that it could be perfected and confirmed by a vow.
Verse 27: An Unclean Firstborn Animal
27. BUT IF THE ANIMAL IS UNCLEAN, THE ONE WHO OFFERED IT SHALL REDEEM IT. -- He speaks of a firstborn animal, as is clear from the preceding verse, which could neither be vowed, because it was firstborn, as was stated above; nor sacrificed, because it was unclean. Therefore God commands it to be redeemed, or sold. Abulensis understands this of an animal that is unclean only accidentally, as if a firstborn ox were without a tail or ears: because, he says, among animals unclean by species, God commanded only the firstborn of the donkey to be offered to Him, and a sheep to be given in its place, on which matter I spoke at Exodus 13:13, and shall speak again at Numbers 18:15.
IF HE DOES NOT WISH TO REDEEM IT, IT SHALL BE SOLD TO ANOTHER. -- "It shall be sold," that is, it can be sold: for if the owner did not wish to redeem it, the priest could keep the unclean firstborn animal for himself, just as one offered by vow, as I said at verse 9.
Verse 28: The Vow of Cherem
28. EVERYTHING THAT IS CONSECRATED TO THE LORD, WHETHER IT BE A MAN, OR AN ANIMAL, OR A FIELD, SHALL NOT BE SOLD, NOR CAN IT BE REDEEMED. -- This law speaks of that which is wholly consecrated, that is, vowed to God by a vow and consecration that is absolutely complete and perfect; for otherwise, from verse 11 and following, it is clear that an animal and a field simply and merely vowed could be redeemed.
Whence note: For "consecrated," or "that which is consecrated," the Hebrew is חֵרֶם cherem, that is, a cutting off, anathema, and as it were the destruction of the thing; for the root חרם charam means to kill, to cut out, to cut down. Hence the vow of cherem was called the greatest vow, by which the thing vowed was so consecrated to God that it had to be destroyed or killed, and to die either naturally or civilly.
If therefore a clean animal (of which Moses chiefly speaks here, as is clear from what follows), which could be sacrificed, were vowed to God, it was cherem, that is, it could not be sold or redeemed, but had to be sacrificed to God. So also if a man who could be cherem, that is, who could be vowed to God by a vow of cherem, or anathema, for example a Levite, or the enemies of Israel, whom God commanded to be killed, Numbers 33:52, Deuteronomy 20:13, were devoted to God, they could not be redeemed. So too a hereditary field, if the heir did not wish to redeem it, became cherem and was entirely consecrated to the Lord, so that it could no longer be sold or redeemed -- understand this of an absolute and complete sale: for after each jubilee it was sold, but so that at the next jubilee it returned again to the priests. Of this vow of cherem alone, then, does God speak here, and therefore He adds: "Whatever shall have been once consecrated (absolutely and perfectly by a vow of cherem, as the Hebrew has), shall be holy of holies to the Lord," that is, it shall be entirely holy and consecrated to the Lord.
For that which is pure, set apart, and consecrated to God is holy. Whence St. Thomas, II-II, Question 81, article 8: "Sanctification, he says, is cleanliness from sin, or confirmation in good, or deputation to the worship of God." "Holiness is the knowledge of worshipping the gods," says Cicero, book 1 of On the Nature of the Gods; or, as Andronicus says: "It is the virtue that makes men faithful, and keeps those things that are just toward God." And, as St. Dionysius says, On the Divine Names, chapter 12: "Holiness is a cleanliness free from all uncleanness, perfect and entirely immaculate." For what is consecrated to God must be pure and clean; whence St. Augustine: "He is holy, he says, who has well-ordered charity; and three things must be preserved by the holy person: modesty of body, chastity of soul, and truth of doctrine."
Such was St. John the Baptist, of whom Chrysostom says in sermon 8 about him: "John, he says, is the school of virtues, the teaching of life, the model of holiness, the standard of justice, the mirror of virginity, the title of modesty, the exemplar of chastity, the way of penance, the pardon of sinners, the discipline of faith, the sum of the Law, the action of the Gospel, the voice of the Apostles, the silence of the Prophets, the lamp of the world, the office of the herald, the herald of the Judge, the witness of the Lord, the mediator of the entire Trinity."
Again, the Saints, through this union with God and consecration, become deiform and, as it were, gods. Hear St. Cyprian, in On the Singular Life of Clerics: "Just as a small drop of water poured into much wine entirely loses itself and puts on the taste and color of the wine; glowing iron is stripped of its original and proper form and becomes most like fire; the air suffused with a ray of the sun is transformed into the same brightness of light; a mirror directly irradiated by the sun's rays receives in itself the likeness of the sun, and you would think it to be another sun: so also the Saints and the Blessed are totally penetrated in their innermost being by the love of God, and thus made deiform, they are transformed into the likeness of God." These are the cherem of God.
Verse 29: Every Consecration Shall Die the Death
29. EVERY CONSECRATION (in Hebrew, every cherem) THAT IS OFFERED BY A MAN SHALL NOT BE REDEEMED, BUT SHALL DIE THE DEATH. -- "It shall die" by its own proper and natural death, if it can be killed, or if it is lawful to kill it, as if it be a clean animal, or if they be enemies condemned to death by God. An example of this we see at Numbers 21:2, where the Canaanites, devoted to God by a vow of cherem by the Hebrews, are narrated to have been entirely cut down and destroyed to the point of annihilation, and therefore the name of the place was called Cherem and Chorma, or as others pronounce it, Herem and Horma. So Jericho was made cherem by God, that is, anathema, so that it had to be completely burned and cut down by cherem, and the Hebrews were not permitted to touch or seize anything from its wealth. For on this account Achan disturbed all the camps of Israel, because he had claimed something for himself from the plunder of Jericho, as is clear from Joshua 6:17 and chapter 7:1. Such a cherem, or anathema, St. Paul wished to become for the Jews, as I said at Romans 9:3. But if the thing vowed to God by cherem were incapable of death properly so called, "it shall die the death," that is, it must die a civil death, just as our Religious, being dedicated to God as if by a vow of cherem, are said to be civilly dead, because they have renounced all civil business, and the inheritance and dominion of temporal things, just as if they were dead. So formerly in the Old Law both Levites and fields, which as cherem were devoted to the Lord, died civilly, because they could no longer return to profane uses, just as Religious are now, and the houses of Ecclesiastics and Religious are amortized.
The Gentiles too had such cherem and such devoted persons. So Leonidas with three hundred devoted himself for his fatherland, and rushed into the camp of Xerxes, saying: "Dine, fellow soldiers, for you will sup in the underworld." Asked why the best men preferred a noble death to an obscure life, he responded: "Because they consider this to be proper to nature, while that belongs only to themselves." Therefore to Xerxes, who promised him dominion over all the Greeks if he would stand on his side, he wrote back: "If you knew the good things of life, you would certainly have set aside your desire for the things of others; for me indeed it is better to die for Greece than to obtain dominion over all the nations." So Plutarch in his Life of Leonidas. I cited more examples at Exodus 32:32.
Verse 30: The Tithes of the Land
30. ALL THE TITHES OF THE LAND, WHETHER OF GRAIN OR OF FRUITS (that is, of produce, so the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint: for God here demands for Himself, that is, for His ministers, namely the Levites, the tithes not of fruits alone, but of all produce and grain. See Abulensis, Question LXVIII, and following), ARE THE LORD'S (as if to say, they are owed to the Lord by this law), AND ARE SANCTIFIED TO HIM, -- that is, they ought to be sanctified, given, and offered. By a similar phrase the Hebrews say: "Which shall not be done," that is, which ought not to be done; "I know not a man," that is, I cannot, it is not permitted for me to know a man.
God did not want the Levites to possess fields in the land of Israel, but to live from tithes, first-fruits, and the offerings of the Lord; and for this reason God is said to be "their portion and inheritance," that is, their hereditary share; because the Levites, as if sons and heirs of God, enjoyed His goods, namely tithes and first-fruits, as is clear from Numbers chapter 18, verse 21. In turn, the Levites paid the high priest a tenth part of all their tithes, as is clear from Numbers chapter 18, verse 28; therefore the high priest was formerly very wealthy. Hence in the chapter Parochianos, in the Extravagantes, On Tithes, Alexander III asserts and decrees, saying: "Since tithes were instituted not by men, but by the Lord Himself, they can be exacted as a debt." Where he seems to assert that tithes, even among Christians, are owed by divine right; which understand concerning right both in general: for divine right, indeed even natural right, dictates that priests and ministers of the Church are to be fed by the people, although in particular it does not dictate that they are to be fed by tithes, or first-fruits, or any other particular mode; and in special, because namely tithes in the Old Law were prescribed for the Jews by divine right, which law and which divine right the Church renewed, and sanctioned by the same ecclesiastical law: although the entire obligation of the old divine right, because that right was ceremonial, ceased with the Old Law, and is abrogated, and now only the positive law of the Church obliges, which received that old right, as well as most other things, into its own laws, and established and stabilized them anew; I shall say more about tithes and first-fruits at Numbers chapter 18, verses 12, 21, and 29.
Verse 32: Tithes of Animals
32. OF ALL THE TITHES OF THE OX, AND THE SHEEP, AND THE GOAT, WHATSOEVER PASSES UNDER THE SHEPHERD'S ROD, WHATEVER COMES AS THE TENTH SHALL BE SANCTIFIED TO THE LORD, -- that is, it shall be offered and given to the Lord as tithes.
Note: The Roman edition and Radulphus read "and the goat." And the Hebrew צואן tson signifies livestock, both goats and sheep, and the same reckoning applied among the Jews for goats as for sheep, both in sacrifices and in tithes. Therefore the Septuagint and the Chaldean, who mention only the sheep, understand the goat also under the term sheep.
Note secondly: The phrase "whatsoever passes under the shepherd's rod" indicates the manner of tithing, namely that the shepherd, standing at the gate of the fold or pen, should restrain his sheep, goats, and oxen with his rod, so that they do not go out all at once, but one by one in order, so that whichever comes out as the tenth passes to the Lord as a tithe, and it is not permitted to exchange it for another, whether it be good or bad, whether fat or lean.
Note thirdly: Just as in the preceding verse God demanded the tithes of all grain and produce, so here He demands the tithes of animals, and only of three kinds, namely of the ox, the sheep, and the goat, because these alone were clean and suitable for sacrifice. Abulensis, however, judges by analogy that tithes of other animals as well, even unclean ones such as horses, camels, and donkeys, were prescribed and given by the Jews: but he does not cite any passage of Sacred Scripture that asserts the same. Hence it is clear that the Jews were obliged by law to offer to God each year, both of all grain and of animals: first, tithes; second, first-fruits, and these of four kinds, as I said at Numbers 18:2; third, victims and sacrifices, both daily and those prescribed for individual sabbaths and feasts, Numbers 28 and 29.
Verse 34: These Are the Precepts
34. THESE ARE THE PRECEPTS WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, ON MOUNT SINAI, -- near Mount Sinai, as I said in the preceding chapter, verse 46.