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16 If a man consecrates to the LORD a parcel of his land, then your valuation shall be proportional to the seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver for every homer of barley seed. 17 If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the price will stand according to your valuation.

18 But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest is to calculate the price in proportion to the years left until the next Year of Jubilee, so that your valuation will be reduced. 19 And if the one who consecrated the field decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the assessed value, and it shall belong to him.

20 If, however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to another man, it may no longer be redeemed. 21 When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the LORD; it becomes the property of the priests.

22 Now if a man consecrates to the LORD a field he has purchased, which is not a part of his own property, 23 then the priest shall calculate for him the value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man shall pay the assessed value on that day as a sacred offering to the LORD. 24 In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom it was bought—the original owner of the land. 25 Every valuation will be according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.

26 But no one may consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, because a firstborn belongs to the LORD. Whether it is an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD’s. 27 But if it is among the unclean animals, then he may redeem it according to your valuation and add a fifth of its value. If it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

28 Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.

29 No person set apart for destruction may be ransomed; he must surely be put to death.

30 Thus any tithe from the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. 31 If a man wishes to redeem part of his tithe, he must add a fifth to its value.

32 Every tenth animal from the herd or flock that passes under the shepherd’s rod will be holy to the LORD. 33 He must not inspect whether it is good or bad, and he shall not make any substitution. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute shall become holy; they cannot be redeemed.’”

34 These are the commandments that the LORD gave to Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.

REFLECTIONS

Today’s passage ends with exceptions to yesterday’s rules on consecrating things to God. There were some consecrated things that could not be redeemed or bought back – they belonged to God completely and forever. And there were some things that couldn’t be devoted to God in the first place – because they already belonged to God, completely and forever.

After yesterday’s passage about thankful devotion to God, Leviticus’s last words made me realise something strange. My life is not something I can devote to God. I can’t decide one day, “Lord, for the next five whole years, I am going to devote my life completely to you.”

Because I am already his. You are already his. Completely and forever. Jesus has already consecrated us, completely and forever to God. “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20) – not for the next 5 years, but completely and forever.

You are wholly holy. Thank you, Lord Jesus!