Redeemed

Leviticus 27:1-8 -  The LORD said to Moses,  "Give the following instructions to the Israelites: If you make a special vow to dedicate someone to the LORD by paying the value of that person, here is the scale of values to be used. A man between the ages of twenty and sixty is valued at fifty pieces of silver;  a woman of that age is valued at thirty pieces of silver.  A boy between five and twenty is valued at twenty pieces of silver; a girl of that age is valued at ten pieces of silver.  A boy between the ages of one month and five years is valued at five pieces of silver; a girl of that age is valued at three pieces of silver.  A man older than sixty is valued at fifteen pieces of silver; a woman older than sixty is valued at ten pieces of silver.  If you desire to make such a vow but cannot afford to pay the prescribed amount, go to the priest and he will evaluate your ability to pay. You will then pay the amount decided by the priest.

 

The Lord gave Moses one last instruction for the people…before he brought this book of rules to an end. He gave them a simple list….that told the value of each person that wanted to dedicate himself to the Lord. The pieces of silver translate from 50 pieces of silver….all the way down to 3 pieces of silver for a small female child. God even offered the possibility of dedicating yourself or a child to anyone when he made the provision that the priest could set individual prices for anyone who was too poor to provide the set price listed.

 

I will be honest with you here…I struggled with translating these silver values to a currency that I understand.  My Living Bible commentary said that the 50 pieces was worth 25 US dollars…but when I researched it on the google…it said that the 30 pieces Judas sold Jesus for was probably around 16, 000 US dollars.   If that is true then fifty pieces of silver was a great price to pay for dedicating yourself to the Lord.

 

But maybe we shouldn’t focus so much on an exact amount in the translation…but use the indication of these prices to understand that we are very valuable to God. And since God mentions the concept of tithing later on in the chapter…verse 30, “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the LORD and must be set apart to him as holy”…these set prices may just be a way to introduce us to the concept of giving this tenth of all we receive back to the Lord.

 

One other thing my heart noticed was the message embedded in verse 29, “A person specially set apart by the LORD for destruction cannot be redeemed. Such a person must be put to death.”  At first I thought how harsh…then I realized that is just what had to happen. God dedicated his son to save the world…to redeem it from its sins…and so he willingly…cheerfully gave his life…according to this scripture in Leviticus…to redeem all mankind.  Jesus was dedicated as our perfect sacrifice by his father above.  God followed his own rule…even if it meant sacrificing his own son. Amazing…and humbling…and oh so precious to my soul…to know that God loved me so much that he gave his only son…that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life through this promise…that God redeemed us all with his own son’s blood. The least I can do is cheerfully and willingly pay my tenth…and dedicate what life I will be granted in days to come to his service.

 

Thank you father…thank you a million times a million…that you chose to pay the redeeming price for me. I look forward to the day when this unbelievable sacrifice you made for me will finally be understood by my human heart. Help me father to learn to sit at your feet…to hold your hand and walk side by side…to listen for your voice…so that I may be your hands and feet here on Earth…and do the work you planned for me here. Strengthen me…and give me courage…and help me to drink in all the wisdom I need from your word. Amen.