"But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD, or anything that he has, whether man or beast, of his inherited land, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD."
- Lev. 27:28
Leviticus is one of those books in the old testament that is about the law. In the 27 chapters contained in this book, God is providing Israel step by step instructions of what to do and what not to do. This book is fleshing out the 10 commandments. God really speaks into the various aspects of the law; he speaks of the ceremonial aspect and deals with the appropriate laws for the cleansing of lepers. God speaks about how to appropriately sacrifice an animal to the LORD.
God provides the Law as well as the necessary steps to perform the law. Every detail is outlined because the Law either connects or separates God and man; the focus is upon obedience and disobedience. When we come to chapter 27 which closes out the book, God speaks to Moses about value.
A male ages 20-60 is worth fifty shekels of silver; a female is 30. A male ages 5-20 is worth twenty shekels and a woman is worth 10. Land, animals and homes have value to and God gives details on the priests providing value to those assigned items. All these things are valued when they are dedicated to the LORD.
It may be easy to focus on the value of male and female; land or animal but if we move beyond the numbers, we see that when individuals or things are devoted to the LORD, they are made holy to God. That which has value is now, invaluable to God and cannot be resold or redeemed (bought back).
The Gospel in Leviticus reveals to us that value that God placed upon mankind. We can return to the 1st Gospel in Genesis 3:15 when God offers to take our place. God, in love, comes as a man, Christ Jesus, and lives and dies for us. Why? Because God placed value in us. Christ was living out the commands that God would provide to Israel in Leviticus.
In the gospel, we are valued!
