Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow, the persons shall be for the LORD by thy estimation.
When a man shall make ... Persons have at all times and in all places been accustomed to present votive offerings, either from gratitude for benefits received or in the event of deliverance from apprehended evil. And Moses was empowered by divine authority to prescribe the conditions of this voluntary duty.
The person shall be for the Lord ... - better rendered thus: 'According to thy estimation, the person shall be for the Lord.'
Verse 3. Thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver. An Israelite servant was usually valued at 50 silver shekels, a non-Israelite servant at 30 shekels (Exodus 21:32). Since the context relates to those who voluntarily dedicated themselves to the service of the sanctuary, the estimation must be that of the former. Persons might consecrate themselves or their children to the divine service in some inferior or servile kind of work about the sanctuary (1 Samuel 3:1). In the event of any change, the persons so devoted had the privilege in their power of redeeming themselves; and this chapter specifies the amount of the redemption money, which the priest had the discretionary power of reducing, as circumstances might seem to require. Those of mature age, between 20 and 60, being capable of the greatest service, were rated highest; young people, from 5 until 20, less, because not so serviceable; infants though devotable by their parents before birth (1 Samuel 1:11), could not be offered nor redeemed until a month after it; old people were valued below the young but above children; and the poor-in no case freed from payment, in order to prevent the rash formation of vows-were rated according to their means (see Michaelis' 'Commentaries,' ch. 43:, sec. 4).