The Tithe Is Yahweh's
26 “‘However the firstborn among animals, which belongs to Yahweh as a firstborn, no man may dedicate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is Yahweh’s. 27 If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back according to your valuation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it; or if it isn’t redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation. 28 “‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed. Everything that is permanently devoted is most holy to Yahweh. 29 “‘No one devoted to destruction, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death. 30 “‘All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh’s. It is holy to Yahweh. 31 If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it. 32 All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh. 33 He shall not examine whether it is good or bad, neither shall he exchange it. If he exchanges it at all, then both it and that for which it is exchanged shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.’” 34 These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.
What already belongs to God cannot be given to him, and the tenth animal is taken as it comes without being inspected.
The chapter's last section rules on what cannot be vowed, and the reasoning is the same each time: it is not the giver's to offer.
“‘However the firstborn among animals, which belongs to Yahweh as a firstborn, no man may dedicate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is Yahweh’s.
A man cannot make a gift of something already owned. Dedicating it would be a way of getting credit for a thing that was never his, and the law closes it.
The tithe is treated the same way. All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is Yahweh's. It is holy to Yahweh Leviticus 27:30.
The tenth is not described as a gift or a payment. It is described as already belonging to somebody, which makes withholding it a different kind of act from declining to give.
And then the method for tithing livestock, which is the most vivid image in the chapter: whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh Leviticus 27:32.
The animals file past a shepherd who counts with a staff, and every tenth one is marked. Then the crucial rule: he shall not examine whether it is good or bad, neither shall he exchange it Leviticus 27:33.
No inspection. The tenth animal is whatever happens to be tenth, and if it is the best in the flock it goes anyway. The owner is forbidden to look, which removes every opportunity for calculation — and if he swaps it, both animals are forfeit.
So the book that opened with a man laying his hand on a bull's head ends with a man not being allowed to look at a lamb. Both provisions are about the same thing: the offering is not to be managed.
The final verse closes the whole work where it began. These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai Leviticus 27:34.
One mountain, one month, one voice from a tent — and twenty-seven chapters explaining how a holy God can live in the middle of an ordinary camp without destroying it.
settled What this mark means