Leviticus 27:24

24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession by inheritance.

Leviticus 27:24 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 27:24

In the year of jubilee, the field shall return unto him of
whom it was bought
Not to him that sanctified it, whether he redeemed it or not; nor to him that bought it of the treasurer of the temple after it was sanctified; but to the original proprietor and owner of it, of whom he bought it that sanctified it, for so it follows:

[even] to him to whom the possession of the land [did belong];
which was a possession of his he had by inheritance from his fathers, and therefore, according to the law of the year of jubilee, was then to return to him, and could be retained no longer, nor even converted to holy uses; for as it is said in the Misnah F8,

``a field of purchase goes not out to the priests in the year of jubilee; for no man can sanctify a thing which is not his own;''

as what he had purchased was no longer his than to the year of jubilee, and therefore could not devote it to sacred uses for any longer time.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Ut supra. (Hilchot Eracin, c. 4. sect. 26.)

Leviticus 27:24 In-Context

22 If he dedicates to the LORD a field which he has bought, which is not a part of his possession by inheritance,
23 then the priest shall compute the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the amount of the valuation on that day as a holy thing to the LORD.
24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession by inheritance.
25 Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
26 "But a firstling of animals, which as a firstling belongs to the LORD, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the LORD's.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.