Leviticus 27:24

24 But in the jubilee, it shall return to the former owner, who had sold it, and had it in the lot of his possession.

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 a field that was bought, and not of a man’s ancestors’ possession, be sanctified to the Lord:
23 The priest shall reckon the price according to the number of years, unto the jubilee. And he that had vowed, shall give that to the Lord.
24 But in the jubilee, it shall return to the former owner, who had sold it, and had it in the lot of his possession.
25 All estimation shall be made according to the sicle of the sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty obols.
26 The firstborn, which belong to the Lord, no man may sanctify and vow: whether it be bullock, or sheep, they are the Lord’s.
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