(I.) As to vows of the first class (neder), the following rules are laid down in the Jewish law : A man might devote to sacred uses possessions of persons, but not the first-born either of man or beast, which was devoted al- ready (Lev. xxvii, 26). See First-born.
1. If he vowed land, he might either redeem it or not. If he intended to redeem, two points were to be consid- ered— (1) the rate of redemption ; (2 ) the distance, pro- spectively and retrospectively, from the year of jubilee. The price of redemption was fixed at tiftv shekels of X.— F F F
silver for the quantity of land which a homer of barley (eight bushels) would suffice to sow (Lev. xxvii, 16; see Knobel ad loc). This payment might be abatetl under the direction of tlie priest according to the dis- tance of time from the jubilee year. But at whatever time it was redeemed, he was required to add to the reden:ption -price one hftii (twenty per cent.) of the estimated value. If he sold the land in the mean- time, it might not then be redeemed at all, but was to go to the priests in the jubilee year (ver. 20). See Land.
The purchaser of land, in case he devoted and also wished to redeein it, was required ti> pay a retlenqition- price according to the priestly valuation first mentioned, but without the additional fifth. In this case, however, the land was to revert in the jubilee to its original own- er (Lev. xxvii, 16, 24; xxv, 27 ; Keil, Uebr. A rch. § 66, 80).
The valuation here laid down is evidently based on the notion of annual value. Supposing land to require for seed about three bushels of barley per acre, the ho- mer, at the rate of thirty-two pecks, or eight bushels, would be sufficient for about two and a half or three acres. Fifty shekels, twenty-five ounces of silver, at five shillings the ounce, would give £6 bs. ; and the yearly valuation would thus amount to about £2 per acre.
The owner who wished to redeem would thus be re- quired to pay either an animal rent or a redemption- price answering to the number of years short of the jubilee, but deducting sabbatical years (Lev. xxv, 3. 15, 16), and adding a fifth, or twenty per cent., in either case. Thus, if a man devoted an acre of land in the jubilee year, and redeemed it in the same year, he would pay a redemption-price of 49 — 6=43 years'value, -|-20 per cent. = £103 4.*., or an annual rent of =£2 8«. ; a rate by no means excessive when we consider — (1) the prospect of restoration in the jubilee; (2) the undoubt- ed fertility of the soil, which even now, under all disad- vantages, sometimes yields a hundredfold (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 297).
If he refused or was unable to redeem, either the next of kin ((ioel) came forward, as he had liberty to do, or, if no redemption was effected, the land became the property of the priests (Lev. xxv, 25 ; xxvii, 21 ; Ruth iii, 12; iv, l,etc.).
In the case of a hoiise devoted, irrespective of the land it occupied, its value was to be assessed by the priest, and a fifth added to the redemption-price in case it was redeemed (Lev. xxvii, 15). Whether the rule held good regarding houses in walled cities, viz. that the liberty of redemption lasted only for one year, is not certain; but as it does not appear that houses de- voted but not redeemed became the property of the priests, and as the Levites and priests had special towns assigned to them, it seems likely that the price only of the house, and not the house itself, was made over to sacred uses, and thus that tlie act of consecra- tion of a house means, in fact, the consecration of its value. The jNIishna, however, says that if a devoted house fell down, the owner was not liable to payment, but that he was liable if he had devoted the value of the house {Erakin, v, 5).
2, Animals fit for sacrifice, if devoted, were not to be redeemed or changed, and if a man attempted to do so, he was reciuired to bring both the devotee and the changeling (Lev. xxvii, 9, 10, 33). They were to be free from blemish (Mai. i, 14). An animal unfit for sacrifice might be redeemed, with the addition to the priest's valuation of a fifth, or it became the property of the priests (Lev. xxvii, 12, 13). See Offering.
3. The case of persons devoted stood thus : A man might devote either himself, his child (not the first- born), or his slave. If no redemption took place, the devoted person became a slave of the sanctuary (see the case of Absalom, 2 Sam. xv, 8 ; Michaelis, § 124, ii, 166, ed. Smith). See NAZARixii. Otherwise he might
vow
818
VOW
be redeemed at a valuation according to age and sex, on the I'uUowiiig scale (Lev. xxvii, 1-7):
A. 1. A male fioin 1 mouth to 5 years old, 5 sliek- * '^'^"
el? = 3 10
2. From 5 years to 20 years, 2ii shekels =12 40
3. From 20 years to GO years, 50 shekels =31 00