Leviticus 27:21, commentary and pictures

A field devoted to the Lord remains holy to Him when it goes out in the jubilee, and its possession becomes the priest's rather than returning to ordinary ownership. When it returns at the jubilee it is still holy to the Lord as a devoted field. To be devoted is to be wholly given to God, set apart and separated under a ban or curse. That ban is described as an anathema that can mean irrevocable destruction.

The ban can be absolute and irrevocable, meaning entire separation of a person from the communion of the faithful, from the number of the living, or from the privileges of society. It can also mean the devoting of any man, animal, city, or thing to be extirpated, destroyed, consumed, and annihilated, as when Jericho and Achan were accursed. Jericho illustrates this devotion as the first-fruits of Canaan belonging to God rather than to Israel, wholly given and devoted to Him. Its inhabitants could have yielded to God to be used for His glory, but by choosing sin they perished with the city.

Property vowed to God becomes sacred and cannot be reassigned to ordinary use without robbing Him. When one wished to keep vowed land or a house, the priest assessed its value and the giver added one-fifth to that valuation, which made the vow good while impressing the sacredness of what had been consecrated to God. A person bound by a special vow could likewise be redeemed according to the priest's valuation, so Jephthah's daughter was devoted to the Lord's service rather than offered as a burnt offering. Like the devoted field, the tithe belongs to the Lord and not to civil government, which has no right to claim it. The return of the field in the jubilee points to the great jubilee when God frees His people from the bonds of death and grants them eternal freedom.