John Calvin on Leviticus 27:14-25

14. And when a man shall sanctify his house. A third kind of vows follows, viz., the consecration of houses and lands; under which head also an alternative is appointed, so that religion may not be despised, and still the just possessors should not be driven from their houses, or the lands be rendered useless from the want of cultivation. Those persons vowed their houses, who sought of God for themselves and families that they might inhabit them in health, and safety, and in general prosperity; and he who wished to obtain fertility for his fields, vowed one of ten or twenty acres. Undoubtedly superstitious prayers were sometimes mixed up with this exercise of piety, as if they might acquire favor for themselves by making a bargain with God. Still, inasmuch as the thing was not wrong in itself, God indulgently bore with the errors which could not be very easily corrected, lest, in His hatred of them, He might altogether abolish what was useful and laudable. Hence the redemption both of house and land was permitted. But if any one had committed fraud in selling a piece of land that was vowed, a heavier punishment is added, i.e., that he should go without it for ever. We shall speak more fully elsewhere of the year of jubilee. “Sur le quatrieme commandement;” under the fourth commandment.—Fr. At present this must be observed, that, lest the partition of land made by Joshua should ever be altered, since God had clearly shewn that it was done by His authority, God recalled each of the tribes every fiftieth year to their original share, and thus entirely restored the possessors whom poverty had driven out. In proportion, then, to the closeness or remoteness of that year, since possession would be so much the shorter or longer, land was cheap or dear. God does not here measure the fields by the pole or chain, but estimates them simply, as among a rude people, by the seed; viz., if a field in sowing takes a homer Lat. “Corum,” from the LXX. translation κόρος of barley, it shall remain in the hands of its possessor if he pays fifty shekels of the sanctuary. We have elsewhere seen that these were double the ordinary shekel. But since vows were often made in the middle or towards the end of the jubilee, a distinction is stated; and God commands the priests to take the time into consideration, and the nearer the jubilee-year may be to diminish so much of the price. Where, however, a fraud had taken place, God would not have the honest purchaser ejected; but, when the jubilee was over, He assigned the field, which had been held for a time in sacrilege, to the priests for ever. Moses compares this consecration to an anathema, which the Hebrews call חרם, cherem, “A field devoted.” — A.V. “Interdit.” — Fr. a word whose radical meaning is destroying or abolishing; for which reason the Latins take a “devoted” thing in a bad sense, as what is destined to final destruction. The law is then extended to lands which had been sold, and which, in the year of jubilee, returned to their former owners; because the first allotment of the land was then wholly restored. For these fields God commands a price to be paid, upon a calculation of the time, so that only the produce and not the fee should be taken into account.

Now, since people have improperly and in foolish mimicry imitated the vows which God permitted to the Jews under the Law, so the Pope, in providing for their redemption, has dared in his diabolical arrogance to rival God. The titulus The reference is to Book 3 of the Decretals of Gregory IX. He was Pope from 1227 to 1241; and these decretals form the fifth division of the Papal Canon Law. A section of Book 3, technically styled Titulus 34, is headed “Concerning a vow and its redemption;” and all the eleven chapters of this Titulus relate to the commutation of vows to go on pilgrimage, or on a crusade. The portion especially alluded to by C. in the above remarks was obviously ch. 7, which consists of extracts from an answer of Pope Innocent III. to a Suffragan of the Archbishop of Sens, who had taken a crusader’s vow for the purpose of obtaining access to the Count of Champagne, then in Palestine, and wanted to know whether the Pope would sanction his staying at home, since he had heard that the Count was dead. The Pope replies, that as the cause which had induced him to make his vow no longer existed, he might stay in his diocese; but that he should send to the holy land a sum equal to what would have been the cost of his going, staying, and returning. The notes to the same chapter quote other parts of Innocent’s rescript, in which that Pope said, “Since the Word of God is now fulfilled, saying, The hour shall come and now is, when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship, etc., it may be seen, that not less in your own Church than in the Eastern country, you may advance the deliverance of that country by your pious prayers.” — Corpus Juris Canon. Lugd. 1522, cum licentia. — W. is well-known in the Third Book of Decretals; “De voto, et ejus redemptione;” wherein its concocter, whoever he was, has so sought to impose upon the world with his shameless nonsense, as not to hesitate to heap together directly contradictory sentences; and even if there were no contradictions there, still nothing is laid down except how votive pilgrimages are to be redeemed, which plainly appear from Christ’s declaration to be wrong since the preaching of the gospel. (John 4:21.) And assuredly it was a marvellous fascination of the devil, that what was said under the Law as to the payment of vows at Jerusalem, should be transferred to Christians, when Christ had pronounced that the time had come when the true worshippers without distinction of place should worship God everywhere in spirit and in truth. If the hired wranglers “Rabulae.” — Lat. “Les caphards, qui ont leurs langues a loage pour maintenir la Papaute.” — Fr. of the Pope object that the same rule obtains in the redemption of vows, since a remedy or mitigation must not be denied, if any should be too burdensome or grievous, I answer, that men act wickedly, when they wrest to themselves what God has reserved for His own discretion; for neither under the Law of old was it allowable for a mortal man to alter a vow, unless by His permission. If again they object, that the judgment was given to the priests, here their folly is twice refuted; since they cannot shew that they have been appointed judges; nor can they escape from the accusation of temerity, since without any command they pronounce as to this redemption of vows, whereas the priests of old advanced nothing except from God’s mouth, and according to the fixed rule here laid down.

The exception as to the firstlings and the tithes sufficiently proves that some vows were illicit, and such as God repudiates; and therefore that they must not be made indiscriminately, for it would have been a mere work of supererogation to vow to God what He had already made His own; as we have shewn elsewhere, See vol. 1 pp. 478-480, where ver. 26 is commented on, amongst the supplements to the First Commandment. where I have inserted this passage. With respect to what is said of the anathema, it must not be understood generally, since it was not lawful to subject a man to it, unless he were worthy of death. This, then, must be restricted to their enemies, whom they were otherwise at liberty to destroy; a notorious example of which was the city of Jericho, with its inhabitants and spoils. Now, since whatever was brought under this anathema was devoted and accursed, God would have it destroyed, nor does He allow of any compensation. Wherefore they anathematized their fields I do not understand, unless perhaps they wished to expiate some crime whereby pollution was contracted.

Numbers 30

Numbers 30:1-16

1. And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded.

1. Et loquutus est Moses ad capita tribuum in Israel, dicendo: Hic est sermo quem praecepit Jehova.

2. If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

2. Vir qui voverit votum Jehovae, aut juravefit jusjurandum, quo constringendo constrinxerit animam suam, ne violet verbum suum: sed secundum omne quod egressum fuerit ex ore ejus, faciat.

3. If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth;

3. Mulier autem si vovetit votum Jehovae, et constringendo constrinxerit in domo patris sui in pueritia sua:

4. And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.

4. Et audierit pater ejus votum ipsius, et oblationem qua adstrinxit animam suam, et tacuerit ei (vel ad eam) pater ejus, stabilia erunt omnia vota ejus, omnisque obligatio qua constrinxit animam suam stabilietur.

5. But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

5. Si autem irritum fetetit pater ejus illo die quo audierit omne votum ab ea factum, et obligationem ejus quibus constrinxerit animam suam, non stabilietur: et Jehova parcet el, quia pater ejus irritum fecerit.

6. And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;

6. Quod si fuerit sub viro, et fuerint vota ejus super eam, aut prolatio labiorum qua constrinxerit animam suam:

7. And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.

7. Et audierit maritus eius, et die quo audivit tacuerit el: tunc stabilietur vota ejus, et obligationes quibus constrinxerit animam suam stabilientur.

8. But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.

8. Quod si quo die audivit marl tus ejus irritum id fecerit, et dissolverit vota ejus quae erant super eam, et prolationem labiorum ejus relaxaverit, qua constrinxerat animam suam, tunc Jehova propitius illi erit.

9. But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.

9. Votum autem omne viduae et repudiatae quo constrinxerit animam suam, stabilietur super eam.

10. And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath;

10. Porro si in domo mariti sui votum fecerit, aut constringendo constrinxerit animam per jusjurandum:

11 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.

11. Et maritus ejus audierit et tacuerit ei, nec irritum fecerit illud: tune stabilientur omnia ejus vota, et omnis obligatio qua eonstrinxerit animam suam stabilietur.

12. But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.

12. Quod si dissolvendo dissolverit illa maritus ejus, quo die audivit omnem prolationem labiorum ejus, ad vota ejus, et obligationem animae ejus, non stabilietur; maritus ejus dissolvit ea, et Jehova propitius erit el.

13. Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

13. Omne votum, et omnejusjurandum obligationis ad affligendam animam maritus ejus stabiliet, et maritus ejus dissolvet.

14. But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.

14. Sin tacendo tacuerit maritus ejus a die in diem, tune stabiliet omnia vota ejus, et omnes obligationes ejus: quae sunt super eam, stabiliet, quia tacuit ei quo die audivit.

15. But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.

15. Quod si dissolvendo dissolverit, ea postquam audierit, portabit iniquitatem illius.

16. These are the statutes which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.

16. Haec sunt statuta quae praecepit Jehova Most inter virum et uxorem ejus, inter patrem et filiam ejus quae est in pueritia in domo patris sui.