Matthew Poole and continuators on Leviticus 27:29

29 None devoted, which shall be devoted of men , shall be redeemed: but shall surely be put to death.

Not by men, as some would elude it, but of men, for it i[illegible: 1+ letters] manifest both from this and the foregoing verses that men here are not the persons devoting, but devoted. Quest. Was it then lawful for any man or men thus to devote another person to the Lord and in pursuance of such vow to put him to death? Ans. This was unquestionably lawful and a duty in some cases, when persons have been devoted to destruction either by Gods sentence, as Idolaters Exod. 22. 20. Deut. 23. 15. the Canaanites, Deut. 20. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. the Amalekites, Deut. 25. 19. & 1 Sam. 15. 3, 26. Benhadad, 1 King. 20. 42. or by men, in pursuance of such a sentence of God, as Numb. 21. 2, 3. and 31. 17. or for any crime of an high nature, as Iudg. 21. 5. Ios. 7. 15. But this is not to be generally understood, as some have taken it, as if a Iew might by vertue of this Text devote his child or his servant to the Lord, and thereby oblige himself to put them to death, which peradventure was Iepthe's errour. For this is expresly limited to all that a man hath, or which is his, i. e. which he hath a power over. But the Iews had no power over the lives of their children or servants, but were directly forbidden to take them away by that great command, thou shalt do no murder. And seeing he that killed his servant casually by a blow with a rod was surely to be punished, as is said Exod. 21. 20. it could not be lawful wilfully and intentionally to take away his life upon pretence of any such vow as this. But for the Canaanites, Amalekites, &c. God the undoubted Lord of all mens lives, gave to the Israelites a power over their persons and lives, and a command to put them to death. And this verse may have a special respect to them or such as them. And although the general subject of this and the former verse be one and the same, yet there are two remarkable differences to this purpose. The verb is active ver. 28. and the agent there expressed, that a man shall devote, but it is passive ver. 29, and the agent undetermined, which shall be devoted, to wit, by God, or men in conformity to Gods revealed will. 2. The devored person or thing is onely to be sold or redeemed, and said to be most holy, ver. 28. but here it is to be put to death, and this belongs onely to men, and those such as either were or should be devoted in manner now expressed.