Leviticus 27:26

Leviticus 27:26 says, Only the firstling of the beasts, which should be the LORD’s firstling, no man shall sanctify it; whether it be ox, or sheep: it is the LORD’s.  People could not sanctify the first born or even the first of their crops to God because it already belonged to Him.  I believe that today our tithes already belong to God, and we cannot claim that we are giving some special gift to God if we use our tithes to do so.  Verse twenty-seven adds, And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem it according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth part of it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation.  Unclean animals could be sanctified to God, and if they were redeemed, they were to be redeemed by adding twenty-cent to their estimated value.  If they weren't redeemed, they were to be sold for the estimated value.  Verse twenty-eight continues, Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD.  God told Moses that northing devoted to God could be redeemed or sold.  As followers of Christ we are devoted to Him and nothing will ever ever be able to separate us from Him.  Verse twenty-nine states, None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.  Matthew Henry basically says this means that foreigners who had been defeated and were therefore devoted to God were to be killed so that they would no longer be a problem to the people of Israel.  Whatever the case, anyone devoted to God, which went beyond just sanctifying his or her self, could not be redeemed so would therefore die still devoted to God.  As Christians today, we may not be put to death, but we will die still devoted to, or belonging to, God.  Verse thirty adds, And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s: it is holy unto the LORD.  The tithe belonged to God, just as it does today.  We may not give it to God, but it is still His.  We really have done nothing but what God had already told us to do when we tithe, so there is no reason to feel proud of our self for doing so.  Verse thirty-one continues, And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.  If a person wanted to redeem something that was a art of his or her tithe, then he was to add twenty percent to it.  We must remember that the tithe included not just the money that people might make but the first of all crops and animals that they owned.  I believe that God expects us to tithe on everything that He blesses us with, and even then this is only the minimum that we should be doing.  Verse thirty-two says, And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.  This is just a further statement that a tenth of everything the people of Israel had belonged to God.  Verse thirty-three adds, He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.  If a person attempted to exchange something for the tithe, then both the original tithe and the exchange were to be considered holy and could not be redeemed.  Things of God belong to God, and we should not attempt to reclaim them as our own, even by exchanging something else for them.  Verse thirty-four concludes, These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.  We are then told that these are the commandments given to Moses by God on Mt. Sinai.  We sometimes see Moses as having gone up on Mt. Sanai and receiving the Ten Commandments, but he received much more than that.  He received the laws of God as well.  Today, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we accept the law of God as well.  It does not save us, but it does tell us how to live in a right relationship with the world and God.