This closing section of our book treats of the "singular vow," or the
voluntary act whereby a person devoted himself or his property unto
the Lord. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a
singular vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by thy estimation. And
thy estimation shall be ... after the shekel of the sanctuary.'"
Now, in the case of a person devoting himself or his beast, his house
or his field, unto the Lord, it was obviously a question of capacity
or worth; and hence there was a certain scale of valuation, according
to age. Moses, as the representative of the claims of God, was called
upon to estimate, in each case, according to the standard of the
sanctuary. If a man undertakes to make a vow, he must be tried by the
standard of righteousness; and, moreover, in all cases, we are called
upon to recognize the difference between _capacity_ and _title_. In
Exodus xxx. 15, we read, in reference to the atonement money, "The
rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half
a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an
atonement for your souls." In the matter of atonement, all stood upon
one common level. Thus it must ever be. High and low, rich and poor,
learned and ignorant, old and young--all have one common title. "There
is no difference." All stand alike on the ground of the infinite
preciousness of the blood of Christ. There may be a vast difference as
to capacity; as to title, there is none: there may be a vast
difference as to experience; as to title, there is none: there may be
a vast difference as to knowledge, gift, and fruitfulness; as to
title, there is none. The sapling and the tree, the babe and the
father, the convert of yesterday and the matured believer, are all on
the same ground. "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not
give less." Nothing more could be given; nothing less could be taken.
"We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."
This is our title to enter. Our capacity to worship, when we have
entered, will depend upon our spiritual energy. Christ is our title:
the Holy Ghost is our capacity. Self has nothing to do with either the
one or the other. What a mercy! We get in by the blood of Jesus; we
enjoy what we find there by the Holy Ghost. The blood of Jesus opens
the door; the Holy Ghost conducts us through the house: the blood of
Jesus opens the casket; the Holy Ghost unfolds the precious contents:
the blood of Jesus makes the casket ours; the Holy Ghost enables us to
appreciate its rare and costly gems.
But in Leviticus xxvii, it is entirely a question of ability,
capacity, or worth. Moses had a certain standard, from which he could
not possibly descend; he had a certain rule, from which he could not
possibly swerve. If any one could come up to that, well; if not, he
had to take his place accordingly.
What, then, was to be done in reference to the person who was unable
to rise to the height of the claims set forth by the representative of
divine righteousness? Hear the consolatory answer--"But if he be
_poorer_ than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before
_the priest_, and the priest shall value him; _according to his
ability_ that vowed shall the priest value him." (Ver. 8.) In other
words, if it be a question of man's undertaking to meet the claims of
_righteousness_, then he must meet them; but if, on the other hand, a
man feels himself wholly unable to meet those claims, he has only to
fall back upon _grace_, which will take him up just as he is. Moses is
the representative of the claims of divine righteousness: the priest
is the exponent of the provisions of divine grace. The poor man who
was unable to stand before Moses, fell back into the arms of the
priest. Thus it is ever. If we cannot "_dig_," we can "_beg_;" and
directly we take the place of a beggar, it is no longer a question of
what we are able to _earn_, but of what God is pleased to _give_.
"Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days."
How happy it is to be debtors to grace! how happy to take, when God is
glorified in giving! When man is in question, it is infinitely better
to dig than to beg; but when God is in question, the case is the very
reverse.
I would just add that I believe this entire chapter bears, in an
especial manner, upon the nation of Israel. It is intimately connected
with the two preceding chapters. Israel made "a singular vow" at the
foot of Mount Horeb; but they were quite unable to meet the claims of
law--they were far "poorer than Moses' estimation." But, blessed be
God, they will come in under the rich provisions of divine grace.
Having learnt their total inability "to dig," they will not be
"ashamed to beg;" and hence they shall experience the deep blessedness
of being cast upon the sovereign mercy of Jehovah, which stretches,
like a golden chain, "from everlasting to everlasting." It is well to
be poor, when the knowledge of our poverty serves but to unfold to us
the exhaustless riches of divine grace. That grace can never suffer
any one to go empty away. It can never tell any one that he is too
poor. It can meet the very deepest human need; and not only so, but it
is glorified in meeting it. This holds good in every case. It is true
of any individual sinner, and it is true with respect to Israel, who,
having been valued by the lawgiver, have proved "poorer than his
estimation." Grace is the grand and only resource for all. It is the
basis of our salvation, the basis of a life of practical godliness,
and the basis of those imperishable hopes which animate us amid the
trials and conflicts of this sin-stricken world. May we cherish a
deeper sense of grace, and more ardent desire for the glory.
We shall here close our meditations upon this most profound and
precious book. If the foregoing pages should be used of God to awaken
an interest in a section of inspiration which has been so much
neglected by the Church in all ages, they shall not have been written
in vain.
_C. H. M._
Transcriber's note:
Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained
except in obvious cases of typographical error.
Page 80: "I shall now preceed to quote at length" ... "preceed" has
been replaced with "proceed".
Page 224: "a pair of turtle-doves or to young pigeons" ... "to" has
been replaced with "two".
Page 241: "consigned to deary solitude" ... "deary" has been replaced
with "dreary".
Page 290: "coals of fire from off the altar before Lord" ... "the" has
been added "before the Lord".
End of Project Gutenberg's Notes on the Book of Leviticus, by C. H. Mackintosh