(25) According to the shekel of the sanctuary.--As the proceeds of these vows were devoted to the maintenance and repair of the sanctuary, all the valuations are to be made and paid according to the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. (See Exodus 30:13.)Verse 25. - The estimation is to be made according to the shekel of the sanctuary, that is, the shekel at its full value, before worn by use in traffic (see Exodus 30:13; Numbers 3:47; Numbers 18:16). 27:14-25 Our houses, lands, cattle, and all our substance, must be used to the glory of God. It is acceptable to him that a portion be given to support his worship, and to promote his cause. But God would not approve such a degree of zeal as ruined a man's family.And all thy estimation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary,.... The shekel kept in the sanctuary, which was the standard of all shekels; not that there was a shekel in the sanctuary different from the common one; for every shekel ought to have been as that, of the full weight and worth of it; and the estimation was to be according to such a shekel, and the money paid in such, even in full weight: twenty gerahs shall be the shekel; which the Targum of Jonathan calls "meahs" or "oboli", one of which was about three halfpence of our money, scarce so much, and weighed near eleven grains, as Bishop Cumberland (i) has calculated: see Ezekiel 45:12. (i) Of Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 111. |