Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Hedrick Gary <GaryH AT cjfm.org>]

In a word, yes.

חרם is the key term here in 27:29, Karl, as it relates to your inquiry.

The textual referent is someone who is dedicated to the LORD in the sense of 
being given over to destruction as a result of divine judgment.

Evidently, there were subcultures in the ANE that were so debauched and evil, 
they posed a threat to surrounding nations in general and to the Israelites 
in particular. God commanded that they be excised (a sort of radical surgery, 
one might say). 

Have you ever seen the TV sci-fi series FRINGE, produced by J.J. Abrams (who 
did the most recent Star Trek movie)? The show is built on the 
premise—suggested by theoretical quantum physics—that there are parallel 
realities and multiverses. If God is infinite, He presumably has the 
capability to envision all possible alternatives and outcomes in any given 
set of circumstances. And there have been situations throughout salvation 
history where certain people (or cultures, as in the case of the Canaanites) 
evidently had to be destroyed—as horrible as that seems to us, with our 
delicate 21st century sensitivities—in order to avoid even worse consequences.

So yes, Karl, I'd say the "consecrated" individual dies. The Hebrew text 
certainly sounds that way: כל־חרם אשר יחרם מן־האדם לא יפדה מות יומת׃ 

Notice the interesting parallelism, presumably for the purpose of emphasis, 
in the text: "devoted that he was devoted" (חרם אשר יחרם) juxtaposed with "to 
die he must die" (מות יומת׃).

One example of this radical, surgical removal of evil would be the 
Canaanites, as Wenham points out in his commentary on Leviticus (NICOT):

The ban (28–29)
Banning or devoting was a more solemn and irreversible vow than ordinary 
dedication. Anyone or anything that was devoted to the Lord could not be 
ransomed. It was usual to invoke the ban in wars against the native 
inhabitants of Canaan. In divine judgment all Israel’s enemies and their 
property were devoted to the Lord (e.g., Num. 21:2; Deut. 7:2; 1 Sam. 15). It 
could also be used as a judicial sentence against idolaters (Exod. 22:19 
[Eng. 20]; Deut. 13:16 [15]). It seems unlikely that ordinary Israelites 
could pronounce such vows; only the recognized leaders had authority to 
declare a death sentence.12

Gary Hedrick
San Antonio, Texas USA

On Jun 6, 2011, at 9:49 AM, K Randolph wrote:

> Dear B-Hebrew Haburim:
> 
> This is a verse that has puzzled me for some time, Leviticus 27:29. In the
> context, it appears that the consecrated person is to be executed, i.e.
> human sacrifice.
> 
> What say ye?
> 
> Karl W. Randolph.
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