Chapter 27
All about vows to God.
Values are put on people. It tells what a man is worth, a woman is worth, and a child is worth according to their age. There is no denying that here in the OT, and under this law, a man was more valuable than a woman. BUT, it is important to remember that in the NT, this difference is abolished, and all are equal in the sight of God, male and female, parent and child, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. This is the New Covenant.
2023 - Surely even today, in an agrarian society, or a hunter gatherer society, men are able to contribute more to the survival of the group than women. This is not about importance, it is about roles. Women can get pregnant all they want, but if there's no food for anyone, then that goes nowhere. Food and water are first, and last. Necessary in all situations. And food and water is what men are supposed to do.
A tenth as tithe was established pretty early:
32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the LORD. [Lev 27:32 ESV]
All these rules and laws came from Mt. Sinai, before the people moved on from there towards Canaan. They were to go straight to Canaan, and capture it, and live according to all these covenants with the Lord. But they messed it up pretty quickly. Think just how fickle they were, how shortsighted, how immature. But that was them. We never see ourselves that way...
2025 - This is about a vow. Something along the lines of "If it will just rain this week so that my crops don't fail, I will sacrifice my best bull to God". This would be "a difficult vow". I think this is about "stretch vows" let's call them. So as I read it, if a man did offer to sacrifice his best bull, and if it did then rain, this chapter allows him to redeem that bull for it's value plus 20%, so that he can keep the bull, keep his vow, and continue to use the bull. I may have that wrong but that's how I understand it.
2025 - It seems odd to end this section of rules and regs with the valuation of sacrifices offered. It doesn't really seem to follow from Chapter 26 about the promises and the curses. I could be missing something, or maybe Moses just wrote Chapter 27 a little later, to include some things he had not mentioned before. Could be as simple as that.