03 Lev 27.10-14 Laws about valuations

Leviticus 27:9–15 (ESV)

9“If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the LORD, all of it that he gives to the LORD is holy.

10He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy.

11And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the LORD, then he shall stand the animal before the priest,

12and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be.

13But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation.

14“When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the LORD, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand.

15And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.

The above word translated “bad” is an example of the idea of calling something “evil” or “bad” because it is not useful for its purpose. In Lev 27.10-14 some items vowed or consecrated to God are deemed of little or no value for that purpose, and thus are called “bad”, using a word that usually means morally evil. Note the Theological Wordbook Of the Old Testament discussion of this word:

“(raʿ). Evil, bad (adjective). This form of raʿ qualifies the nouns to which it is related, indicating the quality or the injurious activity of the noun. The noun may designate the lack of quality or the inferior quality of things or people which are thus unable to meet standards of value or function beneficially.” [G. Herbert Livingston, [“2191 רָעַע,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 855.]