Human Valuations

Toward the end of Leviticus, the Torah discusses someone who vows to give his or her valuation to God (27:1–8). A person’s valuation depends on age and sex: a male aged twenty to sixty is assessed at fifty silver shekels, and a female of the same age at thirty, a ratio of 3:5. A male aged five to twenty is assessed at twenty shekels, and a female at ten, a ratio of 1:2. The Torah then turns to the youngest group, from one month to five years: a boy is assessed at five shekels and a girl at three, again 3:5. Finally, a male aged sixty and above is assessed at fifteen shekels, and a female at ten, a ratio of 2:3.

These valuations can be summarized as follows:

The verses raise several questions. What determines the age groups? Why do male and female valuations differ? Why does their ratio vary between age groups rather than remain fixed?

Dividing Life into Stages

The ages mentioned – one month, five, twenty, and sixty – form four groups: children, from one month to five; youths, five to twenty; adults, twenty to sixty; and the elderly, sixty and above. The boundaries are the same for men and women.

One Month

A newborn is considered viable only after reaching one month. That is why Levites are counted from one month rather than birth (Numbers 3:15), and firstborn children are redeemed from one month:

Every thing that openeth the womb, of all flesh which they offer unto the LORD, both of man and beast, shall be thine; howbeit the first-born of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. And their redemption-money–from a month old shalt thou redeem them–shall be, according to thy valuation, five shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary–the same is twenty gerahs. (Numbers 18:15–16)

כָּל פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם לְכָל בָּשָׂר אֲשֶׁר יַקְרִיבוּ לַה' בָּאָדָם וּבַבְּהֵמָה יִהְיֶה לָּךְ אַךְ פָּדֹה תִפְדֶּה אֵת בְּכוֹר הָאָדָם וְאֵת בְּכוֹר הַבְּהֵמָה הַטְּמֵאָה תִּפְדֶּה. וּפְדוּיָו מִבֶּן חֹדֶשׁ תִּפְדֶּה בְּעֶרְכְּךָ כֶּסֶף חֲמֵשֶׁת שְׁקָלִים בְּשֶׁקֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ עֶשְׂרִים גֵּרָה הוּא. (במדבר י"ח טו-טז)

Age Five

In the valuation groups, five marks the transition from children to youths. This corresponds to the modern transition from kindergarten to school. Although Scripture gives no special treatment to age five suggesting the end of early childhood, it is plausible and appears as the age for beginning Scripture in the famous mishnah describing life’s stages: “At five years, Scripture” (Avot 5:21; also in other tannaitic sources). On this division, childhood is relatively short, ending at five, while the next group, five to twenty, which I call “youths,” includes modern childhood, approximately three to twelve, and adolescence, twelve to eighteen.

Age Twenty

Twenty is the age at which a person becomes an adult. This is expressed in the military census at the beginning of Numbers: “from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel” (מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה כָּל יֹצֵא צָבָא בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל; Numbers 1:3). The Torah does not specify women’s age of adulthood, but there is no reason to assume it differs, since the other groups likewise make no distinction between male and female boundaries.

Age Sixty

The valuations place the beginning of old age at sixty, although Scripture offers no further source for this. The cited mishnah accepts this age: “At sixty, old age.” This supports the understanding that sixty defines the beginning of the elderly age group.

The Period of Military Service

Twenty was the age for the census of Israel’s soldiers and presumably enlistment. No retirement age is stated there or elsewhere. Perhaps none was formally fixed, and older soldiers continued serving when needed. Caleb, for example, tells Joshua that at eighty-five he remains strong enough for military service and combat (Joshua 14:10). Other elderly soldiers may likewise have continued serving. But what was the usual retirement age?

The answer is not explicit. At first sight it might be inferred from the Levites’ retirement from Tabernacle service, also called tzava, the word for an army or service:

from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter upon the service, to do work in the tent of meeting. (Numbers 4:3)

מִבֶּן שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה וְעַד בֶּן חֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה כָּל בָּא לַצָּבָא לַעֲשׂוֹת מְלָאכָה בְּאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. (במדבר ד' ג)

Levites began at thirty, ten years after their non-Levite companions began military service. They served twenty years, from thirty to fifty. But I do not think their retirement age can be transferred to Israel’s army. The work differed, and so did the starting age. Why should retirement be identical?

I propose that sixty, which marks the beginning of old age in the valuations, was normally the retirement age for Israel’s army. A Levite thus enjoyed two privileges: he began ten years later, at thirty rather than twenty, and finished ten years earlier, at fifty rather than sixty. His twenty-year service was half the Israelite’s forty years.

The understanding that sixty was military retirement age is widespread in postbiblical sources. For example:

Of all the tribes none had a smaller census than Manasseh, whose number was only thirty-two thousand two hundred; and they were from twenty years old to sixty. (Numbers Rabbah 5:2)

The Babylonian Talmud derives from the valuations that the decree condemning the wilderness generation applied to those aged twenty to sixty at the census. This implies that the census itself covered this range:

Rav Aha bar Jacob said: the decree was issued neither against those under twenty nor against those over sixty. Not against those under twenty, for it says “from twenty years old and upward”; and not against those over sixty, by comparing “and upward” with the valuations. Just as there, those over sixty are treated like those under twenty, so here too. (Bava Batra 126b)

Nahmanides likewise interprets the census:

The count is only from twenty to sixty years, for these are a man’s principal years, as stated concerning valuations, and then he goes forth to war in Israel. (Nahmanides, Numbers 26:64)

Sforno explains similarly:

“All those numbered … all able to go forth to war in Israel”: not those over sixty, who did not go out with the army. (Sforno, Numbers 1:45)

The Army’s Character

As far as we know, without advanced medicine average life expectancy in biblical times was substantially lower than today. Lives were shorter, and preparation for them shorter too. A twenty-year-old had therefore probably already worked for several years and had a family with children. In preparing for war, officers announced exemptions for soldiers who had not yet enjoyed what they had begun:

And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying: ‘What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not used the fruit thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit thereof. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.’ (Deuteronomy 20:5–7)

וְדִבְּרוּ הַשֹּׁטְרִים אֶל הָעָם לֵאמֹר מִי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר בָּנָה בַיִת חָדָשׁ וְלֹא חֲנָכוֹ יֵלֵךְ וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ פֶּן יָמוּת בַּמִּלְחָמָה וְאִישׁ אַחֵר יַחְנְכֶנּוּ. וּמִי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר נָטַע כֶּרֶם וְלֹא חִלְּלוֹ יֵלֵךְ וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ פֶּן יָמוּת בַּמִּלְחָמָה וְאִישׁ אַחֵר יְחַלְּלֶנּוּ. וּמִי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר אֵרַשׂ אִשָּׁה וְלֹא לְקָחָהּ יֵלֵךְ וְיָשֹׁב לְבֵיתוֹ פֶּן יָמוּת בַּמִּלְחָמָה וְאִישׁ אַחֵר יִקָּחֶנָּה. (דברים כ' ה-ז)

Elsewhere Deuteronomy exempts a newly married man for a year:

When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go out in the host, neither shall he be charged with any business; he shall be free for his house one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he hath taken. (Deuteronomy 24:5)

כִּי יִקַּח אִישׁ אִשָּׁה חֲדָשָׁה לֹא יֵצֵא בַּצָּבָא וְלֹא יַעֲבֹר עָלָיו לְכָל דָּבָר נָקִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵיתוֹ שָׁנָה אֶחָת וְשִׂמַּח אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר לָקָח. (דברים כ"ד ה)

These accounts suggest that Israel’s soldiers were at a relatively later stage of life, owning houses and vineyards and already married. This differs from today’s regular army, largely composed of eighteen-year-olds who have just completed basic education and have not begun adult life. The verses seek to avoid premature death before a person has experienced life. The Torah prefers sending those who have already tasted life and allows others to defer enlistment. This contrasts with today’s practice of sending young people who have not begun their lives to battle while older people remain in the protected rear.

Differences between Male and Female

Our second question concerned the difference between male and female valuations. One might initially attribute it to men’s higher status in the ancient world, or to labor-market value: men are physically stronger. On the latter possibility, these are essentially slave valuations.

Joseph’s sale might seem to support the market-value interpretation. At seventeen he was sold for twenty silver shekels, matching the valuation of a male aged five to twenty. But the Ishmaelites bought him for resale. The Torah’s wording suggests several transactions before he reached Potiphar. Intermediaries presumably raised the price at each sale, so his final slave price was much higher. We cannot infer a slave’s price from what the Ishmaelites paid. Indeed, no single sale under particular circumstances establishes an average slave price.

Both proposed explanations, status and labor value, are problematic. If different status explains the valuations, why do they change with age? Why does the ratio change at sixty? In traditional societies an elder’s status is higher. Does the Torah disagree? Should an elder’s status in its ideal society be significantly lower than an adult’s?

Moreover, average slave market value does not fit what the Torah and other ancient law collections tell us. Slave prices undoubtedly varied with skills, intended roles, and probably age and sex. Archaeological evidence shows varied male and female prices, with some tendency toward higher male prices. Yet, surprisingly, in general legal provisions the Torah assigns no different monetary value to male and female slaves. Compensation for an ox goring either is identical:

If the ox gore a bondman or a bondwoman, he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. (Exodus 21:32)

אִם עֶבֶד יִגַּח הַשּׁוֹר אוֹ אָמָה כֶּסֶף שְׁלֹשִׁים שְׁקָלִים יִתֵּן לַאדֹנָיו וְהַשּׁוֹר יִסָּקֵל. (שמות כ"א לב)

Other ancient laws, such as Hammurabi’s, show a similar pattern. Returning a runaway male or female slave earns the same payment:

If a man catches a runaway male or female slave in the open country and returns that person to the owner, the owner shall pay him two silver shekels. (Laws of Hammurabi, law 17)

The Torah’s thirty-shekel compensation is exactly the valuation of a woman in her prime, aged twenty to sixty. If Leviticus reflects slave value, and male and female slaves have equal statutory values, an adult man should also be valued at thirty. Yet he is valued at fifty. Why?

I propose that the differences reflect roles rather than social status or market value. The woman is indeed assessed by her labor capacity, at thirty shekels, exactly the value assigned to a male or female slave in Exodus. The man is not assessed solely by labor capacity. Notice that the highest valuation begins at twenty, an age the Torah mentions in only one context: military enlistment. The man is therefore assessed not only as a worker but also by his intended role in the conquest of the land, as a soldier. A soldier’s value was higher: fifty shekels, twenty above his labor value.

Possible evidence for a soldier’s price appears in 2 Kings 15. During Menahem son of Gadi’s reign, Pul king of Assyria came into the land. Menahem paid a vast sum for his support, collecting fifty shekels from each man of valor:

And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land. (2 Kings 15:20)

וַיֹּצֵא מְנַחֵם אֶת הַכֶּסֶף עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל כָּל גִּבּוֹרֵי הַחַיִל לָתֵת לְמֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר חֲמִשִּׁים שְׁקָלִים כֶּסֶף לְאִישׁ אֶחָד וַיָּשָׁב מֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר וְלֹא עָמַד שָׁם בָּאָרֶץ. (מלכים ב ט"ו כ)

Perhaps this amount derived from a soldier’s valuation, each Israelite soldier paying his value as ransom to Assyria’s king.

Thus the difference is not that a man is worth more socially or as a laborer, but that a soldier’s monetary value exceeds that of a male or female slave.

Changes in the Ratio

We now turn to the third question: why does the ratio change between age groups? Why are youths valued at two to one, twenty against ten, whereas adults are valued at fifty against thirty?

The first group presented, from which the others derive, is adulthood, twenty to sixty. People are then in their prime and have the highest value. As explained, the values reflect different roles: a woman is valued as a worker at thirty shekels, like a slave; a man as a soldier, a more highly valued role, at fifty.

Children from one month to five neither work nor serve, even partly, and do not prepare for those roles. Their values are therefore symbolic, one tenth of adult values: five for a boy, three for a girl, retaining the adult ratio of 3:5.

Youths prepare for adulthood and begin working, without yet reaching full capacity. A girl’s value is one third of her adult peak, ten shekels. A boy’s value has two components. As a worker he equals the girl at ten shekels. But he also prepares for military service. Youths under twenty helped adult soldiers, carrying equipment or conveying messages between the rear and fighting units (see 1 Samuel 17:17–18). Preparing for and sometimes performing military duties adds ten shekels, giving twenty altogether, twice the girl’s value.

An elderly woman, like a girl, is valued at one third of her adult peak: ten rather than thirty. An elderly man retired from military service can work partly like her and should therefore be worth ten. Yet his valuation is fifteen. Why?

Although old age normally marked retirement, not everyone retired then. The Torah’s silence about a retirement age is significant. Some men continued serving after becoming elderly, in practice or symbolically. Even after actual retirement, an elder continued to count symbolically as a soldier. The Torah therefore adds five shekels, his symbolic military value, exactly like a child aged one month to five. Added to his ten-shekel worker value, this gives fifteen.

The Typical Lifespan

The valuation groups and Israelite and Levite service ages form a symmetrical structure that can teach us something about the typical biblical lifespan. Adulthood, twenty to sixty, corresponds to Israelite military service. A Levite starts ten years later, at thirty, and finishes ten years earlier, at fifty. If adulthood occupies life’s middle, the twenty years preceding it, from birth to twenty, are matched by twenty years afterward. The first period is bounded by birth; the last may extend further according to the individual’s longevity. On this symmetry, the Torah points to an eighty-year lifespan, twenty beyond the principal twenty-to-sixty period. This fits Psalms:

The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but travail and vanity; For it is speedily gone, and we fly away. (Psalms 90:10)

יְמֵי שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרָהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן כִּי גָז חִישׁ וַנָּעֻפָה. (תהלים צ' י)

The following diagram presents these stages of life.