Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Bible Backdrop! Last time, I went into some details regarding the sin offering and said that this episode would be about the guilt offering. Well...that was partly true. As I continued my study, it became apparent that the early verses of Leviticus 5 are describing specific sins and then introduces what is called the trespass offering. This is similar to the sin offering, but does have some differences. Some commentators even say that it is really a continuation of the description of the sin offering. The later verses then go into some details about the guilt offering which will wrap up our series on sacrifices.
In Leviticus 5, God focuses on three separate sins that require a trespass offering: Bearing false witness, ceremonial uncleanness, and swearing a false oath. Why these three? It seems that they cover three main areas in a person’s life: their relationship with others, their relationship with themselves, and their relationship with God.
Bearing false witness is a sin against others. Leviticus 5:1 states: “Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt.” This could go two ways. First, a testimony of 2 people was required to validate a story and establish the truth of a witness. If someone could be a second witness but doesn’t speak up, they have committed a sin. Second, if a witness is lying and they are able to reveal it with a truthful statement but don’t say anything, then they are guilty. While this may seem simple and straightforward, imagine having to give a negative testimony about a friend, family member or someone powerful in your clan or tribe. Justice, both to society and to God, were extremely important and if it was perverted, it usually led to the downfall of the nation. In 1 Kings 21, God declared death to Ahab and Jezebel because they schemed to have false witnesses testify, leading to Naboth being murdered to take his vineyard. It is interesting that God sends this sentence against them not from all the other sins they had committed, but when they perverted justice to take what was not theirs.
Ceremonial uncleanness was second on the list. Verses 2 and 3 state: “Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and he is unaware of it, he also shall be unclean and guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness-whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it-when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.” Normally, when a person touches something unclean, they were to wash their clothes and themselves in clean water and they were considered unclean until the evening. In this case, the person had touched something unclean and discovered it later; too late for them to do the regular cleansing ritual. In this case, a trespass offering would be required.
So what is the big deal here? Why all this for unknowingly touching an animal? God wants His people to be careful and aware that sin is everywhere. They are not to be careless, but take their responsibilities seriously. Unlike the other two examples, this is a sin that only affects the person who commits it and they are only liable to themselves and God. In other words, they could commit this sin and maybe nobody would find out about it. When discovered, will they follow God’s commandments or just keep going as if nothing has happened? These are similar questions we deal with even in today’s world.
The last sin that is mentioned in this chapter is swearing a false oath. Making an oath wasn’t quite the same as making a covenant, but it could have serious stipulations for breaking the oath. In this case, someone carelessly makes a promise but forgets. This could be a promise with another person or with God. It’s hard to find examples in the Bible where this may have happened. In 1 Samuel, Saul foolishly swears that anyone who eats food would die, but did not fulfill the oath when he found out his son Jonathan had eaten some honey. In this case, Saul knew that he was breaking his oath so it would not be covered under Leviticus 5. This would be more of a promise to help a neighbor, or conduct a business transaction, or to bring a special vow to God. If the person forgot and remembered later or were unable to fulfill the promise, they had to offer the required sacrifice.
So now that a person has discovered their sin, what was the sacrifice to be offered? Starting in verse 5: “So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned. He shall also bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.” The chapter gives no more instructions on what to do with this offering, so the priests would probably handle it the same way described in the last episode. The priest would be able to eat the parts that were not given to the Lord and so receive a portion. The person who brought the offering, however, would not eat of it.
Unlike the sin offerings described in the last episode, God grants provision for the poor. In verses 7-10, a person who didn’t have means for a goat or lamb could bring in 2 turtledoves or pigeons. One was for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And if a person still couldn’t afford that, then they could bring in a tenth of an ephah of fine flour. From our Bible Math episode, an ephah is about 5 gallons so a tenth of an ephah is about half a gallon. This should be fairly easy to attain even for the very poor. The priest would take a handful of it and put it on the altar, then they would be able to eat the rest similar to a grain offering. Unlike the grain offering, there would be no incense or oil mixed with the flour. The incense is a symbol of God’s presence among his people and also used in the prayers that go before God in the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Oil was often a symbol of God’s indwelling. This was removed from this sin offering and only the flour was used.
Before moving to the guilt offerings, there are three notes I want to make. First, God makes provision for the poor in these offerings. Commentators suggest that it was the heart of the one offering the sacrifice that was important versus what was being offered. Second, God does not give details about how much a person should have in order to bring a lamb instead of two turtledoves or fine flour. If a person could afford it, they were expected to bring that sacrifice. To not do so would then show that the person doesn’t have a sense of what they’ve done wrong and this in itself would be a sin before God. Finally, unlike the other sacrifices, confession was required. The person had to admit their wrongdoing in order to be forgiven.
Now we move to the last sacrifices in Leviticus: the guilt offerings. These are described in Leviticus chapter 5 verses 14-19 and chapter 6 verses 1-7. The description in chapter 5 is for when a person “sins unintentionally against the Lord’s holy things.” What did this include? Reading through some commentators, this could happen when a person unintentionally did not make the proper offerings for something that was to be set apart for God. Some examples include: the first fruits, the first born, the tithe, and vowed offerings. In this chapter of Leviticus, we see something different here. God gives two potential ways this could go; if the person KNOWS that they did not make the proper offering, then the person had to offer a ram without blemish from the flock PLUS a 20% penalty that was given to the priest. In this case, God shows that just a sacrifice is not enough. Since the person did not make the proper offerings, they were essentially cheating the priests who relied on these offerings as they did not have a landed inheritance. As a result, restitution needed to be made along with the sacrifice.
The second path this could go is if a person only SUSPECTS that they may have committed a trespass, but are not sure. In this case, the person would bring a ram as an offering but were not required to bring the extra 20%. Again, God forces men to examine their hearts when making the correct offering.
Starting in Chapter 6, God gives the law of what to do if a person takes from another person. It could be done through robbery, losing something entrusted to them, extortion, or finding something that was lost and lying about it. In this case, the guilty party had to pay back what they took plus an extra 20% on the day they made their guilt offering. Then they would sacrifice a ram without defect from the flock and would be forgiven for what they had done.
In Chapter 7, God gives the directions for what to do with the sacrifices of the sin offering and guilt offering. The priest was to offer all the fat, plus the two kidneys and the lobe on the liver.These would all be offered to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering. The blood would then be spread around the altar. The priests could then eat the rest of the offering and it was to be eaten in a holy place. This could have been in the courtyard of the Tabernacle, in the Tent of Meeting, or in some room attached to it used for this purpose.
What I find interesting here is that in the case of the sin against the holy things, the person would have to do it unintentionally. If they did it intentionally, they were to immediately receive the death penalty. An example of this is in the book of Joshua when Achan steals silver from the conquest of Jericho in direct defiance of God’s commands. All the spoils from Jericho were to be kept in a treasury for the Lord, probably for the priests. In willful disobedience, Achan falls prey to temptation and steals some silver and other things. God then causes Israel to fail in their fight against the city of Ai and Achan is found out leading to his and his family’s demise. However, if a person stole from another person, that had to be willful and they were made to give restitution plus the additional penalty. What’s the lesson here? I think it shows that, while it is wrong to sin against each other, it is infinitely worse to sin against the Lord.
On that note, we will close this series on the voluntary sacrifices in the Old Testament. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about these sacrifices and have a better understanding of their purpose, what was included, and how it could relate to us today. If you are enjoying Bible Backdrop, please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating and review. If you want to get in touch with the show, you can e-mail me at BibleBackdrop@gmail.com. Word of mouth is still the best way for this show to get around, so please tell a friend and have them subscribe. Thank you again for listening and have a great week!