15 If anyone is untrue, sinning in error in connection with the holy things of the Lord, let him take his offering to the Lord, a male sheep from the flock, without any mark, of the value fixed by you in silver by shekels, by the scale of the holy place.
Now when you have come into the land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage, and you have made it yours and are living in it; You are to take a part of the first-fruits of the earth, which you get from the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket, and go to the place marked out by the Lord your God, as the resting-place of his name. And you are to come to him who is priest at that time, and say to him, I give witness today before the Lord your God, that I have come into the land which the Lord made an oath to our fathers to give us. Then the priest will take the basket from your hand and put it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. And these are the words which you will say before the Lord your God: My father was a wandering Aramaean, and he went down with a small number of people into Egypt; there he became a great and strong nation: And the Egyptians were cruel to us, crushing us under a hard yoke: And our cry went up to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord's ear was open to the voice of our cry, and his eyes took note of our grief and the crushing weight of our work: And the Lord took us out of Egypt with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm, with works of power and signs and wonders: And he has been our guide to this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now, I have come here with the first of the fruits of the earth which you, O Lord, have given me. Then you will put it down before the Lord your God and give him worship: And you will have joy in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and to your family; and the Levite, and the man from a strange land who is with you, will take part in your joy. When you have taken out a tenth from the tenth of all your produce in the third year, which is the year when this has to be done, give it to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and the child without a father, and the widow, so that they may have food in your towns and be full; And say before the Lord your God, I have taken all the holy things out of my house and have given them to the Levite, and the man from a strange land, and him who has no father, and the widow, as you have given me orders: I have kept in mind all your orders, in nothing have I gone against them: No part of these things has been used for food in a time of weeping, or put away when I was unclean, or given for the dead: I have given ear to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done all you have given me orders to do. So, looking down from your holy place in heaven, send your blessing on your people Israel and on the land which you have given us, as you said in your oath to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
All the first males to come to birth in your herd and your flock are to be holy to the Lord your God: the first birth of your ox is not to be used for work, the wool of your first lamb is not to be cut. But year by year you and all your house are to take a meal of it before the Lord, in the place of his selection.
But let your hearts be turned to the place which will be marked out by the Lord your God, among your tribes, to put his name there; And there you are to take your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up to the Lord, and the offerings of your oaths, and those which you give freely from the impulse of your hearts, and the first births among your herds and your flocks; There you and all your families are to make a feast before the Lord your God, with joy in everything to which you put your hand, because the Lord has given you his blessing. You are not to do things then in the way in which we now do them here, every man as it seems right to him: For you have not come to the rest and the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you have gone over Jordan and are living in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as your heritage, and when he has given you rest from all those on every side who are fighting against you, and you are living there safely; Then there will be a place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name, and there you will take all the things which I give you orders to take: your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up, and the offerings of your oaths which you make to the Lord; And you will be glad before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your men-servants and your women-servants, and the Levite who is with you in your house, because he has no part or heritage among you.
This is to be yours of the most holy things, out of the fire offerings; every offering of theirs, every meal offering and sin-offering, and every offering which they make on account of error, is to be most holy for you and your sons. As most holy things they are to be your food: let every male have them for food; it is to be holy to you. And this is yours: the lifted offering which they give and all the wave offerings of the children of Israel I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as your right for ever: everyone in your house who is clean may have them for food. All the best of the oil and the wine and the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give to the Lord, to you have I given them. The earliest produce from their land which they take to the Lord is to be yours; everyone in your house who is clean may have it for his food. Everything given by oath to the Lord in Israel is to be yours. The first birth of every living thing which is offered to the Lord, of man or beast, is to be yours; but for the first sons of man payment is to be made, and for the first young of unclean beasts. Payment is to be made for these when they are a month old, at the value fixed by you, a price of five shekels by the scale of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel. But no such payment may be made for the first birth of an ox or a sheep or a goat; these are holy: their blood is to be dropped on the altar, and their fat burned for an offering made by fire, a sweet smell to the Lord. Their flesh is to be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and the right leg, it is to be yours. All the lifted offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord, I have given to you and to your sons and to your daughters as a right for ever. This is an agreement made with salt before the Lord, to you and to your seed for ever. And the Lord said to Aaron, You will have no heritage in their land, or any part among them; I am your part and your heritage among the children of Israel. And to the children of Levi I have given as their heritage all the tenths offered in Israel, as payment for the work they do, the work of the Tent of meeting. In future the children of Israel are not to come near the Tent of meeting, so that death may not come to them because of sin. But the Levites are to do the work of the Tent of meeting, and be responsible for errors in connection with it: this is a law for ever through all your generations; and among the children of Israel they will have no heritage. For the tenths which the children of Israel give as a lifted offering to the Lord I have given to the Levites as their heritage. and so I have said to them, Among the children of Israel they will have no heritage. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the Levites, When you take from the children of Israel the tenth which I have given to you from them as your heritage, a tenth part of that tenth is to be offered as an offering lifted up before the Lord. And this lifted offering is to be put to your credit as if it was grain from the grain-floor and wine from the vines. So you are to make an offering lifted up to the Lord from all the tenths which you get from the children of Israel, giving out of it the Lord's lifted offering to Aaron the priest. From everything given to you, let the best of it, the holy part of it, be offered as a lifted offering to the Lord. Say to them, then, When the best of it is lifted up on high, it is to be put to the account of the Levites as the increase of the grain-floor and of the place where the grapes are crushed. It is to be your food, for you and your families in every place: it is your reward for your work in the Tent of meeting. And no sin will be yours on account of it, when the best of it has been lifted up on high; you are not to make a wrong use of the holy things of the children of Israel, so that death may not overtake you.
And if anyone does wrong by saying nothing when he is put under oath as a witness of something he has seen or had knowledge of, then he will be responsible: If anyone becomes unclean through touching unconsciously some unclean thing, such as the dead body of an unclean beast or of unclean cattle or of any unclean animal which goes flat on the earth, he will be responsible:
And if it is a beast of which men make offerings to the Lord, whatever any man gives of such to the Lord will be holy. It may not be changed in any way, a good given for a bad, or a bad for a good; if one beast is changed for another, the two will be holy. And if it is any unclean beast, of which offerings are not made to the Lord, then let him take the beast before the priest; And let the priest put a value on it, if it is good or bad; whatever value the priest puts on it, so will it be. But if he has a desire to get it back for himself, let him give a fifth more than your value. And if a man has given his house as holy to the Lord, then the priest will put a value on it, if it is good or bad; as the priest gives decision so will the value be fixed. And if the owner has a desire to get back his house, let him give a fifth more than your value, and it will be his. And if a man gives to the Lord part of the field which is his property, then let your value be in relation to the seed which is planted in it; a measure of barley grain will be valued at fifty shekels of silver. If he gives his field from the year of Jubilee, the value will be fixed by your decision. But if he gives his field after the year of Jubilee, the amount of the money will be worked out by the priest in relation to the number of years till the coming year of Jubilee, and the necessary amount will be taken off your value. And if the man who has given the field has a desire to get it back, let him give a fifth more than the price at which it was valued and it will be his. But if he has no desire to get it back, or if he has given it for a price to another man, it may not be got back again. But the field, when it becomes free at the year of Jubilee, will be holy to the Lord, as a field given under oath: it will be the property of the priest. And if a man gives to the Lord a field which he has got for money from another, which is not part of his heritage; Then the value fixed by you up to the year of Jubilee will be worked out for him by the priest, and in that day he will give the amount of your value as holy to the Lord. In the year of Jubilee the field will go back to him from whom he got it, that is, to him whose heritage it was. And let all your values be based on the shekel of the holy place, that is, twenty gerahs to the shekel. But a man may not give by oath to the Lord the first-fruits of cattle which are offered to the Lord: if it is an ox or a sheep it is the Lord's. And if it is an unclean beast, then the owner of it may give money to get it back, in agreement with the value fixed by you, by giving a fifth more; or if it is not taken back, let it be given for money in agreement with your valuing. But nothing which a man has given completely to the Lord, out of all his property, of man or beast, or of the land which is his heritage, may be given away or got back in exchange for money; anything completely given is most holy to the Lord. Any man given completely to the Lord may not be got back: he is certainly to be put to death. And every tenth part of the land, of the seed planted, or of the fruit of trees, is holy to the Lord. And if a man has a desire to get back any of the tenth part which he has given, let him give a fifth more. And a tenth part of the herd and of the flock, whatever goes under the rod of the valuer, will be holy to the Lord. He may not make search to see if it is good or bad, or make any changes in it; and if he makes exchange of it for another, the two will be holy; he will not get them back again.
And if by these things you will not be turned to me, but still go against me; Then I will go against you, and I will give you punishment, I myself, seven times for all your sins. And I will send a sword on you to give effect to the punishment of my agreement; and when you come together into your towns I will send disease among you and you will be given up into the hands of your haters. When I take away your bread of life, ten women will be cooking bread in one oven, and your bread will be measured out by weight; you will have food but never enough. And if, after all this, you do not give ear to me, but go against me still,
And my face will be turned from you, and you will be broken before those who are against you, and your haters will become your rulers, and you will go in flight when no man comes after you. And if, even after these things, you will not give ear to me, then I will send you punishment seven times more for your sins.
And I will be present among you and will be your God and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt so that you might not be servants to them; by me the cords of your yoke were broken and I made you go upright.
Keep my Sabbaths and give honour to my holy place: I am the Lord. If you are guided by my rules, and keep my laws and do them, Then I will give you rain at the right time, and the land will give her increase and the trees of the field will give their fruit; And the crushing of the grain will overtake the cutting of the grapes, and the cutting of the grapes will overtake the planting of the seed, and there will be bread in full measure, and you will be living in your land safely. And I will give you peace in the land, and you will take your rest and no one will give you cause for fear; and I will put an end to all evil beasts in the land, and no sword of war will go through your land. And you will put to flight those who are against you, and they will be put to death by your swords. Then five of you will put to flight a hundred, and a hundred of you will put to flight ten thousand, and all who are against you will be put to death by your swords.
And take the best meal and make twelve cakes of it, a fifth part of an ephah in every cake. And put them in two lines, six in a line, on the holy table before the Lord. And on the lines of cakes put clean sweet-smelling spices, for a sign on the bread, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath day regularly, the priest is to put it in order before the Lord: it is offered for the children of Israel, an agreement made for ever. And it will be for Aaron and his sons; they are to take it for food in a holy place: it is the most holy of all the offerings made by fire to the Lord, a rule for ever.
And the Lord said to Moses, Give orders to Aaron and to his sons to keep themselves separate from the holy things of the children of Israel which they give to me, and not to make my holy name common: I am the Lord, Say to them, If any man of all your seed through all your generations, being unclean, comes near the holy things which the children of Israel make holy to the Lord, he will be cut off from before me: I am the Lord. No man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or who has a flow from his body, may take of the holy food till he is clean. And any man touching anything which is unclean because of the dead, or any man whose seed goes from him; Or anyone touching any unclean thing which goes flat on the earth, or someone by whom he may be made unclean in any way whatever; Any person touching any such unclean thing will be unclean till evening, and may not take of the holy food till his flesh has been bathed in water; And when the sun has gone down he will be clean; and after that he may take part in the holy food, because it is his bread. That which comes to a natural death, or is attacked by beasts, he may not take as food, for it will make him unclean: I am the Lord. So then, let them keep what I have put into their care, for fear that sin may come on them because of it, so causing their death because they have made it common: I am the Lord, who make them holy. No outside person may take of the holy food, or one living as a guest in the priest's house, or a servant working for payment. But any person for whom the priest has given money, to make him his, may take of it with him; and those who come to birth in his house may take of his bread. And if the daughter of a priest is married to an outside person she may not take of the holy things which are lifted up as offerings. But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or parted from her husband, and has no child, and has come back to her father's house as when she was a girl, she may take of her father's bread; but no outside person may do so. And if a man takes the holy food in error, he will have to give the holy thing back to the priest, with the addition of a fifth part. And they may not make common the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord, So causing sin to come on them when they take their holy things for food: I am the Lord who make them holy.
Why did you not make a meal of the sin-offering in the holy place? For it is most holy and he has given it to you, so that the sin of the people may be put on it, to take away their sin before the Lord. See, its blood was not taken into the holy place: certainly it was right for you to have taken it as food in the holy place, as I gave orders.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 5
Commentary on Leviticus 5 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 5
Le 5:1. Trespass Offerings for Concealing Knowledge.
1. if a soul … hear the voice of swearing—or, according to some, "the words of adjuration." A proclamation was issued calling any one who could give information, to come before the court and bear testimony to the guilt of a criminal; and the manner in which witnesses were interrogated in the Jewish courts of justice was not by swearing them directly, but adjuring them by reading the words of an oath: "the voice of swearing." The offense, then, for the expiation of which this law provides, was that of a person who neglected or avoided the opportunity of lodging the information which it was in his power to communicate.
Le 5:2, 3. Touching Any Thing Unclean.
2. if a soul touch any unclean thing—A person who, unknown to himself at the time, came in contact with any thing unclean, and either neglected the requisite ceremonies of purification or engaged in the services of religion while under the taint of ceremonial defilement, might be afterwards convinced that he had committed an offense.
Le 5:4-19. For Swearing.
4. if a soul swear—a rash oath, without duly considering the nature and consequences of the oath, perhaps inconsiderately binding himself to do anything wrong, or neglecting to perform a vow to do something good. In all such cases a person might have transgressed one of the divine commandments unwittingly, and have been afterwards brought to a sense of his delinquency.
5. it shall be, when he shall be guilty … that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing—make a voluntary acknowledgment of his sin from the impulse of his own conscience, and before it come to the knowledge of the world. A previous discovery might have subjected him to some degree of punishment from which his spontaneous confession released him, but still he was considered guilty of trespass, to expiate which he was obliged by the ceremonial law to go through certain observances.
6-14. he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sins which he hath sinned—A trespass offering differed from a sin offering in the following respects: that it was appointed for persons who had either done evil unwittingly, or were in doubt as to their own criminality; or felt themselves in such a special situation as required sacrifices of that kind [Brown]. The trespass offering appointed in such cases was a female lamb or kid; if unable to make such an offering, he might bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons—the one to be offered for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering; or if even that was beyond his ability, the law would be satisfied with the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour without oil or frankincense.
15, 16. sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord, &c.—This is a case of sacrilege committed ignorantly, either in not paying the full due of tithes, first-fruits, and similar tribute in eating of meats, which belonged to the priests alone—or he was required, along with the restitution in money, the amount of which was to be determined by the priest, to offer a ram for a trespass offering, as soon as he came to the knowledge of his involuntary fraud.
17-19. if a soul sin … though he wist it not, yet is he guilty—This also refers to holy things, and it differs from the preceding in being one of the doubtful cases,—that is, where conscience suspects, though the understanding be in doubt whether criminality or sin has been committed. The Jewish rabbis give, as an example, the case of a person who, knowing that "the fat of the inwards" is not to be eaten, religiously abstained from the use of it; but should a dish happen to have been at table in which he had reason to suspect some portion of that meat was intermingled, and he had, inadvertently, partaken of that unlawful viand, he was bound to bring a ram as a trespass offering [Le 5:16]. These provisions were all designed to impress the conscience with the sense of responsibility to God and keep alive on the hearts of the people a salutary fear of doing any secret wrong.