Tyndale Open Study NotesLeviticus 5

The sin offering is called khatta’t in Hebrew, from the root khata’. It means "to lack, fall short, miss, fail." The people made this offering when they unintentionally violated specific commands of God (see also Numbers 15:22–29). The purpose of this offering was to repair a loss or fix a failure (for example, Leviticus 5:1–4).

Although all Christians sin, God will forgive us if we confess them (Galatians 6:1; 1 John 1:8–9). Yet, the Scripture warns against sinning "defiantly" or "deliberately" (Numbers 15:30–31; Hebrews 10:26–29; 6:4–6).

These verses give examples of sins that required a sin offering (Leviticus 4:2). When a person became aware of committing a wrong, the next step to make it right was to admit the guilt and bring a sin offering.

• The first sin was not testifying when summoned as a witness in court. This verse considers not testifying to be an active sin. This was because it helped the criminal.

• he shall bear the iniquity: Expecting God's punishment for the sin, the guilty person offered a sacrifice to remove the guilt and escape the punishment.

unclean: "Clean" and "unclean" did not relate to hygiene (see Leviticus 11:1–15:33). They referred to whether someone could participate in worship. For animals, it meant if they were suitable for sacrifice or eating. There is a list of ceremonially clean and unclean animals in 11:1–47.

To become ceremonially clean after touching an unclean animal, a person had to wash their clothes. They also had to stay away from the community until evening (11:25). This sin offering probably shows that the person did not follow the rules for cleansing (11:27–28).

Any bodily discharge, including blood, made a person temporarily unclean (chapters Leviticus 11–15). Being ceremonially unclean was not the same as sin. But if someone ignored their unclean state and did not take the required steps, that became sin because it allowed the impurity to spread. Once a person realized they were unclean, they were guilty if they ignored it.

People were allowed to take oaths in the name of the Lord. But making a foolish or careless vow misused the Lord’s name and showed disrespect (Exodus 20:7). For this reason, the law required people to keep the vows they made (see Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21–23; Ecclesiastes 5:4–6).

• If someone incurs guilt: Situations needing a sin offering assumed there was guilt that happened by accident or ignorance. Once someone realized they did something wrong, they became guilty and needed to receive atonement. If someone knew they sinned, they must deal with it. To know what was right and not do it was also a sin (see 5:17; James 4:17).

• confess: Offering a sacrifice for sin without admitting guilt was a pointless ceremony. When presenting the sacrificial animal to the priest, the worshiper probably explained the reason for the offering.

• The required sacrifice fulfilled the penalty (see study note on Leviticus 4:1–5:13).

• The actions described in Leviticus 5:1–5 seem to apply to orindary people, not priests. For this reason, the law allowed the use of a female animal for the offering, following the same principle shown in 4:28, 32.

Poor people also needed to receive atonement and be restored to God. For those who could not afford a lamb, the law allowed them to bring birds instead (Leviticus 5:7; compare 1:14–17). Normally, atonement required the blood of an animal (17:11). But in his grace, God permitted even an offering of flour when a person was too poor to afford two birds (5:11).

a sin offering: This included part as a burnt offering and part given to the priests after they made the offering (compare Leviticus 4:22–35; 6:24–30). Due to their small size, it required two birds (one for each type of offering).

The sin offering was not to include olive oil or frankincense on it. These were necessary for the grain offering, which was a person's gift to the Lord to show worship (see Leviticus 2:1). The sin offering, however, was different. It was meant to make atonement and bring forgiveness, so it had to be offered without anything added.

• will make atonement for him: See study notes on Leviticus 1:4 and 4:20.

• The remainder: See study note on 2:3.

The guilt offering (called ’asham in Hebrew, meaning “guilt”) dealt with cases of property loss or damage. This could be either holy property set apart for God (Leviticus 5:14–16) or ordinary property belong to a person (6:1–7). The offering required both replacement and repayment for the loss (5:16; 6:5).

This offering could be called a “penalty offering” because the ram served as a penalty. It could also be called a “replacement offering” because a person had to replace the loss before offering the ram. In the guilt offering, the loss was not only a failure in God's eyes, as with the sin offering (5:14–6:7). It was also a loss of property to another person or to the sanctuary. Compare Matthew 5:23–24.

• sins unintentionally: Damage to sacred property (objects or land set apart for God) was treated differently from damage to ordinary property. A sacrifice could only restore sacred property if the damage was done by accident. If someone harmed sacred things on purpose, such as vandalizing them, it was considered blasphemy (disrespect toward God).

  As with other deliberate sins, there was no specific way to atone for it (see Numbers 15:30–31). A true believer would not defiantly continue in sin (see 1 John 3:9).

• sanctuary shekel: This was not a coin but a standardized unit of weight. They used it to evaluate the offered ram. Some scholars suggest this text allows substituting the appropriate amount of silver for the ram.

The law required an extra payment of 20 percent to make up for loss or damage to property. If the property was sacred (set apart for God), the extra payment went directly to the priests. Accidental damage to sacred property happened when someone unintentionally ate the sacred offerings or forgot the tithe (Leviticus 22:14; 27:31). A similar additional charge applied when redeeming an animal (27:13, 27).

This paragraph explains the main principles of the guilt offering. Even if someone did not know they did something wrong, they were still guilty and had to give the right guilt offering. This rule applied to both sacred property (set apart for God) and ordinary property (Leviticus 5:14–16; 6:1–7).