Telling the Truth and Keeping Promises
Leviticus 5:1-13:
1 ‘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.
2 Or if a person
touches any unclean thing,
whether a carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean cattle or a
carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him and he is
unclean, then he will be guilty.
3 Or if he touches
human uncleanness, of whatever sort his
uncleanness may be with which he
becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty.
4 Or if a person swears
thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man
may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he
comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these.
5 So it shall be
when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in
which he has sinned.
6 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.
7 ‘But if he cannot afford a lamb, then
he shall bring to the Lord his guilt offering for that in
which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the
other for a burnt offering.
8 He shall bring them to the
priest, who shall offer first that which is for the sin offering and shall nip
its head at the front of its neck, but he shall not sever it.
9 He shall also sprinkle some of
the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar,
while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar: it
is a sin offering.
10 The second he shall then
prepare as a burnt offering according to the ordinance. So the priest shall make
atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it will be
forgiven him.
11 ‘But if his means are insufficient for two
turtledoves or two young pigeons, then for his offering for that which he has
sinned, he shall bring the tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin
offering; he shall not put oil on it or place
incense on it, for it is a sin offering.
12 He shall bring it to the
priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as its memorial portion and
offer it up in smoke on the altar, [i]with the offerings of the Lord by fire: it is a sin offering.
13 So the priest shall make
atonement for him concerning his sin which he has [j]committed from one of these, and it will be
forgiven him; then the rest shall become the priest’s,
like the grain offering.’”
Thoughts on the Passage
It would be prudent for us to stop here for a moment and try to get a
better orientation to where we are in the book of Leviticus, as things can
start to get quite complex.
Let me give you a high level perspective of the book:
· Part One (the
first 17 chapters) describe the Laws of Acceptable APPROACH to God
or Sacrifice
· Part Two (the last
17 chapters) describe the Laws of Acceptable WALK with God or Sanctification
Now let us look closer at Part One.
· Part One
o
In chapters 1 to 3, we have described for us the
Laws of Approach to God when a person is IN FELLOWSHIP
§ The Burnt Offering
– 1:1 –1:17
§ The Meal Offering
– 2:1–2:16
§ The Peace Offering
– 3:1–3:17, and that is followed by
o
In chapters 4:1 – 6:7, a description for us of the
Laws of Approach to God when a peson is OUT OF FELLOWSHIP
§ The Sin Offering – 4:1—5:13
§ The Guilt Offering
– 5:14—6:7
o
And that is then followed by a section on the
laws for Administering these Five Offerings (6:8—7:38)
Right now, we are studying the highlighted portion above – The Sin
Offering for when out of fellowship with God.
Chuck Smith boils guilt down to being aware or being made aware of you
doing something that is wrong in God’s eyes.
And when that happens, we need to confess such sin. And a sacrifice
without confession is not sufficient. God can’t deal with sin in our life as
long as we do not confess it, or even if we still want to hold on to parts of
it or make excuses for it. Our confessed
sin allows God to be faithful and forgive us and cleanse us from it.
Verses one to five talk about the need for confession of the sin. Then
the sin offering can be offered, and it requires either a female lamb, or a kid
goat. And if neither of those are affordable, then two turtle doves, or two young
pigeons.
David Guzik focuses on the need for the Israelites to be truthful
witnesses to what they see, with respect to others committing sin or crime.
With all the FakeNews going around these days, people have lost the sense of what
truth is and why it is important.
For Guzik, the text seems to indicate that it isn’t enough to merely not
tell lies. God also requires His people to make the truth known. Several
thoughts come to my mind when I read this.
First, while we can claim much of the Torah’s Laws are not applicable to
us today, there are many principles on which those laws are based that do apply
to us today. This is just one example.
Secondly, what does this principle say to us about ‘speaking up’ when
we know wrong has been done? I believe
there is a role for Christians in this today – be it in the injustices that
take place globally, or nationally, or locally, or in our churches, or in our
families. But we do it with love.
Matthew Henry says that we need to tell the truth in such cases, even
though we may fear offending a friend or possibly an enemy who may harm us. Not
doing so, he says, makes us a partner with the sinner.
And thirdly, we need to be aware that the world has abandoned the idea
of “telling the truth” being an absolute value. You see people lying all the
time – even in court or elsewhere under oath and then getting caught and asking
for forgiveness, really regretting only that they got caught.
And the text says, if we don’t tell the truth that is hidden, we
ourselves bear the guilt. One commentator (Harris) says, “In Israel all the
people were to be involved in seeing that justice was done. Not to witness was
a sin.” What a difference it would make
to the church as a whole, and thus to the world, if we all believed that
today. So many Christians would “rather
just not be involved”. If so, there is
no way of getting around it – they bear the guilt, the Bible says. And Guzik
applies that to our giving witness of our own relationship with Jesus
Christ. Don’t share Him when the
opportunity arises, and you risk bearing the guilt associated with that.
The cleansing associated with the sin offering was also necessary when
someone in the camp became ceremoniously unclean by touching anything that was
unclean (either a carcass of an unclean animal or any human uncleanness). This
was particularly important before someone was to come near or to enter the
court of the Tabernacle.
Verse 4 addresses something that I think should be read over and over. Guzik says it implies that “A careless
promise was still a promise before the Lord and had to be observed. If the
promise was not kept it had to be atoned for by a sin offering. . .. When we
are aware of our broken vows we must repent of them.” Examples include saying
we will pursue more time in prayer; more prayer for others; more time in the
word; more unashamed witnessing; more faithful giving; more patience with our
children; more love to our spouse; and more purity in mind, word, and
deed. Time to confess.
While this may seem like it refers to promises we make to God and then
break (which are done often by all of us, especially when we are going through
difficult times), I believe it also applies to when we break the promises we
make to others – for I do not believe God would have us treat our fellow
Christians and others differently. And
surprisingly, and sadly, I have found in my long career and association with
both business people and clergy, that it is the clergy that often fail
miserably in this regard. They fail to
keep their promises and are many times too proud to even admit it.
Vows and promises are good and sometimes a sign that the Holy Spirit is
working in us. But if not kept, they become a sin in need of confession and repentance. Henry says this also applies to “rash
swearing” or rash promises – especially a promise that would cause the promiser
to break a law or to otherwise sin. By not doing so, he is discharged from the
sin he would have committed, but he still needs to atone for the broken promise
that he made.
Verse 5 indicates that the confession needs to happen at the time the
person realizes his guilt. That’s when he confesses, meaning he agrees with God
that the action taken was a sin or thus wrong.
Guzik also raises the question many of us may not have thought of
before. He says, “When we see how strongly the principle of atonement by
sacrifice is emphasized in the Old Testament, many people wonder why the Jewish
people today no longer make sacrifice. The answer is that they believe their
good works will substitute for animal sacrifice.” Harris backs him up by saying, “Indeed, when
the second temple fell, the rabbis, denied an altar in Jerusalem, came to the
conclusion that gifts and prayers were as acceptable as animal sacrifice.” While
that is a possibility, I would rather hear from a Jew on this issue. So, I
turned to http://www.jewfaq.org/qorbanot.htm
this site and found out that Guzik is on the right track. The only exception
being that Orthodox Jews would like to see this practice return.
Matthew Henry adds more insights to this passage. First that based on verses 5 and 6, the
offering could not occur until the confession was made. Second, that the
confession must be specific (see the end of verse 5). That is backed up in the
case of Achan described later in Joshua 7:20 who said, “I have sinned against
the Lord…and this is what I did.”
It is easy for someone to say, “I am a sinner.” It is much harder to
say, “This is how I have sinned.” And
yet that’s what God requires of us all.
