Leviticus 5:14-6:7--Laws for Guilt Offerings

Leviticus 5:14-6:7
English Standard Version

Laws for Guilt Offerings
14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 15 “If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. 16 He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.

17 “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. 18 He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the Lord.”

6  The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor 3 or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby-- 4 if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found 5 or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. 6 And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. 7 And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.”

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So now this is interesting...there's a penalty for sin, and there's a price to be paid for reconciliation, but there's also a price to be paid for dealing with guilt?  What is that about and how is it different than what has already been required through the burnt offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings and fellowship/peace offerings?

Apparently, this has to do with desecration or profaning that which is holy (using those things that have a special purpose in the LORD's service for common purposes).  In addition to the sacrifice that needed to be made of a ram (a male goat) without blemish, and a fine of 120% of the value of the thing he had desecrated would also be incurred to be paid in silver according to the sanctuary shekel.  This price is paid to the priest since the violation was against the holy things of the LORD.

Also, this is the kind of offering that would need to be offered for unintentionally breaking any of the Lord's commandments.  They must pay by way of sacrificing a ram from their flock or paying an equal value in silver according to the sanctuary shekel.

Now comes for some of the things that are intentional--scamming or ripping off your neighbor, robbing your neighbor, or oppressing your neighbor, finding your neighbor's possession and lying about it, or giving a false statement (swearing falsely) to your neighbor--in all these cases he must pay back the value of the loss to his neighbor at 120% and make the appropriate sacrifice to the priest.  The price here is paid to the neighbor--it is not paid to the sanctuary's treasury.

So, we do see that there are some intentional sins that we commit whereby at least our guilt can be absolved--though we did not see a sin offering for such sins.  Again, Jesus is the better sacrifice that pays for our sin and takes away our guilt and restores fellowship as well as being our sacrifice of firstfruits because He was the first and the best of a harvest of many that will be made in His likeness.