Guilt Offerings

(Leviticus 5:14- 6:7)

Jehovah then told Moses, "When one of your people unintentionally commits a sin by violating anything that is held sacred by Jehovah, then, as a guilt offering, he must bring for a sacrifice a ram from the flock, one without defect, or else produce an amount of silver sufficient to purchase one.   (The value of the silver will be determined by the weights used at the Tabernacle.)   Damage to any sacred property should paid for, plus a charge of 20%.  This payment should be given to the priest, who will make atonement by means of the guilt offering of the ram, so that the transgressor will then be forgiven.

"If any of you sin unintentional by violating any of Jehovah's commandments and committing acts that have been forbidden, that person is nevertheless guilty and liable to punishment.   He must therefore bring to the priest a ram without defect (or else a quantity of silver to buy one).  Through its sacrifice the priest will make atonement for the inadvertent sin and the transgressor will be forgiven by Jehovah.  This, too, will be a guilt offering, (for that person is guilty of having sinned against Jehovah).

“You have sinned and have betrayed Jehovah if you:

“Deceive or deal falsely with your neighbor in regard to financial matters or to property he has entrusted to your possession,

“Steal from or rob your neighbor,

“Defraud or cheat your neighbor,

“Not admit that you have found lost property,

“Lie or make false claims when you have taken a solemn oath to tell the truth,

“Or commit similar wrongs in dealings with your neighbors. 

"When guilt has been established, the transgressor must return whatever was stolen, acquired by fraud, or obtained by swearing falsely.  He must restore to the owner what was entrusted to him or whatever lost property he may have found and appropriated.  In additional to a full restitution, a payment of 20% above the value of the goods must be given to the owner at the time the guilt offering is made.  This guilt offering should consist of a ram from the flock, one without defect.  The transgressor should present it to the priest or else purchase a ram of equal value.  Through its sacrifice the priest will make atonement for him, and transgressor will be forgiven by Jehovah for the sins he has committed."

Notes
1.  Here we have introduced the legal concept of punitive damages, restitution of stolen or damaged property plus 20% being required.

2. The process of atonement in Leviticus consists of establishment and acknowledgment of guilt, restitution to victims, plus punitive damages, and a sacrifice to Jehovah, with the sacrificial animal furnished by the transgressor and the Jehovan priests doing the bloody deed.  On the other hand, in Christianity, atonement demands repentance on the part of the sinner and a resolve to sin no more.  Instead of the sinner finding forgiveness from Jehovah through a sacrifice, the Christian finds forgiveness through the savior Jesus Christ when he has repented and promises to sin no more.  One gains the impression from Leviticus that sin can be paid for, that as long as a person has an endless supply of rams, he can pretty much sin as often as he likes -- rather like a foul-mouthed person feeding the swear jar.

3. Stealing is mentioned here, because it is not one the Ten Commandments.  I have concluded that the 8th Commandment, famously, but incorrectly translated as "Thou shalt not steal," actually pertains to kidnapping, abducting free men and selling them into slavery.  This makes sense.  Kidnapping is regarded by us as a capital offense, while, except for the case of horse thieving in the Old West, stealing is not.  Abduction and enslavement would have been regarded as a very serious crime by the ancient Hebrews as well, far less an offense than stealing, and worthy of being including as one of the ten worst moral transgressions.  Here the penalty for stealing is merely the restitution of stolen property, plus 20% and a ram sacrifice to Jehovah.

4.  The concept of  "finders, keepers,  losers, weepers," is not accepted here.  One is obligated to return loss property.  To keep such property is rightly regarded as tantamount to stealing.

5.  So far there is no reference to any sort of secular government among the Hebrews.  Criminal as well as moral infractions are dealt with by the priesthood.  Punishment mostly consists of the obligation to make sacrifices, which, if not empowering and enriching the priestly class, does provide it with good meals.

6.  Silver, used here to purchase the sacrificial rams, is regarded as legal tender, although money, in the sense of coinage, would not exist for many hundreds of years.  It is unclear in what form the silver is used in transactions, and whether the reference is anachronistic is moot.     

Instructions Concerning Sin Offerings

(Leviticus 5:1 - 5:13)

"If you are aware of a public inquiry into a crime that you’re a witness to or possess knowledge of and you fail to come forward to give testimony, you are guilty of a crime and are liable to punishment.

"If you are unaware that you’ve exposed yourself to anything ritually impure (whether it be the carcass of an impure wild animal or beast of the field, or even an insect), you have nevertheless become impure and have acquired guilt.  Similarly persons are impure and tainted by guilt if they have exposed themselves unwittingly to human impurity.  And if a person utters a oath thoughtlessly or rashly, whether the purpose be good or bad -- regardless of what the person swears the oath about -- that person is also guilty of a sin.  In all of these cases, the offending person must, when he becomes aware of his guilt, make atonement for the sin he has committed.  This can be done by bringing to the altar of Jehovah a female of the flock, either a goat or a lamb, as a sin offering through which the priest can make atonement for you.

"If you cannot afford a lamb, you may bring to the altar instead two doves or young pigeons to atone for the sin that has been committed -- one for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering.  You should bring them to the priest, who will present the first as a sin offering.  He will wring the bird's neck, but without severing the head from its body.  He will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the Sacrificial Altar and then pour out the remainder of the blood at the base of the altar.  This will be the sin offering.  The second, sacrificed according to proper procedure, will comprise the burnt offering.  In this way the priest will atone for you, and you will be forgiven for the sin you have committed.

"If you cannot afford the two doves or young pigeons, you may bring instead a tenth of a ephah of the finest flour to serve as a sacrifice.  Since this is to be a sin offering, do not put oil or frankincense on it.  You should bring it to the priest, who will scoop out a token amount of flour and place it upon the altar to be burnt with the food offerings made to Jehovah.  This will be a sin offering.  In this way the priest will atone for you, and you will be forgiven for the sin you have committed.  (The remainder of the flour will belong to the priest, as is customary with cereal offerings.)"

Notes
1.  In the first sin/crime mentioned here, the obligation to testify, a compelling moral question is touched upon.  Unfortunately, the text is somewhat ambiguous: it can be read two ways.  (Most translations, being of little help, leave the precise meaning vague.)   In the first rendering, a person that has been called to testify is obligated to tell what he knows about the crime being investigated or judged.  Or, secondly, a person is obligated to come forward, that is, without being summoned, to tell what he knows.  The difference is not insignificant.  I have concluded the latter, more strict interpretation is valid,  that someone witnessing or having knowledge of a crime should not remain silent, but should report all he knows to the authorities.   It is refreshing, amid so much ritualistic nonsense, that the text presents a sound and universally applicable moral principle, even if it seems to place little emphasis on it.

2.  The sinfulness of rash oaths is curious.  One who makes an oath and does not fulfill it is not here condemned, but only one who makes an oath imprudently or inadvertently, perhaps a promise that cannot be fulfilled, a frivolous vow -- it's not clear what is meant.

3.  However inexplicable it may be to moderns, the concept of ritualistic purity seemed to have been quite important to the ancients generally and to practitioners of most primitive religions.  Slaughtering an animal upon an altar in order to make one clean after you've touched a dead animal doesn't derive from sense or logic.  Why not wash your hands instead?

4.  It seems to have been in the interest of the Jehovan religion to create as many sins as possible, so that the priests can be ever busy making sacrifices, keeping the congregation dependent upon their services, and collecting their share of the food offerings.  The abundance and complexity of Jehovan law is calculated less to make worshipers righteous in their behavior than in creating a large number of sinners who will need to seek atonement from a priestly class that is thereby able to maintain a considerable control over the population and maintain an enhanced stature in society.

5.  An ephah is a dry measurement equal to 9 gallons.  One tenth of an ephah, therefore, would be a little less than a gallon --  one heck of a lot of flour.  How much would be burned upon the altar is an open question, but one imagines the priests would want to save for themselves as much of the flour as they could get away with.