Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 5:15-16

15 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:

16 And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

In the last post we talked about the disagreement Bible scholars have as to which infractions were connected to the special trespass offering, and we didn’t really have time to discuss the ritual itself, so today we will address that. This offering required bringing a ram, presumably to be slaughtered in a way similar to what we have seen before, but also a measure of money. The exact amount of money, it would seem, was proportional to the magnitude of the offense. Since, as we discussed previously, we’re not entirely sure the nature of that offense, it is uncertain exactly how and why this fine was calculated.

As already mentioned, the two prevailing theories were that this offering was for cases of violation against the holy things of the tabernacle, or for causing property damage to one’s neighbor. Presumably if the offense was of the first type, the money portion of the offering was added to the temple treasury, then to be used for the maintenance and affairs of the tabernacle. If the offense was of the second type, then verse sixteen seems to be saying that the full price of the damages would be given to the injured party, and then an extra 20 percent. Thus, the money might have been a punitive fine, or it might have been a way of restoring damages. The ram, meanwhile, would have been for spiritual cleansing. Thus, this offering included both spiritual and terrestrial atonement.

SacrificeEligible oblationStepsExplanation
Higher trespass offeringRam, moneyFor special trespass cases
Ram presumably slaughtered and burnedPresumably spiritual cleansing or restoration
Payment of moneyPresumably a fine or restitution of damage
Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 5:14-16

14 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

15 If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:

16 And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

We already spent most of this chapter talking about various minor infractions a person might be guilty of, such as failing to bear testimony in a trial, or touching a carcass, or making a promise and not following through on it. And for all of those, a small offering was proscribed to make things right again.

So why, now, are we hearing about trespass offerings requiring a different sacrifice, one that is more substantial? Most scholars conclude that what we are reading now is actually a new section of law, one that is still related to the trespass offerings already covered but is a special or more egregious case.

And there the similarities end. Different commentaries give considerably different interpretations as to what the exact offense being described is.

Some have focused on the phrase: “in the holy things of the Lord,” which comes from the single Hebrew word: קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh), which means a sacred place or thing. Some have therefore assumed that this is describing an offense against something sacred, such as failure to pay tithes and offerings, or misuse by a priest of those funds. It could also be describing when a person who was already in a compromised state (from any of the acts described at the start of this chapter) entered the tabernacle without recognizing that they were “trespassing” on the sacred space of the Lord.

Still others have focused more on the phrase: “the harm that he hath done,” and supposed that this must mean when an Israelite caused property damages to his fellow man. This interpretation gains more credibility in chapter 6, whose first verses more explicitly describe that situation.

At the end of the day, I am not sure exactly which situation that is being described. In fact, it is entirely possible that verse 15 is giving one example of offense, which is related to the misuse or trespass of sacred things, and verse 16 is giving another, which is related to the harming of a neighbor’s property. In any case, it is clear that this amounts to a special situation, one that requires a different method of purification. I will look over this new purification method tomorrow and update our sacrifice table accordingly, being specific on what parts are clear, and generic on what remains ambiguous.

SacrificeEligible oblationStepsExplanation
Higher trespass offeringRam, moneyFor special trespass cases
Posted on by Abe Austin

Commandments and Personal Revelation- Galatians 3:24-25, 3 Nephi 9:17, Matthew 5:27-28

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
…
For behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled.
…
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

COMMENTARY

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.
In me is the law of Moses fulfilled.
Thus far we have explored the motivation and purposes behind the commandments. The reasons why God gives them to us and the reason why it is in our best interest to follow them.
But the question still remains: just which commandments still apply? The two passages I have mentioned above make clear that there were certain components of the Law of Moses that served as moral training-wheels, strict observations meant to help a generation that did not yet have the benefit of Christ’s ministry and atonement.
In the time of Moses there had not yet been any sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and so they were required to make animal sacrifices in the interim. After Jesus Christ’s atonement the need for those sacrifices then ended.

But…whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery…already in his heart.
But clearly there are elements of the Law of Moses that were not done away with. Rather than dispel the ten commandments and its injunction that “thou shalt not commit adultery” Jesus actually reinforced and expanded that law. So clearly some elements of that law were not intermediary observations, they were universal truths.
Within Christianity alone there are heated debates as to where those lines should be drawn. Seventh Day Adventists maintain that Saturday is still the proper sabbath and other sects say it is Sunday. There then remains further uncertainty as to what the exact point of restriction is on that day. Jesus clearly showed that one need not worry about walking about and serving others, but what about long-distance travel? Exercising? Doing housework? Rough-housing with your kids?

It’s certainly a confusing dilemma. The Pharisees tried to remove any ambiguity by spelling out their rules to an exhaustive degree. Sometimes that might sound like a welcome relief, at least then we would know exactly what we can and cannot do, even if we don’t understand why. I think this is the reason that most of us subscribe to one particular church or another and then just accept the commandments that they give to us. But the fact is that these approaches will never take away all of the ambiguity either. We’ll look into why that is tomorrow.