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Leviticus
Chapter Five
Leviticus 5
Chapter Contents
Concerning various trespasses. (1-13) Concerning
trespasses against the Lord. (14-19)
Commentary on Leviticus 5:1-13
The offences here noticed are, 1. A man's concealing the
truth, when he was sworn as a witness to speak the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. If, in such a case, for fear of offending one that has
been his friend, or may be his enemy, a man refuses to give evidence, or gives
it but in part, he shall bear his iniquity. And that is a heavy burden, which,
if some course be not taken to get it removed, will sink a man to hell. Let all
that are called at any time to be witnesses, think of this law, and be free and
open in their evidence, and take heed of prevaricating. An oath of the Lord is
a sacred thing, not to be trifled with. 2. A man's touching any thing that was
ceremonially unclean. Though his touching the unclean thing only made him
ceremonially defiled, yet neglecting to wash himself according to the law, was
either carelessness or contempt, and contracted moral guilt. As soon as God, by
his Spirit, convinces our consciences of any sin or duty, we must follow the conviction,
as not ashamed to own our former mistake. 3. Rash swearing, that a man will do
or not do such a thing. As if the performance of his oath afterward prove
unlawful, or what cannot be done. Wisdom and watchfulness beforehand would
prevent these difficulties. In these cases the offender must confess his sin,
and bring his offering; but the offering was not accepted, unless accompanied
with confession and humble prayer for pardon. The confession must be
particular; that he hath sinned in that thing. Deceit lies in generals; many
will own they have sinned, for that all must own; but their sins in any one
particular they are unwilling to allow. The way to be assured of pardon, and
armed against sin for the future, is to confess the exact truth. If any were
very poor, they might bring some flour, and that should be accepted. Thus the
expense of the sin-offering was brought lower than any other, to teach that no
man's poverty shall ever bar the way of his pardon. If the sinner brought two
doves, one was to be offered for a sin-offering, and the other for a
burnt-offering. We must first see that our peace be made with God, and then we
may expect that our services for his glory will be accepted by him. To show the
loathsomeness of sin, the flour, when offered, must not be made grateful to the
taste by oil, or to the smell by frankincense. God, by these sacrifices, spoke
comfort to those who had offended, that they might not despair, nor pine away
in their sins. Likewise caution not to offend any more, remembering how
expensive and troublesome it was to make atonement.
Commentary on Leviticus 5:14-19
Here are offerings to atone for trespasses against a
neighbour. If a man put to his own use unwittingly, any thing dedicated to God,
he was to bring this sacrifice. We are to be jealous over ourselves, to ask
pardon for the sin, and make satisfaction for the wrong, which we do but
suspect ourselves guilty of. The law of God is so very broad, the occasions of
sin in this guilty of. The law of God is so very broad, the occasions of sin in
this world are so numerous, and we are so prone to evil, that we need to fear
always, and to pray always, that we may be kept from sin. Also we should look
before us at every step. The true Christian daily pleads guilty before God, and
seeks forgiveness through the blood of Christ. And the gospel salvation is so
free, that the poorest is not shut out; and so full, that the most burdened
conscience may find relief from it. Yet the evil of sin is so displayed as to
cause every pardoned sinner to abhor and dread it.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Leviticus》
Leviticus 5
Verse 1
[1] And
if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he
hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his
iniquity.
And hear —
And for that is, as that particle is often used. For this declares in
particular what the sin was. Or, namely, that of cursing, or blasphemy, or
execration, as the word commonly signifies, and that either against one's
neighbour, or against God. This may seem to be principally intended here,
because the crime spoken of is of so high a nature, that he who heard it, was
obliged to reveal it, and prosecute the guilty.
He hath seen —
Been present when it was said.
Or known — By
sufficient information from others.
His iniquity —
That is, the punishment of it; so that word is oft used, as Genesis 19:15; Numbers 18:1.
Verse 2
[2] Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an
unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean
creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and
guilty.
If it be hidden from him — If he do it unawares, yet that would not excuse him, because he should
have been more circumspect to avoid all unclean things. Hereby God designed to
awaken men to watchfulness against, and repentance for, their unknown, or
unobserved sins.
He shall be clean — Not
morally, for the conscience was not directly polluted by these things, but
ceremonially.
Verse 3
[3] Or
if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man
shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he
shall be guilty.
When he knoweth — As
soon as he knoweth it, he must not delay to make his peace with God.
Otherwise he shall be guilty — For his violation and contempt of God's authority and command.
Verse 4
[4] Or
if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good,
whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from
him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these.
If a soul swear —
Rashly, without consideration either of God's law, or his own power or right,
as David did, 1 Samuel 25:22.
To do evil — To
himself, to punish himself either in his body, or estate, or something else
which is dear to him. Or rather to his neighbour.
And it be hid from him — That is, he did not know, or not consider, that what he swore to do, was
or would be impossible, or unlawful: When he discovers it to be so, either by
his own consideration, or by information from others, whether it was good or
evil which he swore to do.
Verse 5
[5] And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he
shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:
In one of these things — In one of the three forementioned cases, either by sinful silence, or by
an unclean touch, or by rash swearing.
He shall confess —
Before the Lord in the place of public worship. And this confession is not to
be restrained to the present case, but by a parity of reason, and comparing of
other scriptures, to be extended to other sacrifices for sin, to which this was
a constant companion.
Verse 6
[6] And
he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he hath
sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin
offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.
His trespass-offering — But how comes confession and a sacrifice to be necessary for him that
touched an unclean thing, when such persons were cleansed with simple washing,
as appears from Leviticus 11:25,28,32,40,43, and Numbers 19:7,8,10,19? This place speaks of him
that being so unclean did come into the tabernacle, as may be gathered by
comparing this place with Numbers 19:13, which if any man did, knowing
himself to be unclean, which was the case there, he was to be cut off for it;
and if he did it ignorantly, which is the case here, he was upon discovery of
it to offer this sacrifice.
Verse 7
[7] And
if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which
he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one
for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.
Not able —
Through poverty. And this exception was allowed also in other sin-offerings.
For a sin-offering —
Which was for that particular sin, and therefore offered first: before the
burnt-offering, which was for sins in general; to teach us not to rest in
general confessions and repentance, but distinctly and particularly, as far as
we can, to search out, and confess, and loath, and leave our particular sins,
without which God will not accept our other religious services.
Verse 9
[9] And
he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar;
and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is
a sin offering.
It is a sin-offering — This is added as the reason why its blood was so sprinkled and spilt.
Verse 10
[10] And
he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and
the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned,
and it shall be forgiven him.
According to the manner — Or order appointed by God.
The priest shall make an atonement — Either declaratively, he shall pronounce him to be pardoned; or
typically, with respect to Christ.
Verse 11
[11] But
if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that
sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour
for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any
frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.
The tenth part of an ephah — About six pints.
He shall put no oil, neither frankincense — Either to distinguish these from the meal-offerings, Leviticus 2:1, or as a fit expression of their
sorrow for their sins, in the sense whereof they were to abstain from things
pleasant; or to signify that by his sins he deserved to be utterly deprived
both of the oil of gladness, the gifts, graces and comforts of the Holy Ghost;
and of God's gracious acceptance of his prayers and sacrifices, which is
signified by incense, Psalms 141:2.
Verse 13
[13] And
the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath
sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be
the priest's, as a meat offering.
As a meal offering — As
it was in the meal-offering, where all, except one handful, fell to the share
of the priests. And this is the rather mentioned here, because in the foregoing
sacrifices, Leviticus 4:3, etc. Leviticus 4:13, etc. the priest had no part
reserved for him.
Verse 15
[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:
A trespass —
Against the Lord and his priests.
Through ignorance —
For if a man did it knowingly, he was to be cut off, Numbers 15:30.
In the holy things — In
things consecrated to God, and to holy uses; such as tithes and first-fruits,
or any things due, or devoted to God, which possibly a man might either
with-hold, or employ to some common use.
A ram — A
more chargeable sacrifice than the former, as the sin of sacrilege was greater.
With thy estimation — As
thou shalt esteem or rate it, thou, O priest; and at present, thou, O Moses,
for he as yet performed the priest's part. And this was an additional charge
and punishment to him; besides the ram, he was to pay for the holy thing which
he had with-held or abused, so many shekels of silver as the priest should
esteem proportionable to it.
Verse 17
[17] And
if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by
the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and
shall bear his iniquity.
The former law concerns the alienation of
holy things from sacred to common use; this may concern other miscarriages
about holy things, and holy duties, as may be gathered from Leviticus 5:19, where this is said to be a
trespass against the Lord, not in a general sense, for so every sin was; but in
a proper and peculiar sense.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Leviticus》
05 Chapter 5
Verse 1
If he do not utter it.
Of the difference between these laws in the fifth and those in the
fourth chapter
1. The former laws seem to concern the Israelites specially, where it
said (verse 27), “If any people of the land”; but these concern all whomsoever
they see or know to offend.
2. The sins of ignorance there are propounded generally, here
instance is given in some special and particular sins.
3. There sins are mentioned which a man committeth by himself, here
such as are done by others whereby one may be defiled.
4. Beside these laws are set forth without any distinction of
persons, as in the former chapter of the priest, the congregation, and prince,
because the vulgar people are here understood, every law beginning thus, “If
any soul,” as Leviticus 4:27. “If any soul of the
people,” by this phrase, then, are meant of private persons of the vulgar sort;
as for the special persons as of the priest and prince, they must be understood
here as in the former laws to make satisfaction for these sins also with the
rite proscribed in their privileges.
5. Add hereunto the reason which is yielded by Tostatus that whereas
sins of ignorance are incident both unto the priest, prince, and people, and
differ in degree according to the quality of their persons, as it is more
grievous for the high priest to fall by error or ignorance than the
congregation, and for them rather than the prince, yet for sins committed of
malice and passion there cannot be the like difference, for the whole multitude
cannot offend in passion as of ignorance as a particular person may (Leviticus 4:1). But I resolve rather with
Cajetane, that these laws are specially understood of private persons, and of
private offences.
6. And this further difference there is between the sins rehearsed in
this chapter and the former--that there the sins of ignorance are by name
expressed, here such as proceed of passion; which kind of sins must be
understood with some kind of limitation, for there is no sin committed, though
of malice, but there is some passion in it, as he which for fear or hope of
reward forsweareth himself is led by some passion, yet it cannot properly be
called a sin of passion.
Sins of silence
The spiritual truth underlying the Mosaic law is that man is under
the direct eye of God, and his life is, therefore, lifted into direct
responsibility to God. God sees us, and God sees everything about us and within
us. Sins of silence and secrecy, sins of public error and notoriety, which go
before a man to judgment, are alike open and naked to Him with whom we have to
do. Moses taught that the life of the meanest man fulfilled itself under the
open eye of heaven. He was no mere atom in the human ant-hill, no insignificant
unit of humanity, lost in the vast ebb and flow of universal life, for
insignificance is impossible to man, and obscurity is denied him. He was a
person, active, powerful, working woe or weal to others; and just as the
calling of a man’s voice, or the footfall of a child’s step, stir the waves of
sound which travel onward and ever onward, till they may be said to break upon
the shores of the furthest stars, so the influences of a man’s life are
boundless. This passage is a striking illustration of these principles. It
recognises that sin may lie in silence as in speech, that to hear the word of
swearing and not rebuke it is to share the guilt of it; that men are
responsible to each other because they are responsible to God. There are three
forces in human life, the action of which is illustrated by this passage.
I. The first is
influence--that intangible personal atmosphere which clothes every man, an
invisible belt of magnetism, as it were, which he carries with him. Every human
being seems to possess a moral atmosphere quite peculiar to himself, which
invests and interprets him, and the presence of which others readily detect.
For instance, a pure woman carries a moral and ennobling atmosphere with her.
The atmosphere which clothes her seems to flood the room, and the coarse weeds
of vicious thought and talk cannot thrive in it. Or look on the other side of
the illustration. Picture a type of man but too common--the fast man of
society. There is an exhalation of evil which goes before him and spreads
around him. That is influence: something subtle, indefinable, yet real; without
lips, yet speaking; without visible shape, yet acting with tremendous potency,
like the magnetic forces which throb and travel unseen around us, bidden in the
dewdrop and uttered in the thunder; influence, which streams out from every
human being, and shapes others, and moulds and makes them; influence, which is
stronger than action, more eloquent than speech, more enduring than life, which
being holy sows the centuries with the seeds of holy life, and being evil
multiplies, indeed, transgressors in the earth!
II. The second
force is example. Every man sets a copy for his neighbour, and his neighbour is
quick to reproduce it. The covetous man has a miser for his son, the light
woman has a daughter hastening towards the ways of shame, the drunkard infects
a whole neighbourhood with his vices.
III. And then, from
influence and example there results responsibility. You can as easily evade the
law of gravitation as the law of human responsibility. If you cease to speak
that will not rid you of the burden; you must cease to be to do that. Nay, even
death itself is powerless to destroy influence. Often it multiplies it a
thousandfold. Is the life of the heroes, the patriots, the martyrs really
closed? They were never so much alive as now; the fire that slew them freed
them, and the steps of their scaffolds were the staircase of immortality. Thus
influence and example bring with them responsibility to God and responsibility
to man.
IV. Let us mark
further the precise way in which these forces work.
1. First, it is clear that personal sin always involves others. “If a
man hear the voice of swearing,” if he even knows of it, he shares the
complicity of the sin. There is always some one who hears, who witnesses, who
shares. Here is the most tragic and awful aspect of sin--we share our sins! We
have involved others in our guilt, and if we forget they will go remembering.
It is well that thou shouldest stand in God’s house to-day, clothed with
decorous reverence, unsuspected, and with no scar of fire upon thee; but what
of the poor soiled body of that other one, the sharer of thy sin and shame? For
there is a dreadful comradeship in guilt--often intentional, for men love
company in their sins, but often unintentional, for others share what they
concealed and know what they did secretly. It is the most appalling aspect sin
assumes; it is never sterile, it is always multiplying and prolific, passing
like a fever-taint from man to man; till from one sin a world is infected and
corrupt.
2. Notice again, that he who sees a sin and does not rebuke it shares
the sin and bears its iniquity. The only way to purge one’s self of the
contaminating complicity of another man’s guilt is instantly to witness against
it. There is no other course open to a spiritual honesty.
The sin of conniving at wrong-doings
I. That the sins
of men cannot evade witnesses. An old writer has forcibly said “that to every
sin there must be at least two witnesses,” viz., “a man’s own conscience and
the great God.”
II. That it is the
duty of witnesses to give evidence when justice demands it. When a witness
heard the words of adjuration he was required at the proper place to give the
needed information. It was his duty because--
III. That in
concealing evidence against sin we involve ourselves in serious guilt. The
guilt of concealing evidence is seen, in that by so doing we--
1. Dishonour God’s voice, which speaks within us.
2. Disobey God’s published laws.
3. Decrease our own antipathy to sin.
4. Encourage the trespasser in his wrong-doing. All sin ought to be
acknowledged and expiated for the sake of the sinner and the wronged. (F. W.
Brown.)
Lessons
1. Not to conceal, or consent to other men’s sins.
2. God’s dishonour not to be endured.
3. Confession of our sins unto God necessary (Leviticus 5:5). This is the beginning of
amendment.
4. Against negligent hearers of the Word (Leviticus 5:15).
5. Against sacrilege.
6. To take hold of the sleights and subtle temptations of Satan.
7. To appear before the Lord in sincerity and simplicity of heart. (A.
Willet, D. D.)
The voice of swearing repudiated
When the late Rev. Mr. K--was settled in his congregation of S--,
they could not furnish him with lodgings. In these circumstances, a Captain
P--, in the neighbourhood, though a stranger to religion, took him into his
family. But our young clergyman soon found himself in very unpleasant
circumstances, owing to the captain’s practice of swearing. One day at table,
after a very liberal volley of oaths from the captain, he observed calmly,
“Captain, you have certainly made use of a number of very improper terms.” The
captain, who was rather a choleric man, was instantly in a blaze. “Pray, sir,
what improper terms have I used? Surely, captain, you must know,” replied the
clergyman with greater coolness; “and having already put me to the pain of
hearing them, you cannot be in earnest in imposing upon me the additional pain
of repeating them.” “You are right, sir,” resumed the captain, “you are right.
Support your character, and we will respect you. We have a parcel of clergymen
around us here who seem quite uneasy till they get us to understand that we may
use any freedom we please before them, and we despise them.”
Guilty silence deplored and amended
Kilstein, a pious German minister, once heard a labouring man use
the most awful curses and imprecations in a fit of passion, without reproving
him for it. This so troubled him that he could scarcely sleep the following
night. In the morning he arose early, soon saw the man coming along, and
addressed him as follows: “My friend, it is you I am waiting to see.” “You are
mistaken,” replied the man; “you have never seen me before.” “Yes, I saw you
yesterday,” said Kilstein, “whilst returning from your work, and heard you praying.”
“What! heard me pray?” said the man. “I am sure now that you are mistaken, for
I never prayed in my life.” “And yet,” calmly but earnestly replied the
minister, “if God had heard your prayer, you would not be here, but in hell;
for I heard you beseeching God that He might strike you with blindness and
condemn you unto hell fire.” The man turned pale, and trembling said: “Dear
sir, do you call this prayer? Yes, it is true, I did this very thing.” “Now, my
friend,” continued Kilstein, “as you acknowledge it, it is my duty to beseech
you to seek with the same earnestness the salvation of your soul as you have
hitherto its damnation, and I will pray to God that He will have mercy upon
you.” From this time the man regularly attended upon the ministry of Kilstein,
and ere long was brought in humble repentance to Christ as a true believer. “A
word in season how good it is.” “Be instant in season and out of season;
rebuke, reprove, exhort, with all long-suffering and patience.”
Sister Dora’s noble rebuke of swearing
Sister Dora was once travelling, as usual, third class, when a
number of half-drunken navvies got in after her, and before she could change
her carriage the train was in motion. She recollected that her dress, a black
gown and cloak, with a quiet black bonnet and veil, would probably, as on
former encounters with half-intoxicated men, protect her from insult. Her fellow-travellers
began to talk, and at last one of them swore several blasphemous oaths. Sister
Dora’s whole soul burnt within her, and she thought, “Shall I sit and hear
this?” but then came the reflection, “What will they do to me if I interfere?”
and this dread kept her quiet a moment or two longer. But the language became
more and more violent, and it passed through her mind, “What must these men
think of any woman who can sit by and hear such words unmoved; but, above all,
what will they think of a woman in my dress who is afraid to speak to them?” At
once she stood up her full height in the carriage and called out loudly, “I
will not hear the Master whom I serve spoken of in this way.” Immediately they
dragged her down into her seat, with a torrent of oaths, and one of the most
violent roared, “Hold your jaw, you fool; do you want your face smashed in?”
They held her down on the seat between them; nor did she attempt to struggle,
satisfied with having made her open protest. At the next station they let her
go, and she quickly got out of the carriage. A minute after, while she was
standing on the platform, she heard a rough voice behind her, “Shake hands,
mum! you’re a good-plucked one, you are! You were right and we were wrong.” She
gave her hand to the man, who hurried away, for fear, no doubt, that his
comrades should jeer at him.
Sins of ignorance classified
If we compare the fourth and the sixth chapters of Leviticus, it
is very evident that the first broad distinction between them is that the former treats of sins
committed ignorantly, the latter of sins committed knowingly. The division,
however, into sins ignorantly, and sins knowingly committed, is not alone
sufficient. Sins committed ignorantly, greatly vary, not only in the degree,
but also in the kind of ignorance; and for such ignorance, we may be in
different degrees responsible. In order, therefore, to mark that such
differences are appreciated by God, and that He desires that we, too, should
appreciate them, various classifications of sins of ignorance are given in the
fifth chapter; in some of which there is so much of self-caused ignorance that
they very nearly approach, in the character of their guilt, to sins knowingly
committed, Indeed in the first example given in the fifth chapter, there is so
much that is voluntary in the action supposed, that we may perhaps wonder how
such an action can at all be placed in the same rank with sins of ignorance.
The case supposed is that of a person, who having committed a sin, and being
adjured to declare it, refuses. It is evident that terror, or forgetfulness, or
carelessness, or some plausible sophistry whereby we may deceive ourselves into
the belief that our particular case is an exception to the general rule, may
prevent such a sin from being committed with the deliberate voluntariness that
marks the trespasses of the sixth chapter. But it stands in striking contrast
with sins that spring from that deep universal ignorance which characterises
the sins of the fourth chapter. The second case is that of unconsciously
touching something that is unclean. Here, again, there is evidently no
ignorance of any general principle. The ignorance concerns a specific fact, and
is, more or less, the result of carelessness or failure in applying the tests
which we possess. There are, however, cases in which ignorance of particulars
is the immediate result of being imbued with false general principles. He whose
mind has been from his youth up trained in the school of error, and thence
received principles which have formed his habits of thought and action, will be
found very incapable of determining what is clean or unclean in the particulars
of action. The eye of his conscience is blinded; his moral sense is paralysed.
The wandering or inattentive eye may be recalled to observation; the slumbering
eye may be aroused; but how can we gain the attention of an eye, over which the
film of thick darkness has firmly formed? Sins committed in such darkness as
this would properly be traced to ignorance as their root, and would be classed
with the sins of the fifth chapter, requiring the sin-offering as there
described. (B. W. Newton.)
Complacent ignorance
Transgression may ensue from lack of knowledge that such conduct
is forbidden; or it may be that, knowing the prohibition, disobedience is
speciously excused on some vague plea that circumstances warrant it or
expediency condones it In such cases ignorance, if it be really ignorance at
all, is self-induced, and is therefore the more culpable. Amid such
reprehensible forms of ignorance may be placed--
I. Carelessness;
the mind too placid to rouse itself to inquiry.
II. Indiscrimination;
the habit of ignoring vital principles and conniving at inconsistencies.
III. Self-excusing;
finding exceptional circumstances which extenuate faults and condone
misconduct.
IV. Neglect of
scripture; not “coming to the light lest their deeds should be reproved” (John 3:20).
V. Satisfaction
with a state of conscious darkness; indifference to precise regulations of
religion, indisposition of heart towards “perfect holiness”; a loose and easy
content over failings and negligence. Ignorance is by some persons consciously
cherished: it allows them a covert from the exactions of a lofty and honest
piety.
VI. Plausible
sophistry; entertaining the delusion that because there is not determined
wilfulness in sinning, Or not fullest knowledge of God’s prohibitions of sin,
they are less responsible, less to be condemned. Note: Many persons, trained
from youth in a school of error, grow up with false principles dominating their
judgments and consciences, or with ignorance of the application of right
principles to particular incidents and actions. Thus Luther, trained amid the
blinding theories of Romanism, groped on till manhood in delusions and dimness.
Thus Paul, brought up amid the traditions of Judaism, found his soul clouded
with wholly wrong thoughts concerning what was “doing God service.” It is our
duty to undeceive ourselves, to inquire after knowledge, to seek full light,
that our dimness may yield to discernment. A complacent ignorance is as the
softly gliding stream which flows onwards to the rapids. To be able to rest in
such self-satisfied ignorance indicates that self-delusion has began,
portending doom. “Whom the gods would destroy they first dement.”
1. Search the Scriptures.
2. Seek the Spirit’s illumination.
3. Culture a pure and enlightened conscience.
4. Exercise the judgment and will in efforts to “cease from evil and
learn to do well.” (W. H. Jellie.)
Adjuration
Our translation suggests, if it suggests at all, a very obscure
and imperfect meaning. It is not, “If a soul hear a person swear, and do not
rebuke the swearer, or tell of the swearer,” which seems to be suggested by our
version; but, If a person summoned to a court of law, under the ancient Jewish
economy, adjured by the officiating judge to tell the truth, should not so tell
the truth, and all that he knew, then he should be guilty. We have an
illustration of this verse in such a passage as that where the high priest came
to our blessed Lord, as recorded in Matthew 26:63, and said, “I adjure thee
by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of
God.” Now, that was the high priest acting upon the first verse of this very
chapter. And our Lord then heard what is called “the swearing” in this verse,
or what in that case was the adjuration of the high priest; and as you notice, so
obedient was the true Lamb, the true Saviour, to all the requirements of the
ceremonial law, that though He had been dumb when asked previously, yet the
moment that the high priest adjured Him, that moment, in obedience to the first
verse of this chapter, our blessed Lord answered the question addressed to Him;
as if it was impossible that He could fail in the observance of the least jot
or tittle of the ceremonial law, any more than in the weightiest requirement of
God’s moral law. We have in Proverbs 29:1-27. an allusion to this:
“He heareth an adjuration, and telleth not,”--that is laid down as a sin, or,
in other words, the violation of this verse. (J. C. Cumming, D. D.)
Verse 2
He also shall be unclean.
Moral contagion
This avoidance of unclean animals and places is not without
practical illustration in our own personal experience and action. To-day, for
example, we avoid places that are known to be fever-stricken. We are alarmed
lest we should bring ourselves within the influence of contagion. The strongest
man might fear if he knew that a letter were put into his hand which had come
from a house where fever was fatally raging. However heroic he might be in
sentiment, and however inclined to boast of the solidity of his nervous system,
it is not impossible that even the strongest man might shrink from taking the
hand of a fever-stricken friend. All this is natural and all this is
justifiable, and, in fact, any defiance of this would be unnatural and
unjustifiable. Is there, then, no suggestion in all such rational caution that
there may be moral danger from moral contagion? Can a body emit pestilence and
a soul dwell in all evil and riot in all wantonness without giving out an
effluvium fatal to moral vigour and to spiritual health? The suggestion is
preposterous. They are the unwise and most reprehensible men who being afraid
of a fever have no fear of a moral pestilence; who running away in mortal
terror from influences leading towards small-pox, cholera, and other fatal
diseases, rush into companionships, and actions, and servitudes which are
positively steeped and saturated with moral pollution. That we are more
affected by the one than by the other only shows that we are more body than
soul. Literally, the text does not refer in all probability to a purely
spiritual action, yet not the less is the suggestion justified by experience
that even the
soul considered in its most spiritual sense may touch things that are unclean
and may be defiled by them. A poor thing indeed that the hand has kept itself
away from pollution and defilement if the mind has opened wide all the points
of access to the influence of evil. Sin may not only be in the hand, it may be
roiled as a sweet morsel under the tongue. There may be a chamber of imagery in
the heart, i man
may be utterly without offence in any social acceptation of that term--actually
a friend of magistrates and judges, and himself a high interpreter of the law
of social morality and honour, and yet all the while may be hiding a very
perdition in his heart. It is the characteristic mystery of the salvation of
Jesus Christ that it does not come to remove stains upon the flesh or spots
upon the garments, but to work out an utter and eternal cleansing in the secret
places of the soul, so that the heart itself may in the event be without “spot
or wrinkle or any such thing”--pure, holy, radiant, even dazzling with light,
fit to be looked upon by the very eye of God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Dread of defilement
Pierius Valerianus, in his book of Egyptian Hieroglyphics, maketh
mention of a kind of white mouse, called the Armenian mouse, being of such a
cleanly disposition, that it will rather die than be any way defiled, so that
the passage into her hole being besmeared with any filth, she will rather
expose herself to the mercy of her cruel enemy, than any way seek to save her
life by passing so foul an entrance. (J. Spencer.)
Defilement to be avoided
Men have looked into the crater of a volcano to see what was
there, and going down to explore, without coming back to report progress. Many
and many a man has gone to see what was in hell, that did see it. Many and many
a man has looked to see what was in the cup, and routed a viper coiled up
therein. Many and many a man has gone into the house of lust, and found that
the ends thereof were death--bitter, rotten death. Many and many a man has
sought to learn something of the evils of gambling, and learned it to his own
ruin. And I say to every man, the more you know about these things the more you
ought to be ashamed of knowing; a knowledge of them is not necessary to
education or manhood; and they ought to be avoided, because when a man has once
fallen into them, the way out is so steep and hard. (H. W. Beecher.)
Verse 5
He shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing.
Sin must be fully confessed
Cover sin over as much as we may, and smother it down as carefully
as we can, it will break out. Many years ago the packet ship Poland was
bound for Havre, with a cargo of cotton on board. By some singular accident the
cotton took fire clear down in the hold. The captain, finding that he could not
reach the fire, undertook to smother it; but in vain. Then he caulked down the
hatchways; but the deck grew so hot that neither passengers nor crew could
stand on it. At length he fired a signal gun in distress, put all his people
into the boats, and left the doomed ship to her fate. He watched her as she
ploughed gallantly through the waves, with all her canvas on; but ere she sunk
below the horizon, the fire burst forth in a sheet of flame to the mast-head.
That ill-fated packet, carrying the fatal fire in her own hold, is a vivid
picture of the moral condition of thousands of men and women. They cover
their sins by all manner of concealments; they batten down the hatchways with a
show of respectability, and, alas! sometimes with an outward profession of
religion; but the deadly thing remains underneath in the heart, and if it does
not burst forth in this world, it will in the next. Probably this reveals the
reason why some Church members are so constantly halting and stumbling and fall
so easily into backsliding. Their “first works” of repentance and confession to
God were shallow. (T. L. Cuyler.)
Particular sins must be confessed
Physicians meeting with diseased bodies, when they find a
general distemperature, they labour by all the art they can to draw the humour
to another place, and then they break it, and bring out all the corruptions
that way; all which is done for the better ease of the patient. Even so must
all of us do when we have a general and confused sorrow for our sins; i.e.,
labour as much as may be to draw them into particulars; as to say, In this
and in this, at such and such a time, on such an occasion, and in such a place,
I have sinned against my God; for it is not enough for a man to be sorrowful in
the general, because he is a sinner; but he must draw himself out into
particulars, in what manner, and with what sins he hath displeased God,
otherwise he may deceive his own soul. (J. Spencer.)
Verses 14-19
If a soul commit a trespass.
The trespass-offering
I. As to the
distinctive character of this offering.
1. It was not a “sweet savour” offering. Christ is here seen
suffering for sins; the view of His work is expiatory.
2. It was a trespass as distinct from a sin-offering. Not the person,
but the act of wrong-doing, is the point noticed and dwelt upon. And how solemn
is the truth here taught us, that neither our conscience, nor our measure of
light, nor our ability, but the truth of God, is the standard by which both sin
and trespass are to be measured. “Though he wist it not, yet is he guilty; he
hath certainly trespassed against the Lord.” If man’s conscience or man’s light
were the standard, each man might have a different rule. And, at this rate,
right or wrong, good or evil, would depend, not upon God’s truth, but on the
creature’s apprehension of it. At this rate, the filthiest of unclean beasts
could not be convicted of uncleanness, while it could plead that it had no
apprehension of that which was pure and seemly. But we do not judge thus in the
things of this world; neither does God judge so in the things of heaven. Who
argues that because swine are filthy, therefore the standard of cleanliness is
to be set by their perceptions or ability; or that because they seem
unconscious of their state, therefore the distinction between what is clean and
unclean must be relinquished. No: we judge not by their perceptions, but our
own; with our light and knowledge, not their ignorance, as our standard.
3. In the trespass-offering we get restitution, furl restitution for
the original wrong. The amount of the injury, according to the priest’s
valuation of it, is paid in shekels of the sanctuary to the injured person. The
thought here is not that trespass is punished, but that the injured party is
repaid the wrong. The payment was in shekels: these “shekels of the sanctuary”
were the appointed standard by which God’s rights were measured; as it is said,
“And all thy estimation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary.”
Thus they represent the truest measure, God’s standard by which He weighs all
things. By this standard the trespass is weighed, and then the value paid to
the injured person. And God and man, though wronged by trespass, each receive
as much again from man in Christ through the trespass-offering. Whether honour,
service, worship, or obedience, whatever God could claim, whatever man could
rob Him of, all this has He received again from man in Christ, “according to
the priest’s estimation in shekels of the sanctuary.” But man also was injured
by trespass; and he, too, receives as much again. Christ for man as offerer of
the trespass-offering, must offer to injured man the value of the original
injury. And such as accept His offering find their loss through man’s trespass
more than paid. Has trespass wronged man of life, peace, or gladness, he may
claim and receive through Christ repayment. For man to man, as for man to God,
Christ stands the One in whom man’s wrongs are remedied.
4. But this is not all. Not only is the original wrong paid, but a
fifth part more is paid with it in the trespass-offering. Who would have
thought that from the entrance of trespass, both God and man should in the end
be gainers? But so it is. From man in Christ both God and man have received
back more than they were robbed of. In this sense, “where sin abounded,” yea,
and because sin abounded,
“grace did more abound.”
II. The varieties
or grades in this offering. These are fewer than in any other offering, teaching
us that those who apprehended this aspect of Christ’s work, will apprehend it
all very much alike. It will be remembered that in the sin-offering the
varieties were most numerous and that because sin in us may be, and is, so
differently apprehended; but trespass, the act of wrong committed, if seen at
all, can scarce be seen differently. Accordingly, we find but one small variety
in the trespass-offering, for I can scarce regard the two different aspects of
trespass as varieties. These aspects are, first, trespasses against God, and
then trespasses against our neighbour; but this distinction is more like the
difference between the offerings than the varieties in different grades of the
same. It simply points out distinct bearings of trespass, for which in each
case the atonement seen is precisely similar. There is, however, one small yet
remarkable difference between the two grades of the offering for wrongs in holy
things. In the first grade, which gives us the fullest view of the offering, we
read of the life laid down, the restitution made, and the fifth part added. But
in the lower class, the last of these is unnoticed: “the fifth part” is quite
unseen. And how true this is in the experience of Christians. Where the measure
of apprehension is full, there not only the life laid down, and the restitution
made in the trespass-offering, but all the truth also which is caught in the
“fifth part,” will be seen as a consequence of trespass and a part of the trespass-offering.
Not so, however, where the apprehension is limited: here there is no addition
seen beyond the amount of the original trespass. (A. Jukes.)
The trespass-offering; or, substitution and restitution
I. The
trespass-offering (or guilt-offering, R.V.) refers more especially to the evil
actions which are the outcome of our corrupt nature: while the sin that is
inherent in that nature, as descendants of fallen Adam, is fully met in the
sin-offering--last considered. The evil deeds, or sins, met by the trespass-offering
may be thus divided--as against God and against man.
II. “a trespass . .
. through ignorance, in the holy things of the lord,” is the first mentioned.
Here there is a similarity to the sin spoken of in chap. 4., for it is “through
ignorance.” Who can measure the holiness of God, or know the extent of sin
against such a Being? Perfect purity and holiness demand the same; but we are
born in sin, “shapen in iniquity” (Psalms 51:5); and “who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Not one” (Job 14:4). Hence, till the heart is
changed by “the grace of God” (Romans 5:15; 1 Corinthians 15:10), the sin within
is ever showing itself in evil actions; and even after we know the Lord we are
apt to trespass in His “holy things.” In men’s very religion, too, there may be
sin. How often do they invent a worship of their own, not in accordance with
God’s Word; a way of salvation which dishonours Him; a way of approach to Him
other than He has given! If living for self, the world, or other purpose than
God’s glory, we are robbing God. It may be through ignorance, but “though he
wist it not, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 4:17-19), saith the Lord. There
is thus no hope for us in ourselves, but He has met this (as all) our need in
His “Beloved Son,” as shown in type before us, for the sinning one is bidden to
bring--
1. “A ram without blemish . . . for a trespass-offering” (guilt-offering,
R.V.), “and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his ignorance .
. . ;” for “he hath certainly trespassed against the Lord.” Mark well the words
“certainly trespassed,” though in ignorance. The same truth is here again shown,
that no sin could be atoned for without the shedding of Jesu’s blood; but His
was a full, perfect, and complete atonement, when He made “His soul a
guilt-offering” (Isaiah 53:10, marg., R.V.; same word as
verses 5:19, R.V.). He “was delivered up for our trespasses” (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:16, R.V.)
2. “Shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary,” were also
to be brought with the ram, to “make amends for the harm . . . done in the holy
thing.” No lower standard than God’s could be accepted. Have we a just
perception of God’s holiness?
3. A fifth part added. Who could do this in its full meaning? None
but Jesus. And He brought more glory to God by redemption than could have
accrued from creation. Christ was perfect in His obedience to God’s holy law,
and gave rich surplus. He--the Antitype of trespass-offering (both of ram and
silver, 1 Peter 1:18-19)--was also Priest
who made atonement or reconciliation (Romans 5:10-11; 1 John 2:2); and the blessed result
is--
4. Forgiveness (verses 16, 18) to “all that believe” (Acts 13:38-39).
III. Wrong done to a
neighbour is equally described as “trespass against the Lord” (Leviticus 6:1-7). This the unregenerate
heart fails to see, but God pronounces it to be “sin”; and the truth of Hebrews 9:22 is once more brought before
us; but, in contrast to the trespass against the holy things, in the case of wrong done to a neighbour--restitution
with addition of fifth part must be made, before bringing the trespass-offering
of “a ram without blemish,” with the “estimation.” The former teaches that only
on the ground of blood shed could God accept the offerer, or “the amends” He
would have him make; whereas, in the case of wrong done to a neighbour,
“amends” must first be made to that neighbour before pardon can be sought of
God. This is the lesson enforced by our Lord (Matthew 5:23-24; Matthew 6:14-15). See, too, Zaccheus
ready to “restore fourfold” (Luke 19:8). To approach God with a wrong
against a neighbour unredressed will not bring acceptance; while in the case of
trespass against the Lord in holy things, pardon through Jesus must first be
sought before “amends for the harm” done, can be accepted. Each must be
according to God’s ordering, and then there is the same gracious promise of
forgiveness (verses 16, 18, 6:7; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).
IV. The law of the
trespass-offering opens out some further details (Leviticus 7:1-7). It was to be--
1. Killed in the same place as the burnt-offering (Leviticus 1:5; Leviticus 1:11), that is, “on the side of
the altar northward before the Lord.” It was the “same Jesus” in all, though
different aspects and results of His death are presented in each.
2. The blood was to be sprinkled “round about upon the altar.” Only
in the sin-offering was it to be poured out, as that offering presented a more
comprehensive view of the fulness of the atonement.
3. The costliest parts were to be burned on the altar, as in the
sin-offering, telling of the rich and intrinsic excellency of the Lord Jesus
which could stand the searching fire of God’s holiness.
4. “Most holy” (Leviticus 6:25; Leviticus 6:29; Leviticus 7:1; Leviticus 7:6). The use of such an
expression, in connection with sin-offering and trespass-offering is most
striking. The more we meditate thereon the more we learn how the heart’s affection,
mind, inward parts, were all perfect in Jesus--hence He is a perfect Saviour.
Lastly, the trespass-offering was--
5. To be eaten in the Holy Place, by “every male among the priests,”
typifying the Church, as partakers of Him who bare their “sins” (1 Peter 2:24), while “the priest
that maketh atonement” was type of Jesus, thus seen to identify Himself with His people. (Lady
Beaujolois Dent.)
Sacrilege
The trespass here indicated is sacrilege--mistake and
misappropriation in the use of sacred things: a culpable trespass, whether done
wittingly or unwittingly. From this rite we are taught--
I. The jealousy of
Jehovah for the honour of his worship in the tabernacle.
II. The influence
this jealousy was calculated to exert upon the worshippers in the tabernacle.
1. Sensitiveness of feeling.
2. Tenderness of conscience.
3. Scrupulousness of conduct. (F. W. Brown)
.
Reparation
I. Sin is a wrong
done to god.
II. Sin is a wrong
done to man. Amends
must be made by--
1. Appropriate contrition.
2. Personal sacrifice.
3. Unreserved consecration: evincing itself in a holy, useful,
Christly life. (F. W. Brown)
Error, though inadvertent, is guilty
I. A sophistry
needing correction. This: that intention constitutes the quality of an action,
whether conduct is criminal or not. But this declaration of “guilt,” though in
the action he “wist it not,” testifies against a sweeping and
all-inclusive application of that principle, viz., that intention qualifies
action.
1. Ignorance may and does extenuate the guilt of an action. Knowledge
deepens guilt (John 9:41; John 15:22). Ignorance alleviates it (Luke 23:34; Acts 3:17; 1 Timothy 1:13).
2. Yet ignorance cannot excuse guilt. A man is not excused for
breaking the laws of the land because he was ignorant of them. Nor is he
innocent who trespasses, through error, against any ordinance of the Lord. And,
if so in respect of ceremonial observances, much more so in relation to moral
duties. Hence the curse stands against “every one that continueth not in all
things written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10).
3. God Himself refuses to condone such ignorance. His Word declares
that men “perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6); and that though “a people be
of no understanding, He will not have mercy on them, and will show them no
favour.”
II. Man’s
uncomputed guilt.
1. Reckon up our remembered sins. “They are more in number than the
hairs of our head.”
2. Add the sins realised at the time but now forgotten. Memory lets
slip multitudinous trespasses.
3. Yet what can represent the number of our unrecognised sins, done
in ignorance, done in error?
4. Deviations and defects also, which God’s eye alone detected, and
which we too self-indulgently condoned.
III. Vast virtue
needed in atonement.
1. Under the ceremonial arrangements for expiation, how manifold and
minute and numerous were the regulations and provisions necessary to make
atonement for sin!
2. When all sin had to be expiated by Christ’s one offering, what
value it must needs possess! Yet “by one offering” the Saviour “purged
our sins.”
Gain by redemption
In the addition of “the fifth part,” as here set forth, we
have a feature of the true trespass-offering, which, it is to be feared, is but
little appreciated. When we think of all the wrong and all the trespass which
we have done against the Lord; and, further, when we remember how God has been
wronged of His rights in this wicked world, with what interest can we
contemplate the work of the Cross as that wherein God has not merely received
back what was lost, but whereby He is an actual gainer. He has gained more by
redemption than ever He lost by the fall. “The sons of God” could raise a
loftier song of praise around the empty tomb of Jesus than ever they raised in
view of the Creator’s accomplished work. The wrong has not only been perfectly
atoned for, but an eternal advantage has been gained by the work of the Cross.
This is a stupendous truth. God is a gainer by the work of Calvary. Who could
have conceived this? When we behold man, and the creation of which he was lord,
laid in ruins at the feet of the enemy, how could we conceive that, from amid
those ruins, God should gather richer and nobler spoils than any which our
unfallen world could have yielded? Blessed be the name of Jesus for all this!
It is to Him we owe it all. It is by His precious Cross that ever a truth so
amazing, so divine, could be enunciated. (C. H. Mackintosh.)
Verse 17-18
Though he wist it not, yet is he guilty.
Sins of ignorance
It is supposed in our text that men might commit forbidden things
without knowing it; nay, it is not merely supposed, but it is taken for
granted, and provided for. The Levitical law had special statutes for sins of
ignorance, and one of its sections begins with these words (Leviticus 4:2). It is first of all
supposed that a priest may sin (Leviticus 4:3). As Trapp says, “The sins
of teachers are teachers of sins,” and therefore they were not overlooked, but
had to be expiated by trespass-offerings. Further on in the chapter (verse 22)
it is supposed that a ruler may sin. Errors in leaders are very fruitful of
mischief, and therefore they were to be repented of and put away by an
expiatory sacrifice. It was also according to the law regarded as very likely
that any man might fall into sins of ignorance, for in Leviticus 4:27, we read, “And if any one
of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any
of the commandments of the Lord.” The sin even of the commonest person was not
to be passed over as a mere trifle, even though he could plead ignorance of the
law. An enlightened conscience mourns over sins of ignorance, which it would
never do if they were innocent mistakes. The word rendered “ignorance” may also
bear the translation of “inadvertence.” Inadvertence is a kind of acted
ignorance: a man frequently does wrong for want of thought, through not
considering the bearing of his action, or even thinking at all. He carelessly
and hastily blunders into the course which first suggests itself, and errs
because he did not study to be right. There is very much sin of this kind
committed every day. There is no intent to do wrong, and yet wrong is done.
Culpable neglect creates a thousand faults. “Evil is wrought by want of thought
as well as want of heart.” We do not take time enough to examine our actions;
we do not take good heed to our steps. Life should be a careful work of art, in
which every single line and tint should be the fruit of study and thought, like
the paintings of the great master who was wont to say, “I paint for eternity”;
but alas! life is often slurred over, like those hasty productions of the scene
painter, in which present effect alone is studied, and the canvas becomes a
mere daub of colours hastily laid on. We seem intent to do much rather than to
do well; we want to cover space rather than to reach perfection. This is not
wise. Oh that every single thought were conformed to the will of God! Now,
seeing that there are sins of ignorance and sins of inadvertence, what about
them? Is there any actual guilt in them? In our text we have the Lord’s mind
and judgment.
I. By the Divine
declaration that sins of ignorance are really sins the commandment of god is
honoured.
1. Enlarging upon this thought, I would observe that hereby the law
is declared to be the supreme authority over men. The law is supreme, not
conscience. Conscience is differently enlightened in different men, and the
ultimate appeal as to right and wrong cannot be to your half-blinded conscience
or to mine. If we break the law, although our conscience may not blame us, or
even inform us of the wrong, yet still the deed is recorded against us; we must
bear our iniquity. The law is also set above human opinion, for this man says,
“You may do that,” and a second claims that he may do the other, but the law
changes not according to man’s judgment, and does not bend itself to the spirit of the age or the
taste of the period. It is the supreme judge, from whose infallible decision
there is no appeal. This exalts the law above the custom of nations and
periods; for men are very wont to say, “It is true I did so and so, which I
could not have defended in itself; but then it is the way of the trade, other
houses do so, general opinion and public consent have endorsed the custom; I do
not therefore see how I can act differently from others, for if I did so I
should be very singular, and should probably be a loser through my
scrupulosity.” Yes, but the customs of men are not the standard of right.
2. Note again, if a sin of ignorance renders us guilty, what must a
wilful sin do? Do you not perceive at once how the law is again set on high by
this?
3. Thus again, by the teaching of our text, men were driven to study
the law: for if they were at all right-hearted they said, “Let us know what God
would have us do. We do not wish to be leaving His commands undone, or
committing transgressions against His prohibitory precepts through not knowing
better.”
4. And you will see at once that this would lead every earnest
Israelite to teach his children God’s law, lest his son should err through
ignorance or indavertence. Fear of committing sins of ignorance was a spur to
national education, and tended greatly to make all Israel honour the law of the
Lord.
5. I close these thoughts by noting that to me the sin-revealing
power of the law is wonderfully displayed as I read my text. What a law is this
by which men are bound! How severe and searching! How holy and how pure must
God Himself be!
II. By the teaching
of the text the conscience is aroused.
1. Our ignorance is evidently very great. As the conies swarm in the
holes of the rocks, the bats in the sunless caves of the earth, and the fish in
the deep abysses of the sea, so do our sins swarm in the hidden parts of our
nature. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults!”
2. The ignorance of very many persons is to a large degree wilful.
Many do not read the Bible at all, or very seldom, and then without desiring to
know its meaning. Even some professing Christians take their religion from the
monthly magazine, or some standard book written by a human author and adopted
by their sect, but few go to the Word of God itself; they are content to drink
of the muddied streams of human teaching instead of filling their cups at the
crystal fount of revelation itself. Now, if ye be ignorant of anything
concerning God’s mind and will, it is not, in the case of any of you, for want
of the Book, nor for want of a willing guide to instruct you in it; for,
behold, the Holy Spirit waiteth to be gracious to you in this respect. Break
in, O light eternal! Break in upon the dimness of our ignorance.
3. Now it will be vain for any man to say in his mind, as I fear some
will do, “God is hard in thus dealing with us.” If thou sayest thus, O man, I
ask thee to remember God’s answer. Christ puts your rebellious speech into the
mouth of the unfaithful one who hid his talent. Wiser far is it to submit and
crave for mercy.
4. Let us recollect, in order that our doctrine may appear less
strange, that it is according to the analogy of nature that when God’s laws are
broken, ignorance of those laws should not prevent the penalty falling upon the
offenders.
5. It is of necessity that it should be according to this
declaration. It is not possible that ignorance should be a justification of
sin; for, first, if it were so, it would follow that the more ignorant a man
was the more innocent he would be. If, again, the guilt of an action depended
entirely upon a man’s knowledge, we should have no fixed standard at all by
which to judge right and wrong; it would be variable according to the
enlightenment of each man, and there would be no ultimate and infallible court
of appeal. Moreover, ignorance of the law of God is itself a bleach of law,
since we are bidden to know and remember it. Can it be possible, then, that one
sin is to be an excuse for another? If sins of ignorance are not sins, then
Christ’s intercession was altogether a superfluity.
6. Once again, I am sure that many of us now present must have felt
the truth of this in our own hearts. You who love the Lord and hate
unrighteousness, must in your lives have come to a point of greater
illumination, where you have said, “I see a certain action to be wrong; I have
been doing it for years, but God knows I would not have done it if I bad
thought it wrong. Even now I see that other people are doing it, and thinking
it right; but I cannot do so any more; my conscience has at last received new
light, and I must make a change at once.” In such circumstances did it ever
come to your mind to say, “What I have done was not wrong, because I did not
know it to be wrong”? Far from it. You have justly said to yourself, “My sin in
this matter is not so great as if I had transgressed wilfully with my eyes
open, knowing it to be sin”; but yet you have accused yourself of the fault and
mourned over it.
III. By the grand and awful truth
of the text the sacrifice is endeared. Just according to our sense of sin must
be our value of the sacrifice. God’s way of delivering those who sinned
ignorantly was not by denying their sin and passing it over, but by accepting
an atonement for it. Under the law this atonement was to be a ram without
blemish. Our Lord had no sin, nor shade of sin. He is the spotless victim which
the law requires. All that justice, in its most severe mood, could require from
man by way of penalty our Lord Jesus Christ has rendered; for in addition to
His sacrifice for the sin, He has presented a recompense for the damage, as the
person who sinned ignorantly was bound to do. He has recompensed the honour of
God, and He has recompensed every man whom we have injured. Has another injured
you? Well, since Christ has given Himself to you, there is a full recompense
made to you, even as there has been made to God. We may rest in this sacrifice.
How supremely efficacious it is. It takes away iniquity, transgression, and
sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Ignorance may be culpable
Some years ago through the mistake of a signalman an accident took
place on the Metropolitan Railway, by which several persons lost their lives.
At the inquiry it transpired that the signalman had in his possession a book of
instructions which if they had been attended to the accident could not have occurred,
but this book he confessed he had never read, hence the terrible accident. How
many of the sins of professing Christians may be traced to similar culpable
ignorance!
Knowledge of God’s law to be cultivated
A kindred error is that a man does right when he obeys his
conscience--does what his conscience tells him is right; in other words, does
what he thinks is right. If this be true then Saul was right when he made havoc
of the Church, for he verily thought he was doing God service. We are, no
doubt, bound to do what we think is right; but we are under equal obligations
to have our thinking in regard to duty correct. God has given us reason, moral
powers, and revelation that we may know our duty and do it. The intellect needs
training that it may perceive what is true. The conscience needs training that
it may perceive what is true; in other words, the mind’s power of perceiving
both scientific and moral truth needs cultivating. It may err in regard to
scientific truth. It may err in regard to moral truth. In regard to the latter
we have an infallible standard in the Word of God, which, if rightly applied,
will relieve us from error. We see why the Bible attaches so much importance to
a knowledge of the truth. It is the condition of right perception in regard to
duty.
──《The Biblical Illustrator》