5:14 The introduction marks what follows as divine speech. The guilt offering is commanded by the Lord as the only one who sees hidden sin and can prescribe its remedy.

5:15 The first case of a “breach of faith” (Hb. maʿal) is trespass against the gifts dedicated to the Lord that have passed from the worldly, common sphere to become the Lord’s holy possession. Sacrilege is so serious a sin that theft of sanctuary property or sacred goods is often punishable by death (Laban’s gods, Gen. 31:32; Joseph’s divination cup, Gen. 44:9; Belshazzar’s feast that profanes the temple vessels, Dan. 5:23, 30). Sacrilege is grasping for one’s own use that which belongs to God, illustrated vividly by Achan’s theft of devoted things of “silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron . . . put into the treasury of the house of the Lord” (Josh. 6:24). Achan’s sacrilege (maʿal) exposed the entire community to divine wrath.

The guilt offering is the Lord’s provision for the unintentional violation of holy things, such as when someone inadvertently eats a portion of the firstfruits of his harvest or fails to redeem the firstborn of his male animals that rightly belong to the Lord (Num. 18:12–18). Or when someone other than a priest, such as a guest or daughter married outside of the priestly clan, partakes of the most holy sacrificial portions reserved for those who minister at the altar (Lev. 2:3; 6:25, 29; 7:1, 6; cf. 22:10–16). In these situations the Lord is owed compensation for misappropriated and desacralized holy things. The offender must bring a ram, a choice offering as head of the flock. The ram is “valued in silver shekels,” suggesting the offerer has the option to purchase the sacrificial ram at the sanctuary (cf. 2 Kings 12:16).

The shekel in this passage is not currency but more accurately a measure of weight, about 0.4 troy ounces (11.2 g).69 Before coins were in use payment was made in fragments of precious metal, small ingots, or coiled bracelets weighed out on a balance against stone weights. Payment in the shekel of the sanctuary implies there may have been different weights in use at the temple and marketplace (2 Sam. 14:26). In NT times temple offerings were made only in Tyrian shekels, which were prized for their purity, being over 90 percent silver and weighing 0.45 troy ounces (14 g) (Mishnah, Bekhorot 8:7; cf. Matt. 21:12).70 Temple offerings would include vows (Leviticus 27), tithes (Deut. 14:24–26), and the redemption of firstborn (Num. 18:15–16), as well as the half shekel atonement money for every male Israelite twenty years and older counted in a census (Ex. 30:11–16). The sanctuary shekel standardizes payment so that rich and poor alike make equal restitution to the Lord whose holiness they have offended.

5:16 As the Lord’s instructions continue, it becomes clear that the offering alone is not enough. There must be restitution. Restitution assumes responsibility for the wrong that has ruptured relationship and takes ownership for setting it right by repaying at full cost plus an additional one-fifth of the value. (For a similar 20 percent penalty surrounding holy things cf. comment on 27:11–13).

The offender brings his payment to the priest, servant of the Lord’s estate, who makes atonement for the sinner. The divine and human dimensions of forgiveness are both at play. The Lord graciously provides the means to atonement through accepting a ram as a guilt offering, but the sinner must respond to the Lord’s initiative in obedience and faith.

5:17 This case is different from the previous one in that the offerer suspects he has violated the Lord’s holy things but does not know exactly how. At some point he “realizes his guilt,” that is, he suffers the effects of his guilt, which prompts him to bring an offering. “He does not know [what he has done], but he suffers guilt’s consequences and bears his punishment.”71 Abimelech suffered the effects of his guilt when the Lord prevented conception in his household before making his sin known in a dream (Gen. 20:17–18).

Prayers from the ancient world voice the suffering of worshipers who know their affliction is divine but do not know the sin that has caused it.72 The Bible likewise attributes disease, agricultural disasters, and military defeat to the Lord’s divine discipline, all the while affirming that his attention-getting chastisement is to produce repentance and restoration (Lev. 26:14–39).73 Guilt—its physical effects and emotional experience—gives room for the inward working of the law to shape a conscience that responds to the Lord.

5:18 The offender is liable and will bear the consequences of his wrongdoing despite not being fully aware of his sin. The priest makes atonement for him at the altar, and, if his suffering has been caused by unintentional sin, he will be forgiven and find relief. There is no mention of additional restitution, since the offerer continues to lack knowledge of the specifics. Fear of offending the Lord’s holiness is deep rooted and often borne out of piety, as with Job, who makes offerings on behalf of his children to atone for any unknown unintentional sin (Job 1:5).

5:19 A summary statement as with other offerings may have been spoken by the priest in the guilt offering’s presentation (Lev. 2:6; 4:24). Instead of rehearsing that the worshiper has “incurred guilt,” the second part of the sentence may alternatively be read as “he has paid full compensation to the Lord” (cf. ESV mg.), resounding with the assurance of forgiveness and the clearing of the offerer’s conscience.

6:1–3 The third case that requires a guilt offering is one in which the sin has been intentional, as opposed to the first two cases, in which it has been inadvertent. The range of sinful deeds in these verses are all situations in which someone has sworn falsely about something deposited, pledged, robbed, withheld, or lost. These examples are all related to the abuse of power through seizing a pledge given as security against a loan (Deut. 24:6, 10–13), forcibly taking another’s property (Mic. 2:1–2), withholding a worker’s wages (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14–15), or failing to restore lost property (Deut. 22:1–3). What makes these a breach of faith (Hb. maʿal) against the Lord is that the offender has lied under oath.

When it cannot be proven that someone has committed a wrong, an appeal is made to a higher justice. The offender swears by taking an oath in the Lord’s name, calling on him to confirm the truthfulness of his testimony (Ex. 22:7–8, 11). God’s name is synonymous with God himself. His name represents him and expresses his revealed character (Ex. 3:13–15). In swearing by the Lord’s name to cover up sin the offender makes the Lord an accomplice to the crime, dishonoring him and injuring his reputation. The offender distorts the character of God, who is “exalted in justice” and the “Holy God [who] shows himself holy in righteousness” (Isa. 5:16; cf. Deut. 32:4; Pss. 9:7; 33:5). He misrepresents the Lord, who is the defender of the needy, helper of the weak, and advocate of the vulnerable (Ex. 22:25–27; Ps. 68:5). Swearing falsely profanes the name of the Lord and tarnishes its holiness, when it was every Israelite’s privilege to sanctify it instead (Lev. 22:32; Ps. 41:13).

6:4–5 A person who has intentionally sinned but comes to an awareness of his guilt must repay the item in full and add 20 percent to its total. In other laws someone who does not voluntarily confess but is caught with the stolen object in his possession must pay double its value (Ex. 22:4). If he has taken the next step to sell or slaughter the stolen animal, he must pay four to five times its value (Ex. 22:1). But here the person has come forward to confess, and thus the penalty is less.

The offender confesses his sin, as suggested by the parallel passage in Numbers 5:7 and implied by the return of the stolen property.74 The fruit of genuine repentance is to make restitution to the victim (Matt. 3:8). This acknowledges that all are accountable to the Lord and enacts justice among the covenant community, a theme whose full force will be developed in the second half of the book but which is enduringly present in the sacrificial system.

6:6–7 The Lord is also owed damages, as his name has been misused, and the “Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Ex. 20:7; cf. Zech. 5:2–4; 8:16–17). After restitution to the victim a ram is presented at the sanctuary. This order is prioritized also by Jesus: “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt. 5:23–24). The offender is reconciled to the person he has wronged and to the Lord on the same day, as was the chief tax collector Zacchaeus, who vowed a fourfold restitution to those he defrauded and dined with the Lord on the same day (Luke 19:8–10).