Under the new covenant our sacrifices are not like what they were under the old. We do not offer up burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass (or guilt) offerings; however, blood sacrifices are needed for atonement according to the law. Grain offerings many times were done alongside burnt offerings. In this teaching I shall show how Christ fulfilled the guilt (or trespass) offering ceremonial law of sacrifice. Yet we still have sacrifices to make in our lives.
We need to review the sin offering to properly understand the guilt offering. While some might say we are not under law but grace, the teachings of Torah fully apply today to people’s behavior.
— Ceremonial implications of guilt related to the sin offering (Lev. 5:14-6:7)
Lev. 4:13-14:: Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally (sāḡâ), and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which should not be done, and are guilty (‘āšam); when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting.
Remember the Hebrew word for guilty is ‘āšam (aw-sham’) which is to offend, be guilty, offend or trespass. But the trespass definition really just brings in confusion as we shall see.
Remember the first part of the bull offering was for any person but quickly focuses on the priest. The idea of the whole community is brought up again in verse 13. For the priest has to represent the whole community. The problem is the sin seems to have been hidden from society, in general. There are many private sins these days done by people in society. Many stay hidden or covered up but some get exposed. This brings guilt on the whole society. Did you know that the sins of the few stain all of society?
This is why Apostle Paul told the Corinthians ‘now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person’ (1 Cor. 5:11).
Condoning or accepting sinful behavior is not ok in the true church of Yeshua. It has to be exposed and dealt with properly. There used to be an item called excommunication which I have not heard much about recently.
Šāḡâ (shaw-gaw’) means to go away, stray, err. The NKJV translates this unintentionally but I put to you some did know they did wrong. Others may have been led down the wrong path through power or persuasion.
It says that the whole community does this and it is hidden from the eyes of the assembly. So it is likely more than one or two people doing wrong. So what does the ‘eyes of the assembly’ represent? There are also two different words for people. One is congregation and the other assembly.
It is interesting that there is a British terms these days called “shag”. It usually is meant in a sexual way but means other things also. In British slang, it can mean to ‘mess up’ or ‘scruff up.’
So like I open our Torah to this very page (557 in The Stone Edition the Chumsah) which is Leviticus 4. So I know in this it is the word of the Lord. It says of Rashi that if the high priest sins it is because of the common person dragging them down. However, when it comes to verse 13 it concludes it is the Sanhedrin that causes the nation to sin by making a bad ruling.
This points me to the ruling of the Sanhedrin on the eve of Passover when they brought Christ before the court. The ruling of that court was that the Christ, the Messiah was to die for blasphemy. The guilt of the Jews was due to a bad ruling of the religious leaders. It says in Matt. 26:57 that they led him to Caiaphas, the high priest then they brought in false witnesses. Then Caiaphas asked Yeshua ‘tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!’. Yeshua answered with a quote from Daniel. He said ‘hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’
Daniel 7:13:
I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.
Then read the next verse in Daniel:
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion,which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.
No wonder they considered Yeshua guilty of blasphemy for the conclusion of Daniel here is the Son of Man rules over all the Earth. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ’ (Acts 2:36).
It was the guilt imposed upon all of Israel because of the leadership!
Likewise the sin of the leader and of the common person also brings guilt (Lev. 4:22, 27).
Leviticus (5:2,3,4,17) also brings guilt (‘āšam) upon people for touching unclean animals, human uncleanness, swearing, or anything forbidden by the law. It is also helpful to look at other places where this word is used.
Jer. 50:7 the word ‘āšam is translated in the negative meaning to not offend or not be guilty. In this verse it was the advesaries of Israel making this statement. Why? Because Israel had sinned against the LORD. For it was the adversaries sent to perform divine justice against Israel. Also notice in verse 6 here it says their shepherds have led them astray. Such was the case I mentioned earlier of guilt put on Israel by the leadership when Yeshua was executed.
Hos. 5:15 ‘āšam is translated as offense. We acknowledge our offenses when we realize we have been doing wrong. This is the first part of repentance.
Zech. 11:5 talks about the flock destined for slaughter and those that slaughtered them feeling no shame or remorse (‘āšam). It is the owners, some shepherds, who feel no remorse or shame here.
So, ‘āšam can be personal guilt or remorse but may be brought about by bad leadership.
— The trespass or guilt offerings
Lev. 5:18 speaks of bringing a ram without blemish to the priest as a sacrifice for unintentional sins. The priest sacrifices the ram to make atonement for this person’s sin done in ignorance. The really strange thing is this offering is the same Hebrew word as guilt (‘āšam) but here it is not just applied as guilt but also relates to a sacrifice. The only real difference I see here from Leviticus 4 is that a ram is sacrificed instead of a young bull, a male or female goat or sheep.
Please not that in Lev. 5:15 the KJV calls this unintentional sin a trespass. This is unfortunate since the actual word here is maʿal (mah’-al) and not āšam which really implies guilt or shame. Ma’al is really an unfaithful, treacherous act, even a falsehood against either God or man. The KJV also translates this as trespass in chapter 6.
This confusion is partially corrected in newer translations but I want to give you a Google Septuigint translation which does not even use the word trespass:
If a soul errs, forgets it, and sins unintentionally against the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring to the Lord for his trespass a ram without blemish from the sheep, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the holy things, concerning which he sinned (Lev. 5:15, Septuigint)
Lev. 6:2-3 speaks of trespasses (ma’al) against the LORD but which is directed to our fellow man. Such things as lying to your neighbor about what was delivered for safekeeping, about a pledge, about a robbery, if he has extorted from his neighbor, or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it, and swears falsely. As I said ma’al are really malicious acts. In Spanish mal means bad or evil. The word malcontent is a person who is dissatisfied and rebellious. Other english words starting with mal include malady, malicious, malfunction, maleficent, and malware. We could just say ma’al is a bad person, one who is not trustworthy and even malicious. Such behavior should bring on guilt and shame because that is part of what spurs repentance.
Both in Lev. 5:16 and 6:5 the full value plus one-fifth more is required for either a trespass against the Lord directly or against our fellow man.
I think the idea of repentance and compensation is mostly lost on the Christian church. Courts many times give punitive damages so the idea is embedded into society. A voluntary contribution toward the evil we have done is good. In the case of the tax collector Zaccheus, who repented, wanted to give back 4x what he had cheated people out of (Luke 19:8). He was guilty of ma’al and then some.
sykophanteō (soo-kof-an-teh’-o) means to accuse wrongfully or extord or defraud. In a classical Greek story of sacred figs in Athens there was heavy penalties for stealing figs. For more on sycophants read the reference. A sycamore fig tree is what Zaccheus climbed up open. The fig was also representative of Israel so there is more to this story than I can dive into right now.
In Exodus 22 the law speaks of recompense for transgressions (pešaʿ, not trespass) and speaks mainly of theivery whereas the trespasses of Lev. 6 speak mainly of lying. Apparently Zaccheus felt like he did more than lie but used coercive and fraudulent methods to extract extra tax revenue. Four sheep were required as repayment if the sheep was slaughtered or sold so perhaps Zacheaus had lost the money or it was consumed through wild living so he had it no longer and so he was just echoing what the law required.
Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme is the closest thing I can think related to this in modern history yet most have not even receive back what they lost as of today. Jim Bakker was also convicted of fraud and conspiracy back in 1989. In general, we need to be very careful not to lie and certainly not steal.
References:
https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/s2/sycophant.html#google_vignette