Purification Offering 2 - Leviticus 5:1-13

5:1-13 – The first 13 verses of chapter 5 are a continuation of the Purification offering talked about in chapter 4. Again, these are sins that are committed without knowing it, or because of the fallen world that we are in. The IM notes that the reasons for making this type of offering, as explained in chapter 5, are “omission (failure to report a crime one has witnessed), oversight (unconscious defilement), and rashness (thoughtless oath making).” This is like if someone accidentally stepped on a dead animal while walking. To be honest, I didn’t really follow everything that they were talking about with which sins were to be resolved through which sacrificial offering

TB did make a point that I thought was pretty on point. He noted the same thing I did, that there were a lot of sacrifices for a lot of different sins and he said that going in depth with all of them felt like we were slicing the onion really thin with this. I appreciated that because that’s exactly how I feel about, that there are just so many parts of different rituals that it’s just really hard to keep track of. He did say, however, that later when the case law started to the implemented that all the different sacrifices started to make more sense.

Another point that TB made was that performing these sacrifices didn’t forgive or excuse the person from condemnation for committing the sin, it just paid the penalty for it. He used the example of paying a speeding ticket. If we speed, even if we don’t realize that we’re doing it, the law is broken and if we get a ticket, then we have to pay that fine. The sacrifice is similar to the payment of the fine. Restitution has to be made, he called it reparations. In fact, paying the fine doesn’t mean that our car insurance isn’t going to go up, that’s a punishment, we are still guilty of that offense and we still have to face the consequences of it.

Similarly, the atonement also doesn’t mean that we are always spared the consequences of our sin, even though sometimes we are. It’s Christ paying the fine for us and becoming the guilty person in our place. It’s an interesting concept to think about, how the sacrifices were meant to teach the people about the atonement and the coming of Christ and His sacrifice.

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