Trespass Offering - Exodus 5:14-19

5:14-19 - What I wanted to do originally was get a really deep understanding about these different sacrifices, what they were for, what animals were acceptable, etc but as time has gone on, I don’t think that this is a good use of my mental capacity, because it is so limited, I want to focus on other stuff with it. So I’m going to just kind of go over the sacrifices and pick up what I can that is useful. What’s intereting is that Leviticus chapter 5 only has 19 verses on the church’s website but TB references to it having at least 26 verses in his lecture. Anyway, this next sacrifice is done with a “ram without blemish”. The purpose of this offering is to appease God for any sins that the people commit accidentally, meaning that this is meant to cover them for any sins that they committed that they didn’t or don’t know is a sin.

The IM clarifies that this offering has to do with two different things, “Sin and Trespass-offerings”. The Sin offering has to do with our fallen natures and the “natural man” and the Trespass offering has to do with acts committed in trespass of God’s commandments. The IM comments, “In the Sin-offering I see a person who needs atonement, offering an oblation for himself as a sinner: in the Trespass-offering I see certain acts which need atonement, and the offering offered for these particular offenses.” So this sacrifice is meant as a offering for the sins committed by our nature of living in a fallen world, that we may or may not be aware of. This is all very complicated and I feel like at this point, like TB says, we are cutting this onion very thin.