Leviticus 5:5-13 contains the details for making purification for sins. The first verses of chapter 5 outline the categories of sins that need to be purified through the sacrificial system.
Four categories of sins require purification offerings.
(1) “When any of you sin in that you have heard a public adjuration to testify and, although able to testify as one who has seen or learned of the matter, do not speak up, you are subject to punishment” (Leviticus 5:1).
If you know something pertinent in a legal case and remain silent, you are subject to punishment. The ninth commandment is relevant to this issue.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
Suppose you have witnessed an oath that is false and would harm another person. You may choose not to lie about the oath the false witness took, but if you remain silent, you are guilty all the same.
This is an intentional sin that requires repentance, sacrifice, and forgiveness.
(2) Or when any of you touch any unclean thing, whether the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of an unclean swarming thing, and are unaware of it, you have become unclean and are guilty” (Leviticus 5:2).
This is the first record of a prohibition concerning the touching of any unclean animal, but it is not the last. Many references in the law mention becoming unclean through touching something unclean.
This may seem like a strange prohibition to the modern reader. If we consider it from the perspective of God’s holiness and the seriousness with which we should approach Him, it may become more understandable to us.
This command reminds me that worship is the “holy ground” part of my life. I need to approach it with the best I have to offer God.
(3) “Or when you touch human uncleanness—any uncleanness by which one can become unclean—and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall be guilty” (Leviticus 5:3).
In today’s YouTube video, I asked Rudy Ross about the many times when Jesus touched lepers or other “unclean” humans.
Rudy made the observation that Jesus is holy and when He touches someone, He turns what is unclean into something holy.
Rudy encourages us to think of something being made holy as becoming whole. He did this for the leper, the blind, the dead child, the demonized, and many more.
He does the same today. A touch from the Master’s hand transforms humans for our good and His glory.
(4) “Or when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty” (Leviticus 5:4).
An example of a “rash oath” is the time when Moses confronted the grumbling of thirsty Israelites at Meribah.
Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”
Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank (Numbers 20:10-11).
Notice verse 10 where Moses says, “Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” He implied that Aaron and he were the active agents who were responsible for the gift of water.
God took offense at Moses’ arrogance and said: “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (Numbers 20:12)
James presents a less dramatic, but still offensive statement in his letter.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.”
Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin (James 4:13-17).
I don’t think I have ever been as arrogant as Moses, but I have no idea the number of times I have made plans without first checking with God.
You may be like me and need to stop and pray before making plans for the day or further into the future.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 