Chapter 10
THE TRESPASS OFFEREING
Before we begin our study of the trespass offering let us pray,
Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before You in Jesus Christ's Holy Name. We ask that You would please open our hearts and minds so we can better understand Your Word. Please reveal to us the meaning of the trespass offering and how it reveals to us another facet of our Christian faith and the work that Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary.
Amen
INTRODUCTION
In our study of the trespass offering we will,
1. Review some background material of the Biblical meaning of the word trespass when it is used to describe the trespass offering.
2. Review the requirements for and regulations concerning the trespass offering.
3. See how the trespass offering was also a foreshadowing to help the born again believers understand the consequences of their sin and the forgiveness they can receive through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
BACKGROUND
According to "Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament"1 the Hebrew word for trespass, as used in association with the trespass offering, means: "that by which a person incurs or contracts guilt or blame." Thus, we find that the trespass offering is also referred to in some Bible translations, such as the New International Version (NIV), as the guilt offering.
The Old Testament trespass or guilt offering was required to be offered for sins committed for which restitution was to be made. In other words, these were primarily sins or trespasses against another person's possession, property or something that a monetary value could be established. To see this let us now review,
THE REQUIREMENTS AND REGULATIONS FOR THE TRESPASS OR GUILT OFFERING
In reading the Old Testament we find that the trespass offering was required under either one of the following two situations:
1. When a monetary restitution is required for an unintentional transgression against the holy things and/or commands of God.
2. When a monetary restitution can be made for a transgression against another individual.
With this introduction, we begin our study by reading what was required for,
A TRANGRESSION AGAINST THE HOLY THINGS OF GOD
The regulations for this facet of the trespass offering is provided to us in,
Leviticus 5:14-16
[14] Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: [15] “If a person commits a trespass, and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring to the Lord as his trespass offering a ram without blemish from the flocks, with your valuation in shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, as a trespass offering. [16] And he shall make restitution for the harm that he has done in regard to the holy thing, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. So the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.
Let us notice the following verses,
15(a) … These are for unintentional sins with respect to the holy things of God.
15(b) … An unblemished ram, which is a male sheep, was to be offered to God along with the proper amount of silver shekels for restitution.
16 … In addition to the assessed valuation of the transgression, an additional one fifth or twenty percent was to be added and given to the priest.
An example of this kind of trespass would be if a person unintentionally ate the portion of an offering made to God that was to be set aside for the priest. To see this let us read from,
Leviticus 22:14
""'[14] If anyone eats a sacred offering by mistake, he must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it."
We must remember that under the Mosaic Law, the priests and their families were to receive for their sustenance portions of the offerings made to God (See Leviticus 7:6-10). Thus, in the above example not only was there a trespass against the holy things of God but restitution was also to be made for the food that was lost to the priest.
Hence, restitution between the priest and the guilty party was restored or accomplished.
In addition to an unintentional transgression against the holy things of God, a trespass offerings was also required for,
AN UNINTENTIONAL TRANGRESSION AGAINST A COMMAND OF GOD
The regulations for this type of transgression is provided in,
Leviticus 5:17-19
[17] “If a person sins, and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity. [18] And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him. [19] It is a trespass offering; he has certainly trespassed against the Lord.”
I must confess that I do not have a very clear understanding with respect to this portion of the Trespass Offering. More specifically, I do not have a clear understanding as to what sins, in addition to the sins that required the sin offering, are being addressed in this discussion. However, below are a few things that are worth noting. With this in mind,
Let us notice the following verses,
18a … When there was no monetary restitution to be made to an individual, then the priest was to place a value of the ram to be sacrificed (see Leviticus 27:9-13) and added to the individual’s offering.
18b … An unblemished ram was to be offered so that atonement, that is amends, would be made between the guilty party and the Lord. In other words, the ram was offered so that peace would be restored between the guilty party and the Lord.
Let us now review what was required for the second aspect of the trespass offering, which was,
A TRANGRESSION AGAINST ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL
The requirements for these types of transgressions are recorded for us in,
Leviticus 6:1-7
"[1] The LORD said to Moses: [2] "If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care or stolen, or if he cheats him, [3] or if he finds lost property and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that people may do-- [4] when he thus sins and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, [5] or whatever it was he swore falsely about. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day he presents his guilt offering. [6] And as a penalty he must bring to the priest, that is, to the LORD, his guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. [7] In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any of these things he did that made him guilty.""
Let us notice the following verses,
2-3 … As one reflects upon these trespasses one comes to the conclusion that these infractions are intentional sins. In other words, in committing the transgressions described in these verses the guilty party had to be well aware they were doing wrong.
4-5 … As with the transgressions against the holy things of the Lord, restitution was to be made to the victim along with an additional twenty percent. Thus, the peaceful relationship between the two parties was to be restored.
A good illustration of how this portion of the trespass offering was complied with would be the example of Zacchaeus. To read about it we go to,
Luke 19:2-10
[2] Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. [3] And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. [4] So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. [5] And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” [6] So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. [7] But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” [8] Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” [9] And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; [10] for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Let us return to chapter 6 of Leviticus and notice the following verses,
6-7 … In addition, a ram without blemish was to be offered so atonement, that is amends, can be made between the guilty party and the Lord. Hence, the person who committed the sin was forgiven and peace was restored between them and God.
In our study of the sin offering, see chapter 9, we discovered that before the guilty party slaughtered the appropriate sacrifice to God, they, as a type of confession, were to place their hands upon the animal being offered. Even though it is not explicitly stated in the Bible, I believe we would be correct to assume that for the trespass offering the guilty party also placed their hands upon their offering. As with the sin offering, this act would symbolically transfer the guilt of the trespass to the ram. Hence, the ram would then be the symbolic bearer of the guilt of the person who committed the transgression. Then, on behalf of the guilty party the ram would be slain so atonement would be made for the forgiveness of their sin. Consequently, peace would be restored between the guilty party and the Lord.
With the above in mind let us now explore,
THE FORESHADOWINGS OF THE TRESPASS OFFERING
As we read the requirements for the trespass offering we discovered there were two major transgressions that were addressed. These were: (1) unintentional transgressions against the things of God and/or His commands and (2) transgressions against another person.
We begin this portion of our study with the,
UNITENTIONAL TRANSGRESSIONS AGAINST GOD’S THINGS OR COMMANDS
As one reflects upon the New Covenant we come to the realization that the temple of God is no longer a physical building but is the building composed of the born again believers in Jesus Christ.
We see this by first noting that each and every born again believer is a temple of God the Holy Spirit. This is recorded in the following two Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
[16] Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? [17] If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
In addition, each born again believer in Jesus Christ is being built together into a holy temple of God. This truth is recorded in,
1 Peter 2:4-5
[4] Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, [5] you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Consequently, it does not appear that the regulations of the Old Testament trespass offering for the things of God relate to the New Covenant. In addition, since I do not have a clear understanding of the types of transgressions against the Old Testament commands of God that required a trespass offering, this study is limited to the foreshadowing that relates to the,
TRANGRESSIONS AGAINST AN INDIVIDUAL
In this portion of our study we will explore the foreshadowings of the following three major elements of the trespass offering:
1. Before offering to God their trespass offering, the guilty party had to make restitution to the person they trespassed.
2. After restitution was been made the trespass offering was presented to God.
3. After the above actions were accomplished atonement was made between the guilty party and God.
With the above preface in mind, we begin this portion of our study by noting that during Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount He said that before we offer our gift to the Lord we must first,
Make peace or be reconciled to someone who has something against us
To see this let us read the following excerpt from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 5:23-24
""[23] Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, [24] leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."
It is noted that this reconciliation is in essence the seeking of forgiveness and bringing about a satisfactory restitution with the person who was wronged. In other words, we are to confess our sins to one another. This can be seen by reading from
James 5:16
"[16] Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
It is noted that there may be times, especially with a non believer, that reconciliation cannot be achieved. Specifically, the party who may hold a grudge against you simply will not offer their forgiveness. What then? The answer to this question lies within the following Scripture,
Romans 12:18
"[18] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
In other words, as long as we did all we could do to bring about a reconciliation, we have done all that God has asked us to do.
It must also be pointed out that not only are we instructed to confess our sin, make restitution and seek forgiveness from whom we have wronged, but we are also instructed to forgive those who seek forgiveness from us. To see this, let us prayerfully consider the following teaching of our Lord
Mark 11:25-26
"[25] And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. [26] But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."
Now some as Peter once did may ask the question of: “How many times am I to forgive the person who sinned against me?” To read the answer to this question we go to,
Matthew 18:21- 22
[21] Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” [22] Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
As a side note, I do not believe that Jesus told Peter and now us that we are only to forgive our brother or sister up to 490 times. Then, after we have forgiven our brother/sister 490 times our Lord is not implying we are no longer obligated to grant that person our forgiveness. To see this let us consider the following passage of Scripture,
Luke 17:3-4
[3] Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. [4] And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Before we are left with a false impression let us consider the “ifs” in the above verses.
Secondly, in the Old Testament, once restitution has been achieved or all the actions were performed to bring about restitution, then the guilty party was to offer,
The Trespass Offering
In the case of the born again believer, this is not an unblemished ram. We, the born again believer, has already had the perfect sacrifice made for our sins, which was the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To refresh our memories, let us begin by reading the testimony John the Baptist gave with respect to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This occurred the day after John baptized Jesus. To read what John said we go to,
John 1:29-34
[29] The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! [30] This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ [31] I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” [32] And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. [33] I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ [34] And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Let us notice the following verses,
29 … Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
34 … Jesus is the Son of God.
John’s testimony raises the question as to; “Why did Jesus have to come to take away our sins?” The answer to this question is found by reading from,
Hebrews 10:1-2
"[1] The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. [2] If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins."
In other word, these sacrifices, such as the ram of the trespass or guilt offering, could never take away sin or its guilt. This is clearly recorded in,
Hebrews 10:4
"[4] … it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."
With the above background in mind, let us now return to the Scriptures of Hebrews and read from,
Hebrews 8:7-12
"[7] For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. [8] But God found fault with the people and said : "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. [9] It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. [10] This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [11] No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. [12] For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.""
The Bible teaches us that this new covenant was brought about for our benefit through the sacrifice, which is the death and resurrection, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To see this, let us consider what Jesus said to His apostles at the close of His last Passover supper.
Matthew 26: 27-28
"[27] Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. [28] This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
It is noted that the above Passover supper was held just before Jesus was arrested and subsequently crucified. As we have found in earlier studies, after Jesus was in the tomb for three days, He bodily rose from the dead and later ascended back into Heaven to be with God the Father. It is there that He is now constantly making intercession for you and me to God the Father. To see this let us read from,
Hebrews 7:25
[25] Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
This now brings us to the third and last element of the foreshadowing of the Old Testament trespass offering which is,
The atonement or amends made between God the Father and the guilty party
One of the major blessings we receive from Jesus' sacrifice is when we come to Him and confess our sin or transgression. It is then we are cleansed from all unrighteousness and guilt. Thus, restoration has been made and our fellowship with God and our fellow believers is restored.
1 John 1:5-2:2
"[5] This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. [8] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."
"[2:1] My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. [2] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
AMEN and AMEN