In verse 2, instead of still discussing about accidental sins, it is now covering what looks to be deliberate sins. I'm sure many would agree here in that a sin would be a person lying to you about personal things you've entrusted to him or found a way to extort you of any possessions. It's obviously morally wrong if a person does that to you. Verse 3 makes it a little more detailed and might get harder in that if you swear an oath while lying regarding a possession you found, then you are guilty of also sinning.
My sister found someone's prized baseball card once and brought it home. She was talking about how the guy was wondering where his card went and was going crazy while searching for it. She didn't say anything, so I don't know in the Bible yet if God is supposed to hold her accountable. I don't know what happened to that card now though. I once stole two dollars from a classmate when I was in second grade. I gave it back to him, but then that commercial of getting two Big Macs for two dollars was so good that I stole it again and said nothing. My classmate was so perplexed and never suspected me from displaying my angel face. I then showed my mom, and well, I had the nerve to tell her how I got the money and then she punished me so much. With the money, I think she still kept it for herself. My mom really spanked me and implanted in me very quick the guilt of stealing, so I never got around to taking another person's lunch money again.
Verse 4 states that from us having sinned and being found guilty, what God commanded us to do is restore what was stolen or extorted or the lost thing that was found. In addition, you are to restore its full value and add one-fifth more to it and then give it to the owner. This is in addition to doing a trespass offering. Wow, the consequences of having sinned is so much work. Why not just be on God's good side and never sin?
Verse 6 mentions that the trespass offering given to the Lord is a ram without blemish from the flock; and also, there needed to be a professional estimated value of the property that was wrongfully taken. Verse 7 concludes the trespass offering with the priest having made atonement.
Verse 9 mentions the law of the burnt offering which is pretty much about keeping the fire on altar from never burning out. This is interesting in that to remove the ashes from the altar the priest has to first put on his holy garments before moving them beside the altar. Then he needs to take them off before going to throw away the ashes outside the camp in a clean area. Maybe it was to not get it all dirty.
Verse 14-23 covers the law of the grain offering. Verse 16 states that the remainder of the grain offering is to be eaten with unleavened bread in a holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of meeting. Verse 17 talks about a portion of the grain offering given to Aaron and his sons is the most holy. Verse 18 pretty much sums it up in that this holy food will be only for Aaron and his male descendants who become priests. Verse 23 pretty much says to refrain from eating part of the grain offering if you are not a priest.
Verse 25 states that the burnt offering and sin offering are killed in the same place. After the sin offering is killed, it becomes the most holy. Verse 26 states that the priest who made it a sin offering gets to eat it in the holy place- the court of the tabernacle of meeting. Now, I feel a little jealous that the priest had this privilege of getting free food for his services. Verse 27 says the sin offering that was burned must be handled only by people God said are holy. Verse 29 says that these people are the male priests, descendants of Aaron or the tribe of Levites! If the blood from the offering was sprinkled on any garment, then the garment has to be washed in a holy place.
Verse 28 says that if the food was boiled in a pot then after its use, it needs to be like smashed and broken into pieces. It sounds pretty amusing. If it was boiled in a bronze pot, then it needs to be scoured and rinsed in water; it seems sort of like doing the dishes. Maybe there were some possible contaminants that could accumulate and God didn't want that to happen.
Verse 30 pretty much says something like if the blood of a sin offering was used to make atonement, then it can't be eaten and must be kept burning in the fire. So, it looks like for the burnt offering the priests get to eat it, but not with the one that was used to make atonement.
After reading this passage, what comes to my mind is that the dude at my old retreat who spoke about Christians being like priests in the Old Testament in regards to these modern days, might have been a little out of it! How can all of God's people be a pastor to begin with? The New Testament talks about how among God's people, they were meant to born and gifted in a variety of ways. In the time of Moses, there were gifted craftsman but God did not call them to be part of Aaron's priesthood.
I think the more accurate assessment for believers so far is that Jesus is the ultimate priest we can go to for atonement of our sins. The New Testament talks about how Christ, God's Son is the mediator that bridges our relationship between God the Father. What makes it crazy and might be hard to even grasp for some is that Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are all the same and share one body. Only God can do the impossible like this- a verse says that nothing is impossible for God.
