Leviticus 5 ~ when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed

Leviticus 5

1 “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity; 2 or if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean wild animal or a carcass of unclean livestock or a carcass of unclean swarming things, and it is hidden from him and he has become unclean, and he realizes his guilt; 3 or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort the uncleanness may be with which one becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and realizes his guilt; 4 or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; 5 when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, 6 he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation [his guilt penalty] for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.

7 “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 8 He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering. He shall wring its head from its neck but shall not sever it completely, 9 and he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. 10 Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.

11 “But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth of an ephah [3/5 bushel] of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. 12 And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take a handful of it as its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, on the Lord's food offerings; it is a sin offering. 13 Thus the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven. And the remainder shall be for the priest, as in the grain offering.”

14 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 15 “If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. 16 He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.

17 “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. 18 He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before [he has paid full compension] the Lord.”

I am including a Jon Stewart quote. Jon Stewart is one of the few people on television who respects his Judaism, remarks on it frequently, the things I've heard him say about Christianity are respectful.

"Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Don't eat pork. I'm sorry, what was that last one?? Don't eat pork. God has spoken. Is that the word of God or is that pigs trying to outsmart everybody?" -- Jon Stewart

Leviticus and Numbers are not the TV evangelist biblical chapters of choice. But they are the Word of the Lord and they exist today for a reason. If we brush by them, we have not feasted at the banquet of God's table....

My son, Cal, literally has a genius IQ. He was in 7th grade, & had a close Jewish friend equally as smart - same classes. His friend said to him, I trust you, Cal, & I want to know something. We are not going to have a big discussion. Understand? This is an exchange of just a few sentences and no lecturing. Cal asked him what he wanted to know. His friend said, I am Jewish and I hear Jewish values, I want to know who Jesus Christ is.

Cal said, "You, as a Jew, have a Day of Atonement - it is a mournful day. You say the prayers and as a community you have atonement. It has replaced the sacrifices. It is a long day. At the end of the day, do you feel forgiven? Jesus Christ is our sacrifice, He took on our sins. The sins of the world. When He died, He died for you, even if your family is Jewish. There are more than 50 fulfillments of the Old Testament prophesy. I have a list at home in my bible, I will share them with you."

His friend said, Cal, my family and my synagogue really feel overwhelmingly hurt with our sins and we recognize how far we fall short. It is a huge burden. It is a terrible day, Yom Kippur. And no one goes home feeling better. I didn't know Jesus Christ had so many fulfillments in the Old Testaments, I thought it was 3 or 4. Is it a good feeling to know you are forgiven? It is missing from our faith and we try so hard to get it right.

Cal told him that it great to know you are forgiven. His friend continued to say he realized it is what is missing from his faith - with the forgiveness Cal described - he would believe Jesus is the Messiah, but he knew it would kill his father. Time passes by, they are in college, I do not know what will happen with this very real profession of faith.

Time passes by.

We think we are so much more advanced than bronze age mankind, but the blood letting of doves, the blood flowing through the Temple, was not to feed the priests, or have a barbecue. It was to have to look at an innocent creature - turtle dove - be killed representing selfish sin. It was not the Vengeful God of Wrath smiting defenseless weak humans. And God did not rule out sacrifice for what someone could afford to give.

Now about, the pork joke. This is important to know. Kosher, rules of cleanliness, existed for a reason. History.com did a long documentary on Kosher. In the U.K., bronze age man died at age 18. Rarely did they live past 21. At age 13-15 people had children. This is important for development, all over the world, it was not unusual for children at age 3-4 to be trying to survive as orphans. In Israel, the bronze age was just about finished off as King David ruled in Jerusalem. Men typically lived until their 50's in the Kosher environment.

~ Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. ~

Pope John Paul II

We live past the rules for Kosher. Yet if we allow ourselves to be declared clean, we must realize we live in an era of divorce, too many 3-4 year olds, on up, are allowed to be virtual orphans. Leviticus 5 is part of the banquet. The Living Water, the Banquet of Jesus Christ.

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