A guilt offering was to be brought when a person sinned in regard to holy things. This type of sin could involve some sort of unknowingly committed sacrilege or the failure to consecrate and redeem his firstborn son or the failure to bring to the Lord what is His under the law, such as the required tithes and offerings. It could also involve certain types of trespasses against one's neighbor as we'll see as we move on into the next chapter tomorrow.
"The Lord said to Moses: 'When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord's holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering." (Leviticus 5:14-15) The ram had to be worth what a fine and healthy ram would go for at the current market prices. The sanctuary shekel weighed 2/5 of an ounce.
"They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven." (Leviticus 5:16) In addition to bringing the ram, the offender must pay in shekels a fifth of the current market value of the ram. But I want to point out that there is disagreement among scholars regarding how much the person must pay. To me it sounds as if the person only brings 1/5 of the value of the ram in shekels. But some say he must bring the price of the ram in shekels plus another 1/5 of the price. Either way he is likely to remember the cost of this offering for a long time and hopefully this helps him to always remember never to commit this particular infraction again.
The person has trespassed against what is holy. Perhaps he has committed some form of sacrilege. Or he has failed to bring his tithes. Or he has failed to bring the offering of firstfruits. Or he has failed to consecrate his firstborn son to the Lord and redeem his firstborn with five shekels of silver. It is fitting that in addition to bringing a ram for an offering, he must also bring money that goes to the treasury of the Lord's house. He has withheld something from the Lord. He owes the Lord. The Lord accepts these shekels as payment for what the person owes.
"If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible." (Leviticus 5:17) When speaking of the laws of our land, you may have heard the expression, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." If you get pulled over for a traffic infraction the officer will still probably write you a ticket even if you were not aware of the law you broke. That happened to me many years ago when I had never heard of the "move over law" which requires motorists to move into the passing lane whenever a police or emergency vehicle is parked at the side of the road. I'd been driving for a number of years and somehow wasn't aware of such a law but I got pulled over for not observing it. I was very puzzled when I saw the flashing lights behind me because I knew I was observing the speed limit. I had difficulty understanding the state trooper's explanation of what I'd been pulled over for, and I am sure he could tell I was genuinely ignorant of the "move over law", but he still wrote me a $200 ticket. If I had asked him why he was still writing me the ticket I think he'd have said something like what verse 17 says, "If anyone breaks the law, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible."
"They are to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven. It is a guilt offering; they have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord." (Leviticus 5:18-19) The person is guilty even though he may not have known he was trespassing against the Lord, just as I was guilty of breaking a traffic law even though I didn't know about the traffic law. Have I ever broken that same traffic law again? No, because it hurt to pay the $200 fine. And I think that's the object of the guilt offering we've studied today. The guilt offering is large enough that the average citizen is going to feel the sting of letting go of a male ram and the proper amount of shekels. Lessons learned the hard way, like this one, are lessons people are least likely to forget. Just as I will probably never (if I can possibly help it) break the "move over law" again, the person who committed his particular sin against the holy things of the Lord may never trespass against the Lord in this manner again. This is why the Lord ensures that the guilt offering is costly---for the person's own good.
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