"Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses---any of the Lord's commands to you through him, from the day the Lord gave them and continuing through the generations to come---and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering." (Numbers 15:22-24) Unintentional sin is still sin. A sin offering is required when the community realizes it has done wrong.
King David understood it was possible to sin without being aware of it and he said to the Lord, "But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults." (Psalm 19:12) You and I have a lot of things to do every day. We encounter all sorts of situations. We don't always react in a way that best reflects who we are in the Lord. But we're so busy in our daily lives that we may not realize in the moment that our attitude or reaction was wrong. David asks, "Who can keep track of their sins? Forgive me for sins I'm not aware I've committed." When David calls his faults "hidden" he doesn't mean they're hidden from God. He means they're hidden from himself. He knows he may have said or done something sinful without being aware of it or that he may have had thoughts or attitudes that didn't line up with God's thoughts and attitudes. In case he's left anything out when confessing his sins to God, he asks the Lord to forgive him for sins he doesn't even realize he's committed.
When the community realizes they've done something wrong as a group, they bring the offering to the tabernacle. "The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the Lord for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering. The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong." (Numbers 15:25-26) This one offering is accepted by the Lord as atonement for the entire community.
When only one person realizes he or she has sinned unintentionally, a less expensive offering is to be brought. "But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. The priest is to make atonement for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven. One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you." (Numbers 15:27-29) The foreigner who converts to the God of Israel is required to do no more than a native-born Israelite. As the Lord said to the Israelites earlier in our chapter, "You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord." The faith of the converted foreigner is as valid as the faith of the Israelite. They are worshiping the same God.
Sometimes we know for a fact, the minute a word comes out of our mouths or as soon as we make some sort of choice, that we've messed up. Other times we may not realize it in the moment and will later recall that we behaved in a way that was not godly. Unintentional sin is still sin and we should confess it to the Lord as soon as we become aware of it. And just in case we've sinned without being aware of it, during our prayer time we can say something like what David said. "Lord, I may have said or done something today that didn't honor You. I may have sinned without being aware of it. Please forgive me for all my sins: those I've committed knowingly, those I've committed unintentionally, and those I've committed without knowing it." David didn't want unconfessed sin in his life because he didn't want anything coming between him and God. I think that's a good attitude to have.
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