Leviticus 5:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹If someone sins by failing to testify when he hears a public charge about something he has witnessed, whether he has seen it or learned of it, he shall bear the iniquity. ²Or if a person touches anything unclean-whether the carcass of any unclean wild animal or livestock or crawling creature-even if he is unaware of it, he is unclean and guilty.³Or if he touches human uncleanness-anything by which one becomes unclean-even if he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, he is guilty. ⁴Or if someone swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do anything good or evil-in whatever matter a man may rashly pronounce an oath-even if he is unaware of it, when he later realizes it, he will be guilty. ⁵If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed, ⁶and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

touch: Leviticus 7:21, Leviticus 11:24, Leviticus 11:28, Leviticus 11:31, Leviticus 11:39, Numbers 19:11-16, Deuteronomy 14:8, Isaiah 52:11, Haggai 2:13, 2 Corinthians 6:17

hidden: Leviticus 5:4, Leviticus 5:17, Psalms 19:12, Luke 11:44

and guilty: Leviticus 5:17, Leviticus 4:13

Reciprocal: Leviticus 5:15 - a soul Leviticus 11:8 - they are unclean Leviticus 14:12 - trespass

Cross-References

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:15
Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

Genesis 2:23
And the man said: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for out of man she was taken."

Malachi 2:15
Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. Therefore guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

Matthew 19:4
Jesus answered, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female'

Mark 10:6
However, from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'

Acts 17:26
From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Or if a soul touch any unclean thing,.... Meaning an Israelite, for only such were bound by this law, which pronounced a person unclean that touched anything that was so in a ceremonial sense; this is the general, including whatsoever by the law was unclean; the particulars follow:

whether [it be] a carcass of an unclean beast, as the camel, the coney, the hare, and the swine, Leviticus 11:2

or a carcass of unclean cattle; as the horse, and the ass, which were unclean for food, and their dead carcasses not to be touched,

Leviticus 11:26

or the carcass of unclean creeping things: such as are mentioned in

Leviticus 11:29

and if it be hidden from him; that he has touched them; or the uncleanness contracted by touching, he having inadvertently done it; or being ignorant of the law concerning such uncleanness:

he also shall be unclean; in a ceremonial sense, by thus touching them:

and guilty; of a breach of the command which forbids the touching of them: this is by way of prolepsis or anticipation; for as yet the law concerning unclean beasts, and creeping things, and pollution by touching them, was not given: Jarchi and Gersom interpret this guilt, of eating of holy things, and going into the sanctuary when thus defiled: in the Jewish Misnah w it is said, the word "hidden" is twice used, to show that he is guilty, for the ignorance of uncleanness, and for the ignorance of the sanctuary.

w Misn. Shebuot, c. 2. sect. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Special occasions are mentioned on which sin-offerings are to be made with a particular confession of the offence for which atonement is sought Leviticus 5:5.

Leviticus 5:1

Swearing - Adjuration. The case appears to be that of one who has been put upon his oath as a witness by a magistrate, and fails to utter all he has seen and heard (compare the marginal references. and Proverbs 29:24; Numbers 5:21).

Leviticus 5:2-3

Hid from him - Either through forgetfulness or indifference, so that purification had been neglected. In such a case there had been a guilty negligence, and a sin-offering was required. On the essential connection between impurity and the sin-offering, see Leviticus 12:1.

Leviticus 5:4

Pronouncing - Idly speaking Psalms 106:33. The reference is to an oath to do something uttered in recklessness or passion and forgotten as soon as uttered.

Leviticus 5:6

His trespass offering - Rather, as his forfeit, that is, whatever is due for his offence. The term “trespass-offering” is out of place here, since it has become the current designation for a distinct kind of sin-offering mentioned in the next section (see Leviticus 5:14 note).

A lamb or a kid of the goats - A sheep Leviticus 4:32 or a shaggy she-goat Leviticus 4:23.

Leviticus 5:7-10

See Leviticus 1:14-16; Leviticus 12:8. In the larger offerings of the ox and the sheep, the fat which was burned upon the altar represented, like the burnt-offering, the dedication of the worshipper; in this case, the same meaning was conveyed by one of the birds being treated as a distinct burnt-offering.

Leviticus 5:7

A lamb - One of the flock, either a sheep or a goat.

For his trespass, which he hath committed - As his forfeit for the sin he hath committed.

Leviticus 5:11

tenth part of an ephah i. e. - “the tenth deal;” probably less than half a gallon. See Leviticus 19:36 note. This sin-offering of meal was distinguished from the ordinary מנחה mı̂nchāh Leviticus 2:1 by the absence of oil and frankincense.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Leviticus 5:2. Any unclean thing — Either the dead body of a clean animal, or the living or dead carcass of any unclean creature. All such persons were to wash their clothes and themselves in clean water, and were considered as unclean till the evening, Leviticus 11:24-31. But if this had been neglected, they were obliged to bring a trespass-offering. What this meant, see in Clarke's notes on "Leviticus 7:38".