Confession and Repentance

RTG Index | Lectionary Overview

Leviticus 6:1-7 (NRSV)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: ² When any of you sin and commit a trespass against the LORD by deceiving a neighbor in a matter of a deposit or a pledge, or by robbery, or if you have defrauded a neighbor, ³ or have found something lost and lied about it-if you swear falsely regarding any of the various things that one may do and sin thereby- ⁴ when you have sinned and realize your guilt, and would restore what you took by robbery or by fraud or the deposit that was committed to you, or the lost thing that you found, ⁵ or anything else about which you have sworn falsely, you shall repay the principal amount and shall add one-fifth to it. You shall pay it to its owner when you realize your guilt. ⁶ And you shall bring to the priest, as your guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. ⁷ The priest shall make atonement on your behalf before the LORD, and you shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and incur guilt thereby.

Leviticus 6:1-7 (NRSV)

Good afternoon! I'm Henry Neufeld, president of Pacesetters Bible School with today's "Running Toward the Goal."

Generally when I start to publicly read something from Leviticus of Numbers, and even perhaps Deuteronomy, it brings a groan from the audience. I hope not too many of you tuned me out when you heard this passage. Once, a member of a class I was teaching on the Old Testament commented that he had never realized how many gems were concealed amongst all that "ceremonial stuff" in the Pentateuch. "You have to read it all," he said, "or you miss it."

In one sense, I agree, but what I've found is that the more times I read, the more gems there are!

Now this little passage conceals a gem that you might not have noticed. One interesting note in the Mosaic law is that inadvertent sins can be expiated by a sacrifice. There are many prescriptions for the particular cases, but repeatedly the fact that it is inadvertent sin is emphasized. The person who commits brazen acts "will be cut off from his people." And though there is atonement for such acts by the High Priest on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16), in general, such a sinner is, shall we say, in deep trouble!

But here in this passage we have a deliberate act of sin. Not only is it that, but it is a specific sin against the Lord, involving false witness, as well as a sin against one's fellow man involving fraud.

Now our translation reads "when you realize your guilt" but it would be much better to render this term "when you feel guilt." This passage is dealing with the fact that when we know we have done something wrong we feel guilt and the need for forgiveness. We can find elsewhere in Leviticus that this feeling of guilt and expiation also required an act of confession, or more importantly a public declaration, done when offering the sacrifice. And included was an act of restitution for the wrong that had been done to one's fellow man.

The good news is that God's grace is taught here. The ancient rabbis said of this issue, that "great is repentance, which converts intentional sins into unintentional ones." It's clearly simply grace which allows the repentance of a wrong not only contemplated, but carried through and then covered up through false testimony to be treated as though it were an unintentional wrong.

And at the end there is the promise: the priest shall make atonement and you shall be forgiven. Thank God for his grace.

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