The Expositor's Bible: The Book of LeviticusKellogg, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry)
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Leviticus
Kellogg, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry)
Bible. Leviticus -- Commentaries; Bible. Leviticus -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
And the guilt-offering further reminds us that as God has rights, so
man also has rights, and that Jehovah, as the King and Judge of men,
will exact the satisfaction of those rights, and will pass over no
injury done by man to his neighbour in material things, nor forgive it
unto any man, except upon condition of the most ample material
restitution to the injured party.
Then, yet again, if the sin-offering called especially for _faith_ in
an expiatory sacrifice as the condition of the Divine forgiveness, the
guilt-offering as specifically called also for _repentance_, as a
condition of pardon, no less essential. Its unambiguous message to
every Israelite was the same as that of John the Baptist at a later
day (Matt. iii. 8, 9): "Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance: and
think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father."
The reminder is as much needed now as in the days of Moses. How
specific and practical the selection of the particular instances
mentioned as cases for the application of the inexorable law of the
guilt-offering! Let us note them again, for they are not cases
peculiar to Israel or to the fifteenth century before Christ. "If any
one ... deal falsely with his neighbour in a matter of deposit;" as,
_e.g._, in the case of moneys entrusted to a bank or railway company,
or other corporation; for there is no hint that the law did not apply
except to individuals, or that a man might be released from these
stringent obligations of righteousness whenever in some such evil
business he was associated with others; the guilt-offering must be
forthcoming, with the amplest restitution, or there is no pardon. Then
false dealing in a "bargain" is named, as involving the same
requirement; as when a man prides himself on driving "a good bargain,"
by getting something unfairly for less than its value, taking
advantage of his neighbour's straits; or by selling something for more
than its value, taking advantage of his neighbour's ignorance, or his
necessity. Then is mentioned "robbery;" by which word is covered not
merely that which goes by the name in polite circles, but all cases in
which a man takes advantage of his neighbour's distress or
helplessness, perhaps by means of some technicality of law, to "strip"
him, as the Hebrew word is, of his property of any kind. And next is
specified the man who may "have oppressed his neighbour," especially a
man or woman who serves him, as the usage of the word suggests;
grinding thus the face of the poor; paying, for instance, less for
labour than the law of righteousness and love demands, because the
poor man must have work or starve with his house. What sweeping
specifications! And all such, in all lands and all ages, are solemnly
reminded in the law of the guilt-offering that in these their sharp
practices they have to reckon not with man merely, but with God; and
that it is utterly vain for a man to hope for the forgiveness of sin
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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