Leviticus 5:13

And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest's, as a meat offering.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) As touching his sin that he had sinned in one of these.—That is, in one of the three sins specified in Leviticus 5:1-4 of this chapter. (See Leviticus 5:5.)

And the remnant shall be the priest’s.—Better, and it shall belong to the priest. The word remnant is not in the original, and is better left out, since with the exception of the handful which he took out to burn upon the altar, the whole tenth part of the ephah of fine flour belonged to the priest. At the time of Christ, this only took place when the offerer was a layman. But when a priest committed the offence and brought the offering in question, the whole tenth part of the ephah of flour was burnt on the altar, as was done in the case of the meat offering.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-13 The offences here noticed are, 1. A man's concealing the truth, when he was sworn as a witness to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If, in such a case, for fear of offending one that has been his friend, or may be his enemy, a man refuses to give evidence, or gives it but in part, he shall bear his iniquity. And that is a heavy burden, which, if some course be not taken to get it removed, will sink a man to hell. Let all that are called at any time to be witnesses, think of this law, and be free and open in their evidence, and take heed of prevaricating. An oath of the Lord is a sacred thing, not to be trifled with. 2. A man's touching any thing that was ceremonially unclean. Though his touching the unclean thing only made him ceremonially defiled, yet neglecting to wash himself according to the law, was either carelessness or contempt, and contracted moral guilt. As soon as God, by his Spirit, convinces our consciences of any sin or duty, we must follow the conviction, as not ashamed to own our former mistake. 3. Rash swearing, that a man will do or not do such a thing. As if the performance of his oath afterward prove unlawful, or what cannot be done. Wisdom and watchfulness beforehand would prevent these difficulties. In these cases the offender must confess his sin, and bring his offering; but the offering was not accepted, unless accompanied with confession and humble prayer for pardon. The confession must be particular; that he hath sinned in that thing. Deceit lies in generals; many will own they have sinned, for that all must own; but their sins in any one particular they are unwilling to allow. The way to be assured of pardon, and armed against sin for the future, is to confess the exact truth. If any were very poor, they might bring some flour, and that should be accepted. Thus the expense of the sin-offering was brought lower than any other, to teach that no man's poverty shall ever bar the way of his pardon. If the sinner brought two doves, one was to be offered for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering. We must first see that our peace be made with God, and then we may expect that our services for his glory will be accepted by him. To show the loathsomeness of sin, the flour, when offered, must not be made grateful to the taste by oil, or to the smell by frankincense. God, by these sacrifices, spoke comfort to those who had offended, that they might not despair, nor pine away in their sins. Likewise caution not to offend any more, remembering how expensive and troublesome it was to make atonement.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6-14. he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sins which he hath sinned—A trespass offering differed from a sin offering in the following respects: that it was appointed for persons who had either done evil unwittingly, or were in doubt as to their own criminality; or felt themselves in such a special situation as required sacrifices of that kind [Brown]. The trespass offering appointed in such cases was a female lamb or kid; if unable to make such an offering, he might bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons—the one to be offered for a sin offering, the other for a burnt offering; or if even that was beyond his ability, the law would be satisfied with the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour without oil or frankincense.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

As it was in the meat-offering, where all, except one handful, fell to the share of the priests. See Leviticus 2:3 7:9. And this is the rather mentioned here, because in the foregoing sacrifices, Leviticus 4:3 13, &c., the priest had no part reserved for him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the priest shall make an atonement for him,.... By burning the handful of flour brought by him, as an emblem of the painful sufferings of Christ, whereby he made atonement for the sins of his people:

as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these; for whatsoever sin he had committed in any of the above cases, Leviticus 5:1,

and it shall be forgiven him; upon the foot of the atonement made; See Gill on Leviticus 5:10,

and the remnant shall be the priest's as a meat offering; the whole tenth part of an ephah of fine flour was the priest's, excepting the handful he took and burnt, just as in the case of a common meat offering, Leviticus 2:3.

Geneva Study Bible

And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest's, as a meat offering.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. the remnant shall be the priest’s] ‘the remnant’ is not expressed in Heb. but is supplied by the LXX. It might be supposed that a priest would not be so extremely poor as to bring this offering; tradition however provided that if he did, the whole was to be burnt on the altar, according to Leviticus 6:23.

Leviticus 5:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But if any one could not afford even two pigeons, he was to offer the tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin-offering. ידו תּשּׂיג for ידו תּגּיע (Leviticus 5:7): his hand reaches to anything, is able to raise it, or with an accusative, obtains, gets anything (used in the same sense in Leviticus 14:30, Leviticus 14:31), or else absolutely, acquires, or gets rich (Leviticus 25:26, Leviticus 25:47). But it was to be offered without oil and incense, because it was a sin-offering, that is to say, "because it was not to have the character of a minchah" (Oehler). But the reason why it was not to have this character was, that only those who were in a state of grace could offer a minchah, and not a man who had fallen from grace through sin. As such a man could not offer to the Lord the fruits of the Spirit of God and of prayer, he was not allowed to add oil and incense, as symbols of the Spirit and praise of God, to the sacrifice with which he sought the forgiveness of sin. The priest was to take a handful of the meal offered, and burn it upon the altar as a memorial, and thus make atonement for the sinner on account of his sin. - On "his handful" and "a memorial" (Azcarah), see Leviticus 2:2. "In one of these" (Leviticus 5:13 as in Leviticus 5:5): cf. Leviticus 4:2. "And let it (the remainder of the meal offered) belong to the priest like the meat-offering:" i.e., as being most holy (Leviticus 2:3).