Numbers 5:5-10 (ESV)
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.”
The above passage has a profound truth that all New Testament believers need to hear.
The above law was given to the nation of Israel in the case of someone doing wrong to another person (the implication is that the wrong was stealing something from someone). The person who did the wrong must confess it and then restore whatever they took, and add 20% to the restitution amount. If the victim of the crime was no longer around (this implies time as passed) and no relatives were around to substitute for the victim, the thief was to make restoration to the priest, God’s representative. (This not only allowed the act of contrition to move forward, it also provided much needed sustenance for those who served as priest.)
This law shows that truth that Jesus talked about concerning the Law:
Mark 12:31 (ESV)
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
This is all needed to hear and obey, but another amazing truth that is in this passage is found in verse six:
V. 6 - When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD,
When we sin against others, we are, in essence, breaking faith with the LORD and sinning against Him. Did you catch that? Doing something to harm a brother is the same as doing something to harm our God. We are not just hurting other people when we sin against them. We are also damaging our relationship with God. This is another reason when the guilt offering needed to be given to the priest. Again, the priest is the representative of God. When we offend others, it is one thing to ask their forgiveness. It is quite another to realize you have offended a holy, righteous God, first and foremost. It is THAT relationship that compels us to ask forgiveness of Him and each other.
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