Bad News For Dodge and St. Louis

Leviticus 5: 14- 6:7

Some more sacrifice specifics, these all resulting in a ram being brought to the priest as a guilt offering. No word on if the priest burns these rams or simply keeps them.

These rams are brought for a variety of reasons. First, if someone unintentionally "commits a violation" concerning the LORD's holy things, a ram is due- in addition, he must pay 20 percent beyond whatever the value was of what he failed to do.

I'm not sure what this would be- maybe if you didn't bring a sacrifice you were supposed to? If you used something in the tabernacle improperly, desecrating it? If you got blood somewhere you weren't supposed to- or maybe more realistically in this cottext, if you didn't get blood somewhere you were supposed to?

Second, if someone did something that is "forbidden in any of the LORD's commands", they bring a ram. This is pretty vague. Is this a miscellaneous law- like if you don't find another commandment regarding your specific kind of sin than just know that you'll need to find a ram to bring. Is it in addition to whatever other penalty is spelled out elsewhere? How would any of them keep all of this straight?

The final category of sin mentioned here deals with cheating your neighbor in various ways. If you lie about something your neighbor entusted you with, or steal from him, if you find lost property and lie about it, if you swear falsely, or if you fall prey to "any such sin that people may do", you return it plus 20 percent and take a ram to the priest.

It strikes me that you'd better be pretty meticulous keeping up with what you've stolen if you hope to get forgiveness for it. How could they hope to remember what was owed to who? Maybe the sinner and victim just had to come to an agreement and this law was meant as a guide, but the laws here strike me as being a lot firmer than guidelines.

I still think that it would be hard to do anything but keep digging up past sins and standing in line at the tabernacle. I wonder if you could get a card punched and every tenth ram got you a free diet pepsi.

No brainer of the day: I like our system a lot better.