The trespass offering is sometimes called the guilt offering, Leviticus 5:14-19 / Leviticus 7:1-7 / Leviticus 14:12-18. We’re introduced to the trespass offering in Leviticus 5:14-19.
The LORD now tells Moses when anyone is unfaithful to the LORD by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the LORD’s holy things, they are to bring to the LORD as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, that is around two and a half ounces, Leviticus 5:14-15 / Exodus 38:24.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following concerning the sanctuary shekel.
‘This was heavier than the ordinary shekel and of more value. All money in those days was calculated by the weight of precious metals.’
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The trespass-offerings as they are described in this section and in Leviticus 7:1-7, are clearly distinguished from the ordinary sin-offerings in these particulars.
1. They were offered on account of offences which involved an injury to some person (it might be the Lord Himself) in respect to property, Leviticus 5:16 / Leviticus 6:4-5.
2. They were always accompanied by a pecuniary fine equal to the value of the injury done, with the addition of one-fifth. Compare Numbers 5:5-8.
3. The treatment of the blood was more simple. Compare Leviticus 4:5.
4. The victim was a ram, instead of a female sheep or goat.
5. There was no such graduation of offerings to suit the rank or circumstances of the worshipper as is set forth in Leviticus 4:3 / Leviticus 4:32, etc.’
The guilty person offered their sacrifice to appease their conscience, this was the guilt offering, Leviticus 5:15 / Leviticus 6:2. Then they went to the person they had cheated and made up the difference plus one-fifth of the value price, Luke 19:8.
They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest, Leviticus 5:16 / Numbers 5:6-8.
If someone sins against another, they couldn’t just apologise and be done with it; there had to be some kind of restitution, and this had to be done before atonement could be given. In other words, the guilty party needed to demonstrate repentance, which was done by paying some kind of compensation for the damage they had caused.
The priest is to make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven, Leviticus 5:16 / Romans 3:25 / Hebrews 2:17. If anyone sins and does what is forbidden, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible, Leviticus 5:17 / Leviticus 5:1. They are to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value, Leviticus 5:18.
In this way, the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven, Leviticus 5:17 / Romans 3:25 / Hebrews 2:17.
The unintentional sin of anything was definitely prohibited by the law, Leviticus 5:17; this would include things like fraud, suppression of the truth, perjury against a neighbour and slander. It is a guilt offering, and notice they have been guilty of wrongdoing against the LORD, Leviticus 5:18.
The guilt offering is the only one which is not described as a soothing aroma; even the sin offering is so described in Leviticus 4:31. The guilt offering is closely aligned to the sin offering, and yet there are a few subtle differences.
While the sins which call for the sin offering are only mentioned in a general sense, there are several specific offences which mandate a guilt offering. A part of the guilt offering includes a financial recompense to the party that was wronged, Leviticus 6:5; thus, the guilt offering included the principle of restitution.
The guilt offering differed from the sin offering because later, it made atonement for the person of the offended, while the guilty offering only atoned for one special offence. A breach of faith in anything against the Lord, to make good of any damage that was done.
The sin offering speaks of sin against God’s nature, and the guilt offering speaks of sin against God’s government. This shows sin and its practical effects on God and man; it causes damage. Here, sin is viewed as a debt, something to be repaid.
As we enter Leviticus 7, we find God being specific with His instructions for Aaron and his sons and their ceremonial duties in reference to their part of the offering made by the people, Leviticus 6:8-23.
The guilt offering, which is most holy, Leviticus 7:1 / Leviticus 7:6, is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be splashed against the sides of the altar, Leviticus 7:1-2 / Leviticus 1:5 / Leviticus 1:11.
All its fat is to be offered, the fat tail, the fat that covers the internal organs, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys, Leviticus 7:3-4 / Leviticus 3:9 / Leviticus 4:8.
The priest is to burn them on the altar as a food offering; it is a guilt offering, Leviticus 7:5. Any male in a priest’s family may eat it, but it must be eaten in the sanctuary area because it is most holy, Leviticus 7:6 / Leviticus 7:1.
The same law applies to both the sin offering, Leviticus 4:1-35, and the guilt offering, Leviticus 7:7 / Leviticus 6:1-7. They belong to the priest who makes atonement with them, Leviticus 7:7. The priests were permitted to eat the meat from the animal sacrifices, Leviticus 7:8 / Leviticus 4:11-12 / Leviticus 6:22, but they weren’t allowed to eat the skin or the fat from the animal, Leviticus 7:3-4.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It is most likely that the skins of the sin-offering and the trespass-offering also fell to the lot of the officiating priest.’
They were permitted to store up the flour from the grain offerings and the parched grains, Leviticus 7:9-10 / Leviticus 2:5, but the meat had to be eaten straight after it had been offered, for obvious reasons, the meat would go off, Leviticus 7:15.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Because in such a hot country it was apt to putrefy, and as it was considered to be holy, it would have been very improper to expose that to putrefaction which had been consecrated to the Divine Being.’
In Leviticus 14:12-18, we find more instructions concerning the trespass offering. The priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil, and he is to wave them before the LORD as a wave offering, Leviticus 14:12 / Exodus 29:27 / Numbers 8:11-15 / Leviticus 7:38.
The wave offering is in reference to the manner in which those portions were handled before God’s altar. The breast was waved, passed from right to left and left to right after being elevated in the hands of the worshipper. It was lifted up toward heaven and lowered perhaps several times.
Keil and Delitzsch, in their commentary, say the following.
‘The priest laid the object to be waved upon the hands of the offeror, and then placed his own hands underneath, and moved the hands of the offeror backwards and forwards in a horizontal direction, to indicate by the movement forwards, i.e., in the direction towards the altar, the presentation of the sacrifice, or the symbolical transference of it to God, and by the movement backwards, the reception of it back again, as a present which God handed over to His servants the priests.’
The priest is to slaughter the lamb in the sanctuary area where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered, Leviticus 14:13. Like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy, Leviticus 14:13 / Leviticus 6:25.
Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, Leviticus 14:14 / Leviticus 8:23 / Exodus 29:20.
The priest is to take some of the log of oil, pour it in the palm of his own left hand, and dip his right forefinger into the oil in his palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of it before the LORD seven times, Leviticus 14:15-16.
The priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering, Leviticus 14:17.
The rest of the oil in his palm the priest is to put on the head of the one to be cleansed and make atonement for them, Leviticus 14:18 / Leviticus 8:11 / Leviticus 8:15.
The word ‘atonement’, means to cover up, later in the New Testament the word ‘atonement’ means to reconcile, Romans 3:25 / Hebrews 2:17. God cannot be approached with the guilt of sin on our shoulders, atonement must be made for sin, Habakkuk 1:13.
The Trespass Offering was for specific known sins, trespasses where the person knew what they had done, because of their conscience, in relation to their experience, versus what they knew God required.
As indicated previously, the Trespass Offering and the Sin Offering have some degree of overlap, where ‘Sin’ might be considered to be our sinful nature and ‘Trespass’ as a sinful deed, a wrongdoing, a trespass.
This is illustrated by the following passage from John’s first letter. Note first that the sinful nature is mentioned, then the specific sinful deeds and sins, 1 John 1:7-2:2.
The word, ‘propitiation’ or ‘atoning sacrifice’ means an ‘anger-quenching, penalty-paying offering to God’. This then is the good news of the Trespass Offering, ‘Christ died for our sins,’ 1 Corinthians 15:3. See also Hebrews 9:28 / 1 Peter 2:24 / 1 Peter 3:18.
What is the difference between sin and trespass?
Notice that we were dead in two things, trespasses and sins. There is a difference between the two. Trespasses have to do with specific acts of sin, while sin, not sins, but sin, has to do with a state of being. In other words, trespasses are always about what a person does, while sin is about what a person is.
Let me make one point of clarification, though. There are actions that can be done that are called sins, but I am referring to sin itself, as a principle. Under the law covenant, there was the sacrifice for sin and the sacrifice for trespasses.
While they seemed to be the same, they weren’t. Sins and trespasses are basically the same, but sin isn’t the same as either of them. Sin is the root law or principle, or state of existence, behind those acts that are called sins or trespasses.
The guilt offering prefigures Christ’s atoning for the damage of sin, Matthew 26:28. An innocent animal for a guilty man and a variety of offerings for all people. The sin offering represents Christ as a non-sweet aroma atoning for the guilt of sin, Hebrews 13:11-12.
It portrays Jesus as actually burdened with the believer’s sin and standing in his place; it’s in contrast with the sweet aroma offering, which presents Christ’s own perfection. It tells us of our Lord’s death as presented in Isaiah 53, and it carefully guards the infinite holiness of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 5:11.