Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 15:25
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it [is] ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:
Num 15:25
Sin-offering . . . for their ignorance.
Pardon of unknown sins through Christ
1. Because of our ignorance we are not fully aware of our sins of ignorance. Yet they are many, in the form both of commission and omission. We may be doing in all sincerity, as a service to God, that which He has not commanded and can never accept.
2. The Lord knows these sins of ignorance every one. This may well alarm us, since in justice He will require these trespasses at our hand; but, again, faith spies comfort in this fact, for the Lord will see to it that stains unseen by us shall yet be washed away. He sees the sin that He may cease to see it by casting it behind His back.
3. Our great comfort is that Jesus, the true Priest, has made atonement for all the congregation of Israel. That atonement secures the pardon of unknown sins. His precious blood cleanses us from all sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The priest shall make an atonement] Even sins committed through ignorance required an atonement; and God in his mercy has provided one for them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel;…. By offering a sin offering for them, a type of Christ, the propitiation not only for the sins of the people among the Jews, but throughout the whole world, 1Jo 2:2;
and it shall be forgiven them; as the sins of the Lord’s people are forgiven them through the blood of Christ, and on account of his stoning sacrifice and satisfaction made for them:
for it [is] ignorance; a sin of ignorance, for which reason Christ pleads for pardon on the foot of his sacrifice, and his people receive it, Lu 23:34; for that this sin was forgiven on the score of a sacrifice appears by what follows:
and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord; the bullock for the burnt offering:
and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance; a kid of the goats.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) For it is ignorance.Rather, for it is a sin of ignorance, or an error. So also at the end of the verse.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. An atonement “In all our inquiries into the various senses wherein this term is used, and into the significance of the different ceremonies connected with the act of atonement, the fundamental meaning, to cover or conceal, must be kept in mind.” Suskind. The word occurs in its proper sense only in Gen 6:14. In Piel usage has affixed to it the meaning “to atone.” Atonement, therefore, must be equivalent to the covering up or concealing of that which God cannot allow to appear in his presence. It is a constructive disappearance or annihilation. Thus in Jer 18:23, forgiveness of sin and blotting it out are convertible expressions. With the rabbins, “to atone” means to deny existence to to deem as not being. That which creates estrangement between God and the sinner is in effect annihilated. “We cannot reasonably say that in this case the divine punitive justice terminates in nothing; on the contrary, that justice is honoured when the offerer declares that he is destitute of a covering before the holy God, and thereby acknowledges him as one who, though sinning in weakness, is exposed to the divine judgment.” Oehler. The common objection that the soul, or life, of the sacrificial animal, laden with the curse of the sinner, might not be laid upon the holy altar as his substitute is effectually answered by the consideration that through death, the wages of sin, the blood is to be viewed as pure and free from guilt. See Lev 1:4; Lev 4:20; Lev 12:7, notes.
For it is ignorance R.V., “error.” See Lev 4:2, and the concluding notes to the same chapter; also Heb 9:7, note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
atonement. See note on Exo 29:33.
sacrifice made by fire. Hebrew. ‘ishsheh. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
atonement
(See Scofield “Exo 29:33”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the priest: Lev 4:20, Lev 4:26, Rom 3:25, 1Jo 2:2
forgiven them: Luk 23:34, Act 13:39
Reciprocal: Lev 1:4 – atonement Lev 4:19 – General Lev 4:35 – and the priest shall make Lev 15:15 – an atonement Num 30:12 – and the Lord 1Ch 6:49 – make an atonement Isa 22:14 – Surely
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 15:25. It shall be forgiven, for it is ignorance Proceeding from some mistake, and not from contempt of God and his laws; for then the guilty person was to be utterly cut off.