Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 5:16

And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

Verse 16. Shall make amends] Make restitution for the wrong he had done according to what is laid down in the preceding verse.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Shall add the fifth part; so much they were to add to holy things redeemed, Lev 27:13,15,19.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing,…. This seems to favour the sense of the word “estimation”, in the preceding verse, as understood of the estimate of the damage done in the holy things, which belonged to the priests, for which recompense was to be made according as the damage was valued:

and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest; besides paying the whole damage, he was to give a fifth part of the whole to the priest; which was ordered to show the evil nature of the sin of sacrilege, though done ignorantly, and to make men careful and cautious of committing it: the fifth part, according to the Jewish writers f, is the fourth part of that of which a man eats, (“viz.” of the holy things,) which is the fifth of the whole; thus, if he eats the value of a penny, he pays the penny and the fourth part of one, and so it is in all the fifths mentioned in the law; or, as Ben Gersom on the place expresses it, if he has had profit by the holy things to the value of four shekels, he pays five shekels; for the fifth of the shekels they add the fifth part to the four shekels; in this he observes, all are alike, the priest, the anointed, the prince, and a private person, for the law makes no difference between them in this:

and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering; by offering it up for him:

and it shall be forgiven him; after he has paid the whole damage, and a fifth part besides, and offered the trespass offering for atonement; [See comments on Le 5:10].

f Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Trumot, c. 6. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

16. And he shall make amends for the harm. Hence it more plainly appears, as I have recently stated, that they, who withheld anything of God’s full right, are said to have sinned “in the holy thing;” since they are commanded to make restitution with the addition of a fifth part. Yet let my readers remember, that those who are compelled to make restitution, are not such as have fraudulently embezzled the sacred things, but those who under some vain pretext have flattered themselves for a time, so as to be unaffected by any conviction of their fault. The object therefore of this sacrifice, was to arouse the people to attention, so that postponing their private advantage, they should freely pay what was due to God. (270) Theirs is but foolish trifling who think that Moses, having before spoken of sins ( peccata ), now prescribes the mode of making expiation for delinquencies ( delicta ), since he uses the same words indifferently on all occasions, and also designates all the victims by the same name. But to make out a delinquency to be greater than a sin is a piece of gross ignorance; nor does it need a long refutation, since it manifestly appears that in this passage a special rule is delivered as to the means of obtaining pardon when a person through thoughtlessness has not reflected that he has omitted to discharge in full either his vows or oblations.

(270) This is the gloss of Bonfrerius in Poole’s Synopsis.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(16) And he shall make amends.As the sacrifice was simply to atone for the transgression, the offender was in the first place to make restitution of the full value of the principal which he had inadvertently appropriated.

And shall add the fifth part thereto.Besides paying the principal, the fifth part of the value of the holy property thus restored is to be added to the original amount. According to the rules which obtained in the time of Christ, the principal was estimated as four-fifths of the whole, and the lacking one-fifth was added. Thus, for instance, if the offender had consumed holy things to the value of four shekels, he had to pay five shekels, the fifth being added to the four. This, according to our mode of reckoning, is one-fourth. No distinction is here made whether the offender be the high priest, a prince, or a private individual.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

The sacrifice is always marked to be without blemish, thereby evidently pointing to him, who is a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1Pe 1:19 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Lev 5:16 And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

Ver. 16. And he shall make amends. ] No remission without restitution. God abhors holocaustum ex rapina. And if ye make no restitution, ye shall cough in hell, said Father Latimer. a

a Latimer’s Sermons.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)