Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 5:6
Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
6. to da a trespass against the Lord ] in acting unfaithfully towards Jehovah. To sin against one’s fellow men involves breaking faith with God; cf. Lev 6:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Num 5:6-10
Recompense his trespass.
The law as to fraud
1. He must confess his sin, and crave pardon from the bottom of his heart; he must submit himself unto God, knowing that he can by no means hide his sin, nor by any colour keep it from the sight of God.
2. We must make satisfaction to Him whom we have wronged. It is not enough to make open confession unto God, unless also we make actual restitution unto men. This is done to discourage injurious persons. For if they should only restore the principal, they know, if their offences were found out, they should be no losers.
3. He must seek reconciliation and atonement with God, by offering up of a ram in sacrifice, which figured out the suffering of Christ, and offering up of Himself once upon the Cross, for the discharge of our sin, and appeasing of the wrath of His Father. It shall profit us nothing to be at peace with men, except we be at peace with our God. This the enacting of the Law: an exception is annexed by way of prevention. For the offender that hath trespassed against his neighbour might object and say, How can I restore that I have taken? It may be the party is dead; it may be he hath neither son nor daughter nor kinsman: may I not then lawfully conceal it, and justly retain it unto myself? I answer, nay; the Lord answereth, Thou shalt by no means detain the goods that are not thine own, if thou look for any good at My hand. If the owner be dead or unknown, and he have none of his kindred and alliance living to be his heir, it shall not be thine, it is the Lords, and He giveth it unto the priest for a recompense of his labours in the tabernacle. God is the Lord of the soil; He challengeth it at His own, and He disposeth it at His own pleasure. (W. Attersoll.)
Fraud and forgiveness:
I. The sin of fraud.
1. As assuming many forms.
(1) Fraud in the matter of goods entrusted to the keeping of another.
(2) In business transactions.
(3) In seizing by force that which belongs to another.
(4) In wronging another by means of deceit.
(5) In the finder of lost property injuring the loser by falsehood.
And in our own age fraud assumes many forms, and is widely prevalent. The employer who does not pay just wages to those in his service is guilty of it (Pro 22:16; Isa 3:14-15; Col 4:1; Isa 5:4). So also is the servant or workman who squanders the time for which his employer pays him; in so doing he defrauds his employer. The trader who takes an unfair advantage of his customer, which he calls by some special name, e.g., practice of the trade, &c.; the broker or speculator or manager who induces persons to invest their money in unreliable enterprises; the person who contracts a debt without the sincere intention and reasonable prospect of paying it–all these, and others, are guilty of fraud.
2. As a wrong done to God.
II. The conditions of its forgiveness.
1. Consciousness of guilt. The expression, that person be guilty, does not merely refer to his actual criminality; but to his consciousness of guilt respecting it: for this case must be distinguished from that of a person detected in dishonesty which he attempted to conceal. Without the consciousness of guilt the other conditions of forgiveness could not be truly complied with.
2. Confession. Then they shall confess their sin which they have done. This is an essential condition of forgiveness (Psa 32:5; Pro 28:13; 1Jn 1:9). In itself it relieves the burdened soul, and leads to the joy and peace of forgiveness.
3. Restitution is essential to remission of sin; for where restitution is not made it is evident that sincere repentance is absent (Eze 18:7; Eze 18:9; Eze 18:12-13; Eze 33:15).
4. Sacrifice. In addition to making restitution the offender was commanded to offer the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
Conclusion:
1. Let those who have injured others make speedy and full confession and restitution.
2. Let us all cultivate the most thorough integrity and uprightness in our whole life and conduct. (W. Jones.)
Restitution:
When Mr. Moody was once speaking upon prayer, an incident occurred illustrating his subject, which made a profound impression, and came home to every one. He said true prayer consisted of ten elements–Adoration, Confession, Restitution, Thanksgiving, Unity, or Brotherly Love, the Spirit of Forgiveness, Faith, Ask (with a beggars importunity, a servants docility, and a friends confidence), Perseverance, and last, Submission. When he came to the third element, Restitution, a man rose in the audience and cried out: Mr. Moody, let me cut in here. I went to Texas five years ago, having cheated my creditors of 15,000 dollars. My wife and I thought we were real smart. We settled in one of the cities, bought a nice house and furnished it tip top; grand piano, Brussels carpets, and my wife thought no end of the lace curtains. But we had hardly got settled down when Mr. Moody came along, and, like others, we followed the crowd of professors and church members. He preached the same sermon we have so far heard to-night. The Spirit of God convicted me and my wife both of sin, on this head of Restitution, and we went home perfectly miserable. I said, Loo, what are we to do? Do! says she; you know what to do without asking me; repay everybody to the last cent. No sooner said than done; the house was sold and an auction called right away; and, oh, the joy I had in handing up the silverware and the china. The piano and all went, but my wife was so happy at parting with the lace curtains it was really curious. Then we took two little rooms, a bedroom and a kitchen, and the only table we had was the one we had used in the kitchen for chopping meat on; but the Lord filled us with Himself, and we had peace and joy, because we had pardon and a clean conscience. The dear Lord has blessed me far above my desert and beyond what the devil led me to steal, and we have come to Northfield to praise the Lord, and carry back with us to Texas a fresh baptism of the blessed power which set us free five years ago.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Any sin that men commit, Heb. any sins of men, i.e. either,
1. Of common infirmity, or such sins as men commit through human frailty; for if this were done knowingly and willingly, a greater punishment was appointed. See Lev 6:5,6. Or rather,
2. Sins against men, or belonging to men, to wit, deceits or wrongs, whereby other men are injured, of which he manifestly speaks, as appears from Num 5:7,8; so this is a genitive case of the object, as Mat 12:31, blasphemy of the Spirit (for so it is in the Greek) is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, as it is called Mar 3:29; Luk 12:10; and power of all flesh, Joh 17:2, is power over all flesh; and power of spirits, Mat 10:1, is power over or against spirits, Luk 9:1; and prayer of God, Luk 6:12, is prayer directed unto God; and the spoil of the poor, Isa 3:14, is the spoil taken from the poor; and violence of the children of Judah, Joe 3:19, is violence against them, as we translate it.
To do a trespass against the Lord; which words may be added, either,
1. To express a new sin, of prevaricating or dealing falsely with God, either by a false oath, which is a special injury to God, or by a lie or simple denial that he hath taken any thing of his neighbours, which also God takes as a sin especially concerning himself, who in such cases is the only judge of what is falsely said or sworn. See Act 5:3,4. Or,
2. To aggravate the former sin, and to show that such injuries done to men are also sins against God. who hath commended justice to men as well as religion to himself. But the former is more probable, both because here is a ram of atonement to be offered to God for the special injury clone to him, as well as satisfaction is to be made to the man whom he injured; and especially by comparing this with the parallel place, Lev 6:2, &c. And that person be guilty, i.e. shall be sensible of his guilt, or be convicted in his conscience of his sin; for otherwise this might seem a mere tautology, if it were only meant of being really guilty of sin, which was expressed before in those words, when one shall commit any sin, i.e. be guilty of any sin.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6-8. When a man or a woman shallcommit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against theLordThis is a wrong or injury done by one man to the propertyof another, and as it is called “a trespass against the Lord,”it is implied, in the case supposed, that the offense has beenaggravated by prevaricatingby a false oath, or a fraudulent lie indenying it, which is a “trespass” committed against God,who is the sole judge of what is falsely sworn or spoken (Act 5:3;Act 5:4).
and that person beguiltythat is, from the obvious tenor of the passage,conscience-smitten, or brought to a sense and conviction of his evilconduct. (See on Le 6:2). In thatcase, there must be: first, confession, a penitential acknowledgmentof sin; secondly, restitution of the property, or the giving of anequivalent, with the additional fine of a fifth part, both as acompensation to the person defrauded, and as a penalty inflicted onthe injurer, to deter others from the commission of similartrespasses. (See on Ex 22:1). Thedifference between the law recorded in that passage and this is thatthe one was enacted against flagrant and determined thieves, theother against those whose necessities might have urged them intofraud, and whose consciences were distressed by their sin. This lawalso supposes the injured party to be dead, in which case, thecompensation due to his representatives was to be paid to the priest,who, as God’s deputy, received the required satisfaction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Speak unto the children of Israel,…. Put them in mind of the following law, that they observe it; and which is here repeated, because of two new things in it, as Jarchi observes, the one relates to confession, teaching that there is no fifth part nor trespass offering by witnesses, till a man confesses the thing; and the other is, concerning taking anything away by violence from a proselyte, which is to be given to the priests; see the original law in Le 6:1;
when a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit; or, “any of the sins of men” e, which are commonly done by men, and men are subject to through the infirmity of the flesh, and the temptations of Satan; or “any sin against man” f, so some, as this referred to is expressly said to be, Nu 5:7;
to do a trespass against the Lord; for every sin against man is also against the Lord, being a breach of his command; as David’s sin against Uriah was a sin against the Lord, Ps 51:4; though the Jews understand it particularly of lying and swearing falsely, appealing to God, and calling him to be a witness to a falsehood; and so the Targum of Onkelos seems to interpret it:
and the person be guilty; and knows he is so, and even knew it when he took an oath to the contrary; see Le 6:3.
e “ex omnibus peccatis hominis”, Montanus. f “Ex omnibus peccatis contra hominem”, Tigurine version; so Patrick.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. To do a trespass This embraces offences against the right of property, such as denying and withholding a deposit, finding and concealing lost goods, getting possessions by violence or by fraud, and concealing the wrong by lies and perjury.
Against the Lord The cardinal ethical principle involved in this is, that the creature is so intimately related to the Creator that any infringement of his rights dishonours and displeases his “Great Original.” Hence it follows, that all that morality is radically defective which treats our neighbour as a mere man, and ignores the obligations springing from his relation to God. In other words, no man can keep the second table of the law while disregarding the first; no man can love his neighbour as himself unless he loves God with all his heart.
Guilty Hebrew, asham, to be in debt or at fault. For this the trespass offering, or asham, was prescribed. See on Lev 6:1-7, of which this law is an epitome.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 5:6. When a man or woman shall commit, &c. Shall do any manner of wrong to any man, trespassing therein withal against the Lord, and the person is found guilty. Some think that the clause, and that person be guilty, should rather be rendered, shall be sensible of his guilt: and Calmet judiciously observes, that this law respects secret offences, and those who would expiate their fault before any public notification of it. Of the same kind is the law which follows. In cases of theft detected, the criminal is bound to restore four, and, in some cases, five times the value. Exo 22:1-2. But Moses is here more indulgent to those who frankly confess their fault, in order to encourage restitution, and to recompence the offender’s ingenuousness. See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Num 5:6 Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
Ver. 6. Any sin that men commit. ] For what man is he that liveth and sinneth not? I am a man a sinner, a saith Peter, Luk 5:8 not more a man than a sinner. Our lives are fuller of sin, than the firmament of stars, or the furnace of sparks: we can as little cease to sin, as the hart to pant, pulse to beat, &c. The devil, when he speaks lies, speaks of his own, Joh 8:44 so when we do evil, we work of our own, we “walk as men.” 1Co 3:3 Sins are here called human sins, as the Greek hath it.
a
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. See App-14.
sin. Hebrew. chat’a. App-44.
men. Hebrew. ‘adam. See App-14.
trespass. Hebrew. ma’al. App-44.
person = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
When: Lev 5:1-4, Lev 5:17, Lev 6:2, Lev 6:3
and that person: This expression does not merely refer to the actual criminality of the person, but to his consciousness of guilt respecting it: for this case must be distinguished from that of a person detected in dishonesty, which he attempted to conceal.
Reciprocal: Exo 22:9 – for all manner of trespass Lev 4:27 – common people Jos 7:19 – make Jos 22:15 – General Eze 33:15 – give
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 5:6. Any sin that men commit Hebrew, any sins of men; that is, sins against men, as deceits or wrongs, whereby other men are injured, of which he manifestly speaks. Against the Lord Which words may be added, to show that such injuries done to men are also sins against God, who hath commanded justice to men, as well as religion to himself. Guilty That is, shall be sensible of his guilt, convicted in his conscience.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:6 Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin {b} that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
(b) Commit any fault willingly.