Bird's-eye view
This short passage in Numbers lays down a foundational principle for life within the covenant community: sin has consequences, and true repentance involves more than just words. It requires tangible, costly action. The text addresses sins committed by one Israelite against another, but it frames this horizontal offense as being, first and foremost, an act of unfaithfulness "against Yahweh." This is crucial. All sin is ultimately vertical. When we sin against our neighbor, we are not merely violating a social contract; we are committing treason against our covenant Lord. Consequently, restoration cannot be a private affair between two individuals alone. It must involve a righting of the accounts with both God and man. The prescribed remedy here is threefold: honest confession, full restitution plus a twenty percent penalty, and the offering of the ram of atonement. This passage teaches us that grace is not cheap. Forgiveness from God does not eliminate our duty to make things right with those we have wronged. Rather, true, Spirit-wrought repentance will always produce the fruit of restitution.
Furthermore, the law makes provision for situations where the wronged party is deceased and has no kinsman to receive the payment. In such cases, the debt is not canceled; it is paid to Yahweh through His representative, the priest. This underscores the principle that the debt is real and must be paid. Sin creates a genuine debt, a disruption in the moral fabric of God's world, and it cannot simply be ignored. Every loose end must be tied up. This points us directly to the gospel, where Christ is our kinsman-redeemer and our great high priest, the one who pays the debt we could never pay and who receives the payment on behalf of a holy God.
Outline
- 1. The Law of Restitution (Num 5:5-10)
- a. The Premise: Covenant Treachery (Num 5:5-6)
- b. The Process: Confession and Repayment (Num 5:7)
- c. The Provision: When There Is No Kinsman (Num 5:8)
- d. The Principle: The Priest's Portion (Num 5:9-10)
Context In Numbers
This section of law appears in the midst of instructions for maintaining the purity and order of the Israelite camp. Chapter 5 begins with the command to remove the unclean, the leper, and those with discharges from the camp because Yahweh dwells in their midst (Num 5:1-4). The law of restitution follows immediately, indicating that unresolved sin and unpaid debts are a form of spiritual defilement that disrupt the holiness of the community just as much as ceremonial uncleanness does. Following our passage is the intricate law of jealousy concerning a suspected adulteress (Num 5:11-31). The common thread is the maintenance of right relationships, both with God and with others, as essential for a people dwelling in God's presence. Numbers is the book of the wilderness journey, and these laws are the practical, on-the-ground rules for how this redeemed people is to live together as they march toward the promised land. Order, purity, and justice are not optional extras; they are the necessary framework for a society that has God at its center.
Key Issues
- Sin as Unfaithfulness to Yahweh
- The Necessity of Confession
- The Principle of Restitution
- The Role of the Kinsman-Redeemer
- The Relationship Between Horizontal and Vertical Sin
- The Fulfillment of the Guilt Offering in Christ
Horizontal Wrongs, Vertical Treason
One of the central fallacies of modern thought, which has unfortunately crept into the church, is the idea that our sins are private matters, particularly if they only seem to affect "me and my neighbor." We have compartmentalized our lives, creating a neat division between our "religious" duties to God and our "ethical" duties to men. This passage demolishes that distinction. When a man or woman wrongs another person, the text says they are "acting unfaithfully against Yahweh." The word for "unfaithfully" here is a strong one, often translated as treachery or trespass. It describes a breach of covenant trust.
Every sin against a fellow image-bearer is a sin against the one whose image they bear. When David sinned with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, he confessed to God, "Against you, you only, have I sinned" (Ps 51:4). He was not denying the horrific wrong he had done to Uriah, Bathsheba, and the entire nation. He was acknowledging the ultimate reality that his sin was a flagrant act of rebellion against his King and God. This is why the process of restoration must involve God. We cannot just apologize to our neighbor, shake hands, and move on. The offense was committed in God's world, under His authority, and in violation of His law. Therefore, true peace can only be restored when the matter is settled before Him, according to His standards.
Verse by Verse Commentary
5-6 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against Yahweh, and that person is guilty,
The instruction begins with the divine source: "Yahweh spoke to Moses." This is not human wisdom or a societal convention; it is the law of God. The scope is universal within the covenant community, applying to both "a man or woman." The subject is "any of the sins of mankind," which here refers to those sins committed by one person against another, such as theft, fraud, or damage to property. But the crucial theological framing is given immediately. Committing such a sin is defined as "acting unfaithfully against Yahweh." It is a covenantal betrayal. The sin is horizontal in its effect but vertical in its essence. Before any remedy can be discussed, the "person is guilty." Guilt is an objective reality, a legal standing before God that results from the transgression. It is not primarily a feeling, but a fact that must be dealt with.
7then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it and give it to him whom he has wronged.
The first step in remedying the guilt is honest confession. "He shall confess his sins." There is no restoration without acknowledgment. Covering sin leads to ruin, but confessing and forsaking it leads to mercy (Prov 28:13). This is not a vague "sorry if I offended you" but a specific admission of the wrong committed. But words are not enough. True confession is immediately followed by action. He must "make restitution in full." The Hebrew for "in full" means the principal amount, the capital. He must restore what was taken or damaged. But this only brings the victim back to neutral. Justice requires more. He must "add to it one-fifth of it," a twenty percent penalty. This additional fifth serves multiple purposes: it compensates the victim for their trouble, loss of use, and aggravation; it acts as a deterrent to others; and it makes the repentance costly for the offender. Cheap grace is no grace at all, and cheap repentance is no repentance. This payment is to be given directly "to him whom he has wronged," restoring the horizontal relationship.
8But if the man has no kinsman redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to Yahweh for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.
Here we have a crucial case law. What if the wronged party is dead and has no family, no "kinsman redeemer" (a goel) to receive the payment? Does the offender get to keep his ill-gotten gains? Not at all. The debt does not vanish. The restitution "must go to Yahweh for the priest." This demonstrates that the debt is ultimately owed to God, whose law was broken and whose image-bearer was harmed. The priest, as God's representative, receives the payment on God's behalf. This provision ensures that justice is always served and that sin is never profitable. The verse also mentions the required sacrifice, the "ram of atonement," which was the guilt offering (see Lev 6:1-7). Restitution to man, however complete, could not by itself solve the problem of sin against God. For that, blood had to be shed. Atonement was required. The payment to the neighbor and the sacrifice to God were two sides of the same coin of true repentance.
9-10 Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they bring near to the priest, shall be his. So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it becomes his.’ ”
These verses broaden the principle to include all holy contributions given to the priests. Just as the restitution in the specific case of a wronged party with no kinsman goes to the priest, so do other designated holy gifts. This serves as a practical word on the support of the ministry. The priests were not given a territorial inheritance in the land; their inheritance was Yahweh Himself, and their practical provision came from the offerings of the people. When the people were faithful in their giving, the priests were free to minister without distraction. This reinforces the legitimacy of the priest's role as God's designated recipient. What is given to the priest, in his official capacity, is given to the Lord and becomes the priest's rightful possession for his sustenance. It is a holy transaction, part of the well-ordered life of God's people.
Application
The principles in this passage are not dusty relics of an ancient legal code; they are perpetually relevant for the Christian life. First, we must see our sin as God sees it. When we lie to a friend, cheat a customer, or slander a brother, we are not just making a social blunder. We are committing high treason against our Heavenly King. This understanding should drive us to a deeper and more serious form of repentance.
Second, our repentance must be more than verbal. The world is full of cheap apologies. Biblical repentance is costly. It makes things right. If you stole, you not only give it back, you give it back with interest. If you lied and damaged a reputation, you go back and tell the truth, doing all you can to restore what was lost. Grace is not a cover for avoiding consequences; it is the power that enables us to face the consequences honestly and make things right, regardless of the cost to our pride or our wallet. Zacchaeus is the New Testament model here. When salvation came to his house, he did not just say he was sorry; he pledged to give half his goods to the poor and to pay back anyone he had defrauded fourfold (Luke 19:8). That is what repentance looks like when it gets on its feet.
Finally, this passage shows us our desperate need for Jesus Christ. We are all guilty, and we all owe a debt we cannot possibly pay. We have no kinsman-redeemer who can bail us out. But God, in His mercy, provided one. Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer who paid our debt in full. And He is also our great high priest, the one who not only receives the payment but who is the payment. He is the ram of atonement, the guilt offering who absorbed the wrath of God for our treason. Because He has made full restitution for us, we are now freed and empowered to live lives of integrity, making restitution to others not in order to be saved, but because we have been.