Leviticus 5:14-19 – Don’t let guilt trouble you

Leviticus 5:14-19 describes the fifth offering, referred to as the guilt offering. These five verses prescribed the offering that must be made when a person had offended God unintentionally and had been unfaithful to Him. There are two ways a person could incur guilt upon himself. Firstly, according to verses 14-16, when a person had mishandled the things that belong to God, he has incurred guilt upon himself. What are the things in our lives that rightly belong to God? The tithes, offerings, time, talents, gifts and even the vows we have made when we come to the altar call. When we show unfaithfulness and fail to live up to what we have transferred to the Lord, whether intentionally or unintentionally is an offense, and repentance and restitution had to be made.

Secondly, according to verses 17-19, one could be guilty of sinning against the Lord when one does what God had commanded in His Word he or she shouldn’t do. This offense refers to the moment when a person’s conscience becomes sensitized and it troubled him. Haven’t we all experienced moments in our lives when we feel a quickened sense that we have unknowingly done something that the Word of God forbids? In those moments, it’s God’s Spirit within us who had quickened our spiritual senses and we become aware of our wrong. Verse 17 suggests that a person could unwittingly be doing something he or she was not supposed to do. If we seek to be God-conscious in life, we can minimize the times we commit such an offense. It is good to pause periodically to search our hearts and keep short accounts with God.  

Notice the animal prescribed for such an offering was only the ram. And verse 15 tells us that it must be “a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering.” There is a restriction imposed here. No other animals could be used except a ram. Then, this offering would be made only by individuals and not by the whole congregation. Later in the book of Leviticus, we will see that the priest was tasked to make sure that the animal meets the standard the Lord had prescribed.

These verses call on us not to treat the things of God lightly. We must stay alert in life so that we will not become careless concerning the things we have dedicated to God. Be sure to honor our tithes and the word made to the Lord. Let’s also rightly used our time, talents and gifts for the work of the kingdom. Our love and commitment to the Lord are best demonstrated by our faithfulness in keeping the promises and pledges we have made to Him.