But then they learn of it

Leviticus 5:2-6 TNIV

Or if anyone unwittingly touches anything ceremonially unclean—whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground—and they are unaware that they have become unclean, but then they come to realize their guilt; or if they touch human uncleanness—anything that would make them unclean—even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt; or if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil—in any matter one might carelessly swear about—even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt— when anyone realizes their guilt in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned and, as a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering ; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.

My thoughts -

I want to say that I'm getting a lot out of Leviticus and I'm so glad I'm finally trying to study it some but that would be a lie. It's boring. It's repetitive. It's dealing with the mundane details of different kinds of offerings right now. Honestly I don't care about this any more than I care about the color thread for the priests' robes as prescribed in Exodus. It's tedious. Give me a good narrative. Create the world. Set aside a people. Deliver slaves. Do something.

But this section caught my attention in a way that I didn't expect. Here it is prescribe the types of offering to be made for sins that the person did not realize were being committed at the time. The constant in this id that the person later becomes aware of their sin. At that point the offering as described here is to be made.

Now, we don't go around sacrificing animals to atone for sin anymore. That's just not how we roll. But how often do we do something and not realize until much later that we have wronged someone? How do we respond to that? If you're like me you probably just shrug it off or defend yourself by saying, honestly, that you had no idea that what you were doing was wrong. You didn't know. You can't be held responsible, right?

How do we atone for sins we have committed without knowing that we were wrong? An offering is prescribed here. It has to be made right.

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