Bible Commentaries
Go deeper in Scripture
Browse trusted public-domain commentary alongside DiscipleDeck Bible study. References inside each commentary open Bible previews in place.
27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 4:22-26
A ruler can sin through ignorance, and requires atonement. I. OFFICIAL POSITION IS MORAL RESPONSIBILITY. Whether the office be inherited or appointed, the ruler is in a special relation to God and to the people. He must…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 4:27-35
The sins of the common people. The idea of the distinction is that those who, by their distance from the sanctuary and their lack of education, are more exposed to the possibility of offense, are less guilty, and theref…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 4:27-35
The case of a common man. He is to offer a kid of the goats, or rather a she-goat. The ritual is to be the same as in the previous case. HOMILETICS
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:1
The case of a witness on oath. If a man hear the voice of swearing, that is, if he was one of a number of persons adjured to speak according to the manner in which oaths were administered in Jewish courts of justice (se…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:1-13
Cases of concealment of knowledge and ceremonial uncleanness. They are in some sense trespasses, although not properly under the head of trespass offerings. The ground of guilt is covenant relation violated. We may take…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:1-13
Guilt removed. The Psalmist cried out, "Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults." To dwell upon the manner in which sin may be committed, and to try to deepen our sense of its flagrancy, is not…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:1
Fidelity in bearing witness. The sinfulness of withholding evidence in a court of law is here formally and solemnly incorporated in the divine statutes. We may remind ourselves— I. THAT WE SPEND OUR LIFE IN THE SIGHT OF…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:1-13
The trespass offering. This was very much of the nature of the sin offering. Julius Bate translates the word ( אשם, asham) "guilt offering." Possibly the "sin offering" and the "burnt offering" may be here comprehended…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:1-13
EXPOSITION THE SIN OFFERING—continued (Leviticus 5:1-13). The subject of the next thirteen verses is still the sin offering, not the trespass offering, as has been supposed by some. The first six verses state three spec…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:4
Redeeming promises. The reference in the text is to inconsiderate oaths: the hasty undertaking, before God, to do some act of piety or kindness on the one hand (swearing "to do good"), or of retribution and permissible…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:4
The ease of a man who had neglected to fulfill a thoughtless oath. If he sware to do evil, or to do good, that is, to do anything whatever, good or bad (see Numbers 24:13), and failed to fulfill his oath from carelessne…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:5
Confession of the sin committed is required of the man who is allowed to offer a sin offering. It is likewise required before a trespass offering is accepted, as appears from Numbers 5:6, Numbers 5:7. "When a man or wom…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:5-13
Pardon possible to all. The requirements of the Law, as stated in these verses, speak of the possibility of pardon for every offender, if he be willing to submit himself to the wilt of God. We have— I. CONFESSION OF SIX…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:7-13
The sacrifices to be offered as sin offerings are specified, nor may they be multiplied. They do not differ according to the heinousness of the offense which they are to atone for, but according to the means of the offe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:7-13
If he be not able to bring a lamb. Sin offerings being not voluntary sacrifices but required of all that were guilty, and the four last-named cases being of common occurrence amongst the poor and ignorant, two concessio…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:14-19
The trespass offering differs from the sin offering in that it was not allowed to be presented until reparation had been made for the evil done by him who desired to offer it. Its special lesson to the Israelite was tha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:14-19
EXPOSITION THE TRESPASS OFFERING (Leviticus 5:14-19, Leviticus 6:1-7). The new heading with which Leviticus 5:14 begins indicates that it is here and not at Leviticus 5:1 that the section on trespass offerings commences…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:14-16
Trespass amended. I. To WITHHOLD FROM GOD HIS DUES IS SINFUL. The rigour of Leviticus may well sharpen that perception of sin which is so apt to become dim. God is wealthy, and yet will not submit tamely to robbery. Min…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:14-19
Trespass in sacrilege. The verses now under consideration form a distinct matter of revelation, or were communicated to Moses at a separate time. This we infer from the opening words, "And the Lord spake unto Moses," co…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:17
Unconscious sin. Is there not something here contrary to our generally received ideas respecting sin? Can a man sin "though he wast it not"? The text suggests— I. THAT WE COMMONLY CONNECT WITH OUR IDEA OF SIN THE CONSCI…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:17
The unwitting trespass. "Though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity." I. THE ABSOLUTE PERFECTION OF THE DIVINE LAW. It must be maintained: 1. As a revelation of the character of God. 2. As a ba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 5:17-19
Sins of commission may be atoned for by the trespass offering as well as sins of omission. HOMILETICS
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 6:1
And the Lord spake. The six following verses contain a separate communication from the Lord to Moses, but in continuance of the subject which began at Le Leviticus 5:14.
The Pulpit Commentary on Leviticus 6:1-7
EXPOSITION THE TRESPASS OFFERING—continued (Leviticus 6:1-7). The next seven verses, which in the Hebrew arrangement form the conclusion of the previous chapter, enumerate cases of fraud and wrong, for which a trespass…