EXPOSITION. RESTITUTION TO BE MADE FOR TRES- Ver. 9.-Eve17 offering. Hebrew, teru,. PASSES (vers. 5---10). Ver. 6.-Shall com- malt, heave offenng (Exod. xxix. 28). Sep- mit any sin that men commit. Literally, tuagint, ci irapx,). Those offerings, or portions " [one] of ell the tra.nsgressions of men," i. e. of offerings, which were not consumed on the the wrongs current amongst men. To do a altar, but" presented" at the altar. Having tre1pu1 agaiILBt the Lord. This qualifies been offered, they were the property of the the former expression, and restricts its refer- Lord, and were given by him to the priests. ence to the sine mentioned in Levit. vi. 2, Ver. 10.-Every man's hallowed thing■. 3, 5, viz., wrongs done to the property of Dedicatory offerings, such as first-fruits, not another. Such wrongs, perhaps because they exactly of the nature of sacrifices. Kia, i. e, were considered legitimate as long as they the priest's. Whatsoever any man giveth were not found out, were taken up by the the priest, it ■hall be hia. A general prin- Lord himself as involving a trespass against ciple, including and confirming the previous his own righteousness. rules ; subject, of course, to the other and Ver. 8.-U the man have no kinsman. greater principle, that whatever the Lord :No goel, or personal representative. This claimed for himself by fire must first be supposes that the wronged man himself is consumed. These directions concerning the dead, and it is an addition to the law of rights of the priests to offerin~s are very restitution as given in Levit. vi., an addition often repeated in various connect10ne. There clearly necessary to its completeness. The was probably a strong tendency amongst the wrong-doer must in no case be the gainer by people to cheat the priests of their dues, or to his own wrong, and if the trespass could not represent their claims as exorbitant. It is be "recomf.Bnsed" to man, it must be "re- in the spirit of covetousness which underlies compensed 'to the Lord, who wae as it were all such conduct that we are to find the con- joint-plaintiff in the cause. To the prieat. On nection between these two verses and the rest the general principle that the priest was the of the paragraph. visible representative of the inV1Sible majesty. on. v. 5-10.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 37
HOMILETICS. Vere. 5-10.-No fraud pe:rmitted 'by God. We have here, as part of the moral law of God which changeth not, the duty of making confession of, and satisfaction for, any wrong done to another, and the duty of not withholding what is rightly theirs from the ministers of God. Consider, therefore- I. THAT EVERY WRONG DONE TO ANOTHER IN RESPECT 011' HIS PROPERTY WAS ASSUMED DY THE LORD AS A TRESPASS AGAINST H:MSELll', So now every wrong or fra~d, and all cheating or sharp dealing, practised by one of as against another, is not merely an offence against man,-euch as may be excused by the necessity of the times, or the custom of business, or the universal prevalence of such practices,-but is an out- rage ago.inst the righteousness of God which he will never overlook. To such a man God himself is "the adversary" (Matt. v. 25); and if he be not repaid, then will he himself "repay" that man (lea. !ix. 18; Rom. xii. 19). He that hath cheated his neighbour of a penny hath gained unto himself an eternal and immeasurable loss, except he repent, confess, restore (Exod. :x:xxiv. 7; Isa. ha. 8). II. THAT EVERY ONE WHO HAD DONE SUCH WRONG MUST (1) CONFESS, (2) MA.Kll RESTITUTION. So now there is no true repentance for, and no real forgiveness of, such wrongs-from the least even to the greatest-unless they are (1) humbly acknowleged, (2) liberally made good (Luke xix. B). Those wrongs (alas, how many!) which are never found out, which are not acknowledged through false shame, and not made good through covetousness, are like bullets lodged in the body, which will not cease to cause misery, disease, and death. Ill. THAT Ill' THE WRONGED MAN WAS DEAD, AND BAD LEFT NO REPRESENTATIVE, THE TRESPASS MUST STILL BE RECOMPENSED TO THE LORD BY BEING PAID TO TRE PRIEST. So now it is a certain maxim of Christian morality (as of law) that no man be a gainer by his own wrong. If he cannot repay to the person wronged, directly or indirectly, he is bound to make recompense to God by devoting it to some pious purpose. If a man has made a fortune by fraud, his repentance is vain unless he make over the whole of it to the good of hie neighbours. Thie will not cleanse his conecience,-only the one Sacrifice can do thut,-but without it hie conscience cannot be cleansed. IV. THAT GOD DID CAREFULLY INSIST THAT HIS PRIESTS SHOULD RECEIVE THEIR P0ltTION, and SHOULD NOT BE OVER-REACHED. Even BO is the law of Christ (1 Cor. ix. 7-14; Gal. vi. G; 1 Tim. v. 17, 18).
IIOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 5-10.-Conscience money. Thie precept is a continuation of the one laid down in the preceding verses, and, like it, admonishes the people regarding the purity which ought to prevail in a camp honoured with the presence of the Holy One. Since the Lord dwells in the midst of the camp, there must not abide in it anything that defileth-any leper, any one having an issue any one who has been in contact with the dead. Nor is it bodily defilement only that entails this disability. The man" that doeth hurt to hie neighbour" is unclean in God's eight. Fraud is as defiling oe leprosy. Even if it is such o.e the criminal law cannot reach, God'11 eye sees it, and is offended with it; and the wrong-doer must regard himself as excluded from the camp till he has made restitution to hie wrnnged neighbour, and brought a sacrifice of atonement to the Lord. I. Keeping in view the scope of the law as I have described it, you will without difficulty master the particulars laid down, especially if you read along with it th6 law in Levit. vi. 1-7. It is essential to observe thnt this injunction is not n part of the criminal code. It is not laid down for the guidance of the judges, but for the guidance of a man's own conscience. The restitution enjoined is similar to that known among ourselves as CONSCIENCE MONEY. Take an example. A man finds o pruning- hook by the highway-side, evidently left there by mistake. He takes it home. " An excellent pruning-hook ; the very thing I was in need of. I need not mnke a noise 11bout the lucky find ; I will keep it to myself." A fe,v days a.fter, tl1e loser turns 38 THE DOOK OF NUMBERS. [CH. V. 5-10.