The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Leviticus 5:14-18, Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
15 “If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the LORD’S holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the LORD: 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.
16 “He shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing, and shall add to it a fifth part of it and give it to the priest. The priest shall then make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and it will be forgiven him.
17 “Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.
18 “He is then to bring to the priest a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his error in which he sinned unintentionally and did not know it, and it will be forgiven him.”

The two human activities in the verses above are both similar and yet they are different. Both
Individuals are guilty of sin. The first person appears to have acted against an edict of the LORD, yet, though he did it unintentially, it was still a sin at the time of its commitment.

The other individual appears to have done something the LORD had already commanded not
to be done, yet his activity was considered sin, although it was unintentional. I guess I could
liken this to a child who was absent when the teacher announced a forthcoming test. No one
told the absent child about the coming test; yet, he failed nevertheless.

When I was a child and told to do something, I often asked, “Why?” The response I received
from my mother was: “Because I told you to!” Had I known at that time in my life that no sentence should ever end with a preposition, I would still have best refrained from correcting my mother!

In my mind, the laws of the LORD in Old Testament times were very strict and often not as clear to our thinking as we might like them to be. Nevertheless, the LORD intends us to know
all He has said; thus, He intentionally gave us the Scriptures.

I will be the first to admit that there are verses in the Bible that I find very difficult to grasp and apply to my own life. Still, if the Holy Scriptures were to read like the few words in a small child’s coloring book, we would not be challenged! So, when I come across verses like these cited above, I know that it will take more than a casual reading to grasp their understanding. Yet, when we do understand them, they will continue to be a challenge to our lives!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom