I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 5-7.

    Today’s passage continues the discussion about the types of offerings which the people of Israel were to offer and why. I am not very interested by the details regarding the offerings and the specifics of how they were to be made (despite the fact that I have heard and/or read several good messages about the lessons we can gain from those details). Nevertheless there are some things in this passage which are noteworthy. The first is right at the beginning. When authorities are investigating something we are obligated to tell them what we know about the situation. If we have information which will clear an individual, or information which will convict them, God instructs us to make that information known. God will hold us accountable if the innocent are punished, or the guilty go free because we did not speak up. I want to mention that this instruction is not limited to criminal cases but applies to any case where the authorities are seeking information (although I do not believe that it applies when the authorities are looking for information in order to commit an injustice).

    The other noteworthy item in this passage is that we can sin without being aware that we are doing so. The repeated references to unintentionally committing sin, or unknowingly committing sin tells us that just because we meant well does not mean that we will not be held accountable for our bad behavior. When we do wrong there are negative consequences even if we did not know we were doing wrong and even if we did not mean to do wrong.