Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 22:14

"And if a man eat of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part thereof unto it, and shall give unto the priest the holy thing." — Leviticus 22:14 (ASV)

Eat of the holy thing unwittingly. Or, through ignorance, as it is translated in the Authorized Version in all the other five passages where this expression occurs in this book (Leviticus 4:22; Leviticus 4:27; Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 5:18). This means when he ate the things, he did not know they were holy.

He shall put the fifth part thereof unto it. To make the people more careful, the offender, though ignorant of the offense at the time he committed it, had to pay the fifth part of the value of the holy property he had eaten, in addition to the principal. For the way this was estimated, see Leviticus 5:16.

And shall give it unto the priest with the holy thing. A better rendering is, And shall give back the holy thing to the priest. “Holy thing” here denotes the equivalent of the holy thing he has eaten. This he has to return to the priest with the fifth part. As eating holy things through ignorance was not as great an offense as withholding them altogether or not delivering them up, restitution with a small fine was considered a sufficient caution. However, ignorantly keeping them back was a more serious case, and therefore the offender also had to bring a trespass offering .