John Calvin Commentary Numbers 5:8

"But if the man have no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made unto Jehovah shall be the priest`s; besides the ram of the atonement, whereby atonement shall be made for him." — Numbers 5:8 (ASV)

But if the man have no kinsman. This passage, which I have inserted from chapter 5, is connected²¹³ indeed with another subject; yet, because it directly refers to the right of the priests, it was necessary to move it to this place, especially since it expresses that kind of sacrifice to which Moses has recently referred, that is, when they atoned for the crime of theft.

God did not indeed desire that the priests should be enriched by others’ losses, nor that thieves should go free if they offered what they had stolen to the priests. But if there was no one to whom they could restore it, He would have their houses freed from (the proceeds of) their sin. And this was with very good reason, since otherwise the most flagrant offender would never have hesitated to plunder the goods of a dead man, if he were without heirs.

First, therefore, He commanded that their property be restored to the lawful owners. If the owners were dead, He substituted their kinsmen. These kinsmen are called גאלים, goelim, on account of the right of redemption which God granted in the Law to relatives (as we will see elsewhere), and also because the one who was next of kin was commanded to marry the widow of one who had left no seed.

It was therefore a very uncommon thing for a person who had defrauded another to have to recompense the loss to the priest, for in most cases some successor to the dead man would be found.

²¹³ “Depend bien de la matiere qui est traitee plus au long des larrecins:” depends indeed on the subject of theft which is treated more at length. — :” depends indeed on the subject of theft which is treated more at length. — Fr..