John Gill Commentary Leviticus 5

And if a soul sin
The soul is put for the person, and is particularly mentioned, as Ben Melech says, because possessed of will and desire:

and hear the voice of swearing ;
or cursing, or adjuration; not of profane swearing, and taking the name of God in vain, but either of false swearing, or perjury, as when a man hears another swear to a thing which he knows is false; or else of adjuration, either the voice of a magistrate or of a neighbour adjuring another, calling upon him with an oath to bear testimony in such a case; this is what the Jews

and is a witness ;
is able to bear witness to the thing he is adjured about:

whether he has seen or known of it ;
what he has seen with his eyes, or knows by any means: of such a case, the Jews observe ^F20 , that there may be seeing without knowing, or knowing without seeing, and in either case a man ought to bear witness:

if he do not utter it ;
tell the truth, declare what he has seen or known:

then he shall bear his iniquity ;
he shall be charged with sin, and be obliged to acknowledge his offence, and bring a trespass offering for it:

it is said ^F21 , that the witnesses are not guilty of the oath of the testimony, but in these ten cases; if they are required; if the testimony is concerning goods; if the goods are movable; if he that requires binds himself to pay for their testimony only, in case they bear witness; if they refuse after required; if they refuse in the sanhedrim; if the adjuration or oath is made there by the name of God, or his titles; if knowledge of the testimony goes before the oath; if he particularizes his witnesses in the time of the oath, or at the time of the requirement; and if the oath is in a language they understood.

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: T. Bab. Shebuot, fol. 33. 2. & 34. 1.
• F21: Maimon. Hilchot, Shebuot, c. 9. sect. 3.

Or if a soul touch any unclean thing
Meaning an Israelite, for only such were bound by this law, which pronounced a person unclean that touched anything that was so in a ceremonial sense; this is the general, including whatsoever by the law was unclean; the particulars follow:

whether [it be] a carcass of an unclean beast ,
as the camel, the coney, the hare, and the swine, (Leviticus 11:2–3)

or a carcass of unclean cattle ;
as the horse, and the ass, which were unclean for food, and their dead carcasses not to be touched, (Leviticus 11:26–28)

or the carcass of unclean creeping things :
such as are mentioned in (Leviticus 11:29–31)

and if it be hidden from him ;
that he has touched them; or the uncleanness contracted by touching, he having inadvertently done it; or being ignorant of the law concerning such uncleanness:

he also shall be unclean ;
in a ceremonial sense, by thus touching them:

and guilty ;
of a breach of the command which forbids the touching of them: this is by way of prolepsis or anticipation; for as yet the law concerning unclean beasts, and creeping things, and pollution by touching them, was not given: Jarchi and Gersom interpret this guilt, of eating of holy things, and going into the sanctuary when thus defiled: in the Jewish Misnah ^F23 it is said, the word "hidden" is twice used, to show that he is guilty, for the ignorance of uncleanness, and for the ignorance of the sanctuary.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: Misn. Shebuot, c. 2. sect. 5.

Or if he touch the uncleanness of man The dead body of a man, or the bone of a dead body, or a grave, or any profluvious or menstruous person:

whatsoever uncleanness [it be] that a man shall be defiled withal : not morally, but ceremonially:

and it be hid from him ; he is not sensible that he has touched any thing ceremonially unclean:

when he knoweth [of it], then he shall be guilty : acknowledge his guilt, and offer a sacrifice for it, as after directed.

Or if a soul swear
A rash or vain oath:

pronouncing with his lips ;
not in his heart, as Jarchi notes; not saying within himself that he would do this, or that, or the other thing, but expressing his oath plainly and distinctly, with an audible voice:

to do good, or to do evil ;
which was either impossible or unlawful for him to do; whether the good or evil he swears to do is to himself or to another; whether he swears to do good to himself, and evil to another, or, good to another, and evil to himself, see (Psalms 15:4Psalms 15:5) .

The Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, ``whatsoever a man expresses, whether of anything present or future;'' as if he swears he has done such and such a thing, whether good or evil; or that he will do it, be it what it will, and it is not in the power of his hands to do it, or, if he did it, it would be doing a wrong thing:

whatsoever [it be] that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it
be hid from him ;
he has forgot that he ever swore such an oath:

and when he knoweth [of it], then he shall be guilty in one of
these ;
when he is told of it, and it is made clearly to appear to him, that he did at such a time, and in such a place, deliver out a rash oath concerning this, or the other thing, then he shall be chargeable with guilt in one of these; either in rashly swearing to do good when it was not in his power, or to do evil, which would have been unlawful.

The Targum of Jonathan is, ``if he knows that he has falsified, and repents not, he is guilty.''

And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these
things
Before expressed in the preceding verses; the Targum of Jonathan is, ``in one of the four things,'' which Ben Gersom particularly mentions in the oath of witness, or the pollution of the sanctuary, or the pollution of its holy things, or a vain oath:

that he shall confess that he has sinned in that [thing] ;
not make confession of sin in general, but of that particular sin he is guilty of; and this he was to do before he brought his offering, or at least at the time of his bringing it; for without confession his offering would be of no avail; and which he made, as Ben Gersom says, by laying his hand on the head of the offering, thereby signifying and declaring his guilt, and that he deserved to die as the creature would about to be sacrificed for him; or he might make a verbal confession and acknowledgment of his offence.

Fagius, from the Jewish writers, has given us the form of it, which was this; ``I beseech thee, O Lord, I have sinned, I have done wickedly, I have transgressed before thee, so and so have I done; and, lo, I repent, and am ashamed of what I have done, and I will never do the same again.'' Though perhaps this form may be of too modern a date, yet doubtless somewhat like this was pronounced; and they make confession of sin necessary to all sacrifices, and say ^F24 , atonement is not made by them without repentance and confession.

FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Maimon. Hilchot Teshubah, c. 1. sect. 1.