22 'But when you unwittingly fail and do not observe all these commandments , which the Lord has spoken to Moses , 23 even all that the Lord has commanded you through Moses , from the day when the Lord gave commandment and onward throughout your generations , 24 then it shall be, if it is done unintentionally , without the knowledge of the congregation , that all the congregation shall offer one bull e e for a burnt offering , as a soothing aroma to the Lord , with its grain offering and its drink offering , according to the ordinance , and one male goat for a sin offering . 25 'Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel , and they will be forgiven ; for it was an error , and they have brought their offering , an offering by fire to the Lord , and their sin offering before the Lord , for their error . 26 'So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven , with the alien who sojourns among them, for it happened to all the people through error . 27 'Also if one person sins unintentionally , then he shall offer a one year old female goat for a sin offering . 28 ' The priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally , making atonement for him that he may be forgiven . 29 'You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally , for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 15:22-29
Commentary on Numbers 15:22-29
(Read Numbers 15:22-29)
Though ignorance will in a degree excuse, it will not justify those who might have known their Lord's will, yet did it not. David prayed to be cleansed from his secret faults, those sins which he himself was not aware of. Sins committed ignorantly, shall be forgiven through Christ the great Sacrifice, who, when he offered up himself once for all upon the cross, seemed to explain one part of the intention of his offering, in that prayer, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. It looked favourably upon the Gentiles, that this law of atoning for sins of ignorance, is expressly made to extend to those who were strangers to Israel.