22 'And when ye err, and do not all these commands which Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses, 23 the whole that Jehovah hath charged upon you by the hand of Moses, from the day that Jehovah hath commanded, and henceforth, to your generations, 24 then it hath been, if from the eyes of the company it hath been done in ignorance, that all the company have prepared one bullock, a son of the herd, for a burnt-offering, for sweet fragrance to Jehovah, and its present, and its libation, according to the ordinance, and one kid of the goats for a sin-offering. 25 'And the priest hath made atonement for all the company of the sons of Israel, and it hath been forgiven them, for it 'is' ignorance, and they—they have brought in their offering, a fire-offering to Jehovah, even their sin-offering before Jehovah for their ignorance; 26 and it hath been forgiven to all the company of the sons of Israel, and to the sojourner who is sojourning in their midst; for to all the company 'it is done' in ignorance. 27 'And if one person sin in ignorance, then he hath brought near a she-goat, daughter of a year, for a sin-offering; 28 and the priest hath made atonement for the person who is erring, in his sinning in ignorance before Jehovah, by making atonement for him, and it hath been forgiven him; 29 for the native among the sons of Israel, and for the sojourner who is sojourning in their midst—one law is to you, for him who is doing 'anything' through ignorance.
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.