Leviticus 5:1 And if a soul sin and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
If you feel like you are always the last person to know what is going on, you might take a step back and realize that sometimes we also know things that we wish we did not know. Sometimes we just can’t win for losing! On one hand, we feel like, “I never know anything. No one ever tells me anything.” On the other hand, we sometimes know things that we wish we did not know because by that knowledge we feel obliged to take some kind of action.
Teachers and others are fond of saying, “Knowledge is power.” Well, I want to tell you that knowledge is power only when you do something with it. Ignorance is not an asset; it is not bliss. But, knowledge is only power when you do something with it. Your knowledge can be a burden or a blessing depending on what you do with it.
Let me give you two examples. Leviticus 5:1 says, “And if a soul sin and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.” When someone had information about a crime that had been done, whether they had seen it or knew of it some other way, they were obliged to do something about it. None of us appreciated the tattletale in third grade who eagerly told the teacher about everything bad that had happened, but I think we are so afraid of being called a tattletale or worse that sometimes we think we are virtuous if we do not tell the truth to those who should know the truth.
When someone is living in ignorance who should know the truth, my own knowledge can either be a burden or a blessing to me. God does not intend for what you know to be a burden. He intends for it to be a blessing, and that means doing something with it. If I can be a witness to the truth, I need to tell the authorities the truth that I know.
The second setting is found in verse 15 where the Bible says, “If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring his trespass unto the LORD.” He goes on to talk about what is called a trespass offering. That is the context for these verses. I believe what the Bible is talking about here is someone who failed to do something that he was obliged to do in the worship of Jehovah. It might be akin to our saying today, “I forgot to go to church,” although I don’t think that is likely. You don’t usually just forget to go to church!
But perhaps a person failed to do something they were obliged to do in the worship of Jehovah. When they found out, verse 16 says, “And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done…and the priest shall make an atonement for him.” In this case the priest was to make the atonement, but the trespasser was to make amends. There is a difference between making an apology and making amends. Making amends is acknowledging something is wrong and then going further by making it right.
Numerous times in this passage the Bible speaks of what was to be done when someone came to new knowledge. When I learn the truth, I am obliged to do something with it. I am obliged to make right any wrong that I have done to my knowledge, and I am obliged to speak the things that I know when there are authorities who should know of them.
In short, God wants us to have fellowship with Him. Knowledge is power, but it is only power when we do something with it by doing the right thing and acknowledging God in our daily life.