The Variable Sin-Offering
5:1 In the following four cases, a person must bring, instead of the ordinary sin-offering, a sin-offering in accordance with his or her means:
You have seen (and will see further) that you must recognize and respect the power of speech, particularly with regard to the consequences of oaths, vows, pledges, dedications, and the like. There are two types of oaths that, if violated, require you to bring the variable sin-offering about to be described.
The first oath regards giving testimony. In general, you should not refrain from testifying in a court case if you have any testimony to offer; in fact, if a litigant asks you to testify on his behalf and you deny having any testimony to offer, the litigant is allowed to make you swear to that effect. If a person sins by having heard a litigant summon him to testify on his behalf by administering to him an oath containing an explicit or implicit curse—and the person is indeed a witness to the incident in question by virtue of having seen it or having otherwise known what happened—if he denies under oath having witnessed the incident and therefore does not testify, he will bear the punitive consequences of his transgression unless he expiates it by offering up this sacrifice. It does not matter, in this case, whether the person swears intentionally or unintentionally.
The second type of oath whose violation requires you to bring a variable sin-offering will be discussed presently.
2 Or, it will be explained later that animal carcasses (other than carcasses of permitted animals that were properly ritually slaughtered) impart ritual defilement. Thus, if a person touches the carcass of any spiritually defiled animal, whether it be the carcass of a spiritually defiled wild animal, the carcass of a spiritually defiled domestic animal, or the carcass of a spiritually defiled crawling animal, but he forgot that he had become ritually defiled in this way, and during the period in which he did not know that he was ritually defiled he ate consecrated food or entered the precincts of the Tabernacle (which is punishable by excision if done intentionally), and he later realizes that he was defiled when he did so, he thereby incurs guilt.
3 Or, it will be explained later that a person contracts ritual defilement through touching a corpse, through touching a person who had a seminal or uterine discharge, through touching a menstruant, through touching a woman after childbirth, or through eating carrion of a permitted fowl that was not slaughtered properly (even without otherwise touching it). Thus, if someone either (a) touches a corpse (either directly or indirectly, i.e., by touching someone who has touched a corpse and has not yet been purified of this defilement), this being the basic form of ritual defilement imparted by a human, or (b) contracts some other form of ritual defilement by touching someone who had a seminal or uterine discharge, a menstruant, or a woman after childbirth, or even (c) touches a man who is defiled on account of having conducted marital relations with a menstruant (and who has not yet been purified of his defilement) and thereby defiles him, or (d) eats carrion of a fowl that would have been permitted for consumption had it been properly slaughtered, and in any of these cases, he was originally aware that he had become ritually defiled in this way, but at some later point forgot about it, and during the period in which he did not know that he was ritually defiled he ate consecrated food or entered the Tabernacle precincts, and he later realizes that he was defiled when he did so—he has thereby incurred guilt.
The cases of eating consecrated food or entering the Tabernacle precincts while in a state of ritual defilement are just specific instances of the type of transgression that normally obligates a person to bring a regular sin-offering, namely, inadvertently transgressing a passive commandment punishable by excision if performed intentionally. The difference is that the individual is obligated to bring a variable sin-offering only if he knew originally that he had become defiled, forgot about it, and committed the sin before he remembered. Means of atonement for committing this sin under other circumstances will be discussed later.
