Numbers 5:1-10
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. 3 You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7 then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. 8 But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. 9 Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10 And every man's holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7 then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. 8 But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. 9 Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10 And every man's holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”
Sinfulness did not belong in the holy camp of the Lord God. Israel was to put the diseased outside of the congregation, not only for physical well-being, but also as a warning for not dealing with sin and letting it spread to others. The very next paragraph might seem to be unrelated, but it adds to the command by specifying how to deal with sin. It is by confession, that is, by acknowledging it is sin and that the one going against God’s word realizes and confessed that unfaithful thought and deed to God and man. Furthermore, the one who is wronged should then receive restitution by the perpetrator. If the person wronged and nobody in the family can be located to give the restitution to, then it was to be offered to God. Likewise when we wrong others as Christians, we ought to follow the same pattern of forgiveness and restitution to man and God as Matthew 5:24 instructs us to do when we have offended our brother or sister. This is our holiness before God and man by confessing our sins and making restitution with both.
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