BDB823
אָשָׁם noun masculine offence, guilt — ׳ א Gen 26:10 + 37 t., suffix אֲשָׁמוֺ Num 5:7 + 7 t.; —
1.
offence, trespass, fault
Ps 68:22 (
guiltiness
RV
).
2.
guilt
Gen 26:10 (
J
) Prov
14:9; Jer
51:5.
3.
compensation, לְהָשִׁיב הָאָשָׁם אֵלָיו
to whom to return the compensation (or satisfaction for injury) Num 5:7; Num 5:8 (
P
; restitution for guilt
RV
).
4.
trespass-offering (
AV
, but guilt-offering
RV
) used only in
Lev 5; Lev
6:10; Lev 7:1
; Lev 14:1
; Lev 19:21;
Lev 19:22;
Lev 6:12; Lev 18:9 (
P
), & Ezek 40:39; Ezek 42:13; Ezek 44:29; Ezek 46:20, compare Ezra 10:19. This offering
seems to have been confined to offences against God or man that could be estimated and so covered by
compensation. The ordinary trespass-offering was a ram, together with restitution and a penalty of a fifth of
its value. The trespass-offerings of the leper and Nazirite were he-lambs Lev 14; Num 6:12 if the person who suffered wrong or his
kinsmen were not living the fine went to the priests. The victims were offered, the blood and fat pieces going
to the altar, the skin and flesh to the priests. There seems to have been no application of the blood to the
horns of the altar (the chief ceremony of the sin-offering) because the guilt was not expiated at the altar but
by compensation to the wronged person or his representative. A part of the blood of the leper's
trespass-offering was applied to his person to consecrate him (as in the case of the ram of consecration to
consecrate the priests Lev 8:23). The trespass-offering is unknown to
J
E
D
and the older Hebrew literature. However, the Philistines send an אשׁם of golden mice
and tumours 1Sam 6:3
; 1Sam 6:4;
1Sam 6:8; 1Sam 6:17, and
an אשׁם of money was given to the priests 2Kgs 12:17, but these are entirely different from the
trespass-offering of
P
. The Messianic servant offers himself as an אשׁם in compensation for the sins of the
people, interposing for them as their substitute Isa 53:10 (incorrectly, sin-offering
AV
RV
). See further OehlerOT Theol. § 137
Di
Lev 5:14.