Numbers 5:8

8. No kinsman The Hebrew goel was the nearest relative, whose duty it was to redeem his enslaved kinsman, as well as to avenge his death at another’s hand. See note introductory to Numbers 5:1, and on Genesis 9:5.

In this is implied the fact of the death of the injured party.

To the priest As the representative of Jehovah, who in a peculiar sense is the kin of the deceased, the restitution is to be made. He is our ultimate legatee and avenger. The restitution money paid to the priest was put into a common purse and distributed among all the priests in that course.

The ram of the atonement This was the sacrifice by which the expiation to Jehovah was effected. Leviticus 6:7. As he was offended by the sin, his wrath must be appeased, as well as the violated rights of man be restored. Hengstenberg interprets this to signify that Jehovah, the natural heir, who was wronged in the injured person, was to receive a double trespass offering. The original law required, with the ram, a sum of money estimated to be an equivalent to the injury done to the person. “The ram of the asham receives an imaginary value according to the estimate of the priests.” The ram presented by the delinquent “as a compensation for the spiritual debt was taxed as high as the sum which was given for the compensation of the outward material debt. By this symbolic act the idea of debt was most vividly impressed, and the necessity of making a settlement with God was clearly exhibited.” This verse supplements the original law of the trespass offering, which is silent respecting the death of the injured person who had no heir or goel. It is probable that such a case had occurred, and hence additional legislation was required.