When a ruler— i.e. Any person of superior rank and authority; a magistrate. The Hebrew word נשׂיא nasi, is a ruler or prince; one that lifteth up or easeth the burdens of the people by governing them, Numbers 11:17. Exodus 18:22 and is a common name both for inferior rulers, as Numbers 16:2. Exodus 16:22 and for the chief, as the king, Ezekiel 34:24; Ezekiel 38:2; Ezekiel 45:7.—Is guilty, at the end of this verse, is understood by some to signify conscious of his guilt; see Hosea 5:15 but, rendering the or if, in the next verse, by when (as the original will well bear), the passage is sufficiently clear: is guilty, signifying, hath contracted guilt.
REFLECTIONS.—However sin comes to our knowledge, we should be thankful for the notice. Rulers, as well as other men, have need often to open their ears to admonition; they may, even when they mean well, do ill. A kid sufficed for the atonement; intimating, that though the offence were the same, the crime was not so aggravated, nor pernicious in its consequence, as that of the high-priest or congregation. Note; Though all sins are not alike evil in their effects to others, they are all mortal to the sinful soul without an atonement.