Leviticus 4: 1 – 35
I didn’t mean to
4 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, 3 if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. 4 He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the LORD. 5 Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. 6 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails, 9 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, 10 as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. 11 But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal— 12 the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned. 13 ‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which should not be done, and are guilty; 14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting. 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD. Then the bull shall be killed before the LORD. 16 The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tabernacle of meeting. 17 Then the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil. 18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 19 He shall take all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. 20 And he shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering; thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. 21 Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly. 22 ‘When a ruler has sinned, and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD his God in anything which should not be done, and is guilty, 23 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a male without blemish. 24 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it at the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD. It is a sin offering. 25 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 26 And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of the peace offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. 27 ‘If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty, 28 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. 31 He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the LORD. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. 32 ‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. 33 Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. 35 He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the LORD. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
For all of us who have made the wrong decision and it turned out wrong, I want to give you some excuses to explain away the sin that you did
1. Unfortunately, it just happened
2. It should have gone a different way
3. That was unexpected
4. It was just an accident
5. I didn’t see that one coming
6. That wasn't my intention
7. I wasn't trying to
8. It was a mistake
9. I didn't mean for that to happen
10. I never intended to
I do want to warn you though about using any of these excuses. They do not work. We all might want to cry out, ‘Oh come on now, give me a break. I didn’t sin on purpose. We all need to stop and recognize sin is still sin. Who are to measure exactly the seriousness of any sin?
I grew up thinking that there were biggie sins and minor sins. The big ones were called ‘mortal’ and the less offensive sins were called ‘venial’. Being the inquisitive kid that I was and still am I asked how many venial sins equal a mortal. The answer came back to me in the form of a punch from the religious guy. Today because of incorrect listings of sins I believe that we easily come to the conclusion that little sins should just be ignored instead of making such a big deal out of them. Yet, if we stop and look at Scripture we find that the minor sins are treated in the same category of big sins. We learn this from the book of Romans chapter 1, “28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
The idea of unintentional sin in Leviticus 4 is related to sin by accident. We learn in this chapter that even inadvertent, unwitting sin defiles us, thus we need purification.
4 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them,
Does it strike you that the verses do something strange–you’re waiting for that thought to be completed which then it phases off into the situation of the sin of anointed priests.
What's going on there? Verses one and two are a heading. They are telling you, “OK, we're done with the peace offerings; now we're going to talk about the purification offerings in the case of unintentional sins.”
The sacrifices are at different levels dependent on whose sin they deal with. So the major purification for sin offerings are those for the sins of the priests, who are representatives of ‘the congregation (church, assembly) of Israel’, and of the community as a whole, which of course therefore contains within it the priests. The priests are holy to God, and the whole community are to God ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Exodus 19.6). Thus such sins are directly against God’s holiness and cause a breach of the covenant for the whole nation.
Our Holy God has an entire class of sacrifices appointed in the book of Leviticus for unintentional sin?! Our intentional sins are enough, surely! But He sees the impurity that is brought about by inadvertent, unwitting sin, and points out to His people that that too needs purification. These are sins that are not high-handed, premeditated sins. There are mitigating factors to these sins, and still they defile the people of God, and so they need purification.
Here the Lord gives a whole class of sacrifices not for high-handed, premeditated crime, but even for inadvertent, unwitting sin for the real truth is that All sin defiles us. All sin needs cleansing. And by the way, listen to that language. It's not simply that we need forgiveness; it is that we need cleansing. We have been made impure by sin, and that sin needs to be cleansed.
Unintentional sins were sins against the covenant. They might be ritual failures or moral failures (both being the same in their eyes, they breached the covenant). Carelessness with regard to either would bring them under God’s judgment. There must be no failure in observing God’s ritual requirements exactly as required, and the keeping of Yahweh’s moral commands was seen as an essential part of the ritual requirements. All of life was considered to be involved in God, and had to be lived out with God and His requirements in mind. The failure to observe the ritual correctly in mind here would be accidental or careless. To do such a thing deliberately would be presumptuous sin and would incur death.
It is a word to the children of Israel as a whole concerning the fact that ‘if anyone’, whether priest, ruler or commoner, become aware of any way in which they have done what Yahweh God has commanded not to be done, or if they find that they have failed to fulfill His requirements, then the purification for sin offering comes into play. It applies both for the one and the many, individual sin or community sin. For the one is the part of the whole. The sin in mind is ‘unwitting sin’, sin caused by man’s weakness and frailty, not sin done boldly and with a high hand. It covered sins that sprang from the weakness of the flesh.
Sins resulting from human weakness, and the failure due to it, can be forgiven in such a way, but open defiance and deliberate thwarting of God’s will, sins committed with a "thought out planned sin," cannot be dealt with through sacrifices. The latter included premeditated murder, the taking of a life which belonged to God (Exodus 21.12-14); idolatry, the setting aside of God for the worship of idols (Exodus 22.20); the taking in adultery of a man’s wife who had been united with him by God, thus breaking the God-made tie (Leviticus 20.10); and being deeply involved with the occult (Exodus 22.18). In all these sins God was openly set at naught. Such a sinner was to be "cut off from among his people" (Numbers 15.30-31).
3 if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering.
Here we are now faced with sinful failure by the anointed Priest himself The High Priest. This was a grave matter indeed. Here was the one who, together with his sons had been set apart by God, and who represented the whole people before God and acted on their behalf. He was their mediator and representative. He was to be the perfect exemplar. Any failure on his part to fulfill properly the ritual requirements exactly as prescribed, and the ritual requirements included all the moral requirements, reflected therefore directly on the people. For how could they act for the people once they themselves had sinned? Purification was therefore immediately necessary.
The priest's sin has consequences for the people. The priest is the representative of God's people. He is Israel boiled down to one person representing Israel before God. He is the agent that God has appointed to deal ritually with the defilement of Israel and to bring about purification, and if he is defiled how will he serve that purpose for Israel?
Think again of the New Testament commentary on Leviticus in Hebrews; what it says about our Savior The Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior, unlike that Old Testament priest, was sinless and undefiled. He did not have to make a sacrifice on His own behalf like this priest. He Is a superior Savior because He doesn't need to offer a sacrifice of purification on His behalf. He is our representative; He is a perfect representative in His obedience and in His sacrifice. The priest's sin has consequences for the people because he is the people's representative. We are tied together with the destiny of our priest; that is why the Book of Hebrews celebrates our Great High Priest, Jesus.
4 He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the LORD.
So if the anointed priest became aware of any sin that he had committed, which would have brought guilt on the people because of whom he was, and especially in cases where the failure had been where he was acting as ‘The Priest’, he must immediately act in order for that sin to be neutralized, to be totally got rid of, so that his own and their holiness could be restored. He had sinned on their behalf as well as his own. Thus they have sinned in him. He was therefore called on to make the most valuable of sacrifices, the young bull ox; maturing, life producing, vital and powerful. And it is to be ‘perfect’, total and complete, without blemish. This was a reminder that it was being offered for someone who was blemished, and it therefore required one who was unblemished to die for him. It was the sacrifice of the unblemished for the blemished And it was to be brought to Yahweh Who alone could deal with his sin. The matter was between the Priest and Yahweh.
In the same way as with the other offerings and sacrifices the bull ox is brought ‘to the door of the tent of meeting’, that is into the courtyard where the bronze altar was, in front of the outer curtains of the sanctuary behind which, separated only by the Holy Place, was the throne room of Yahweh. And there the priest was to lay his hand firmly on the bull ox, firmly identifying with it and making it his representative for the bearing and purification of his sin. And then he killed it before Yahweh, and its life flowed out in death, and so before Yahweh there was a death for his sin, the death of a perfect representative who died in his place, and in the place of the people. His sin was identified with the bull ox, just as he was identified with the bull ox, and the bull ox died for his sin. And that death neutralized the sin. It was the antidote to sin. The sin was fully punished and the barrier that had arisen between him and God was removed. It ‘made atonement’ and brought purification for the sin.
The wages of sin is death, he who sins shall die, and that was why a life had to be forfeit. But a death having taken place the priest could, by the grace of God, become as though he had never sinned. And the bull ox too was no longer tainted with sin for the price of sin was paid. Instead it became excessively ‘holy’ because of God’s activity through it and on it. It was now wholly ‘separated to God’ as His instrument of purification. His holy action on it had made it ‘holy’. By means of the necessary punishment of death sin had been dealt with. It was ‘forgiven’. And the result of God’s holy working through it was that the ox bull became holy. Its remains had therefore to be dealt with the greatest possible care. It had been God’s instrument of mercy.
That the sacrifice becomes holy is declared clearly elsewhere and is emphasized by the fact that when taken outside the camp it has to be buried ‘in a clean place’.
The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ too was offered as a purification for sin offering, and that indeed as the anointed High Priest He offered Himself, and that His blood too was poured out and was accepted for purification for. And he reminds us that He too was excessively holy, so holy that His death and offering up had to be ‘outside the camp’. Indeed the death of the bull ox had been but a shadow of this, and without this offering of Christ once-for-all the shadow would have been ineffective. The efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice was carried back into the blood that was offered before Yahweh (Romans 3.25).
5 Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting.
Here we have the first major difference with this particular offering for purification for sin (together with the community offerings for purification of sin) from all the others. The blood of the slain bull, caught in a bowl, is to be brought into the tent of meeting. All else had been dealt with at the door of the tent of meeting, without entering through the curtain. But here he goes beyond the door of the tent of meeting right into the Holy Place itself, and there approaches the veil. Once there only the veil separates him from the Holy of Holies and the very covenant throne of God. To be able to enter here is evidence that the blood has become ‘very holy’ indeed. But in what does this holiness consist? It is in that the blood has been shed for sin, and has been accepted, so that it has become God’s instrument in making purification for sin. It has ‘totally covered’ the sin of the anointed priest, and the resulting defilement of the Holy Place, and neutralized it by the action of God in the imparting His holiness, thus making both once again holy, and the blood holy with the holiness of God. It has become a most precious thing.
6 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
And this ‘blood made holy’ is now sprinkled by means of the priest’s finger seven times before Yahweh within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, before the veil, to demonstrate that all that has to do with the priest and the Holy Place has now again been made holy. The sinning priest had not only defiled the people but also the Holy Place. But that shed ‘blood made holy’ was the proof of holiness fully restored to the whole through the shedding of blood (17.11). It completed the cleansing. The covenant was restored. The Priest’s mediating work could go on.
There is also in this recognition in this that the priest’s sin or the nation’s sin had defiled the Sanctuary. Thus the blood also purifies the Sanctuary.
So the sevenfold sprinkling indicated the divine completeness of the purification, and the restoration of the covenant relationship, and was necessary before he could make this first approach to the altar of incense after becoming aware of sin.
7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
Then having sprinkled the blood with his finger seven times towards the veil as he approached, indicating that the sin that would have prevented his approach has been dealt with, he is able to apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of incense before the veil, which is seen as uniquely ‘before Yahweh’. For directly behind the veil, with its two poles pushing the veil forward where they extended into the Holy Place was the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, where from an earthly point of view Yahweh was enthroned invisibly between the Cherubim. This was as close as the blood could be brought without going within the veil into the Holy of Holies itself.
The remainder of the blood was then taken out of the sanctuary and poured out at the base of the altar in the courtyard which was ‘at the door of the tent of meeting’ within the holy precincts of the tabernacle. This was to sanctify it and make atonement for it (8.15). So the whole of the blood which had been made very holy by being shed for sin was dealt with within the tabernacle precincts. And it was first applied for the purification of sin, and to make atonement, and then to purify the Holy Place and its contents, and then to give praise for that atonement, and then it was finally all given to God.
8 He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails, 9 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, 10 as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering.
All the fat of the bull ox was then stripped from it, including the innards, and the fat that was on them, and the two kidneys and the liver, and all fat associated with them, and these were burnt up on the altar as an offering to Yahweh. The fat represented the very best of the offering, and the parts mentioned represented its vital being, its life and emotions and all that it essentially was, given by Yahweh in creation when He first gave them life and breath. These belonged to Yahweh and were passed back to Him, offered up in worship to Him. So even the sin offering has a worship aspect and recognizes God’s rights as Creator. Indeed the blood having now been shed the worship could be offered truly.
11 But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal— 12 the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.
Then all that remained of the bull ox and its carcass, including its skin, was taken out to be burned in ‘a clean place’. This was very significant. It was far from just getting rid of the remains. Being burned ‘in a clean place’ indicated its extreme holiness, and that it was being handed over to God. Nothing that could defile would be taken to ‘a clean place’. Like all else connected with the sacrifice God’s power had transformed it. We can almost hear the words, ‘what God has cleansed do not call common’ (Acts 10.15). It is burned in the clean place where the very ashes from the altar were taken for disposal, outside the camp. Those ashes too were holy for they had received of the offerings and sacrifices that had been offered on the altar.
The inference is that these parts of the bull ox had become so totally holy that they could not even be burned on the altar (as the whole burnt offering was). They were beyond being offered to God by men in any worshipping way. The altar was for offering to God men’s offerings. But these had been involved in God’s activity in the purification of sin and had so been made excessively holy. They therefore belonged to Him already. God’s holiness had been imparted to them. Man could not offer them.
So they no longer in any way represented man and his offerings. Man could no longer offer them up. They were already devoted to God. Therefore while they had to be removed from the earthly sphere and given to God as His, it was by being burned outside the camp altogether, in a clean place, a place so clean that it could receive the ashes of the altar. They were too holy for the altar, they were too holy for the camp, and they were too holy for the priests to partake of. They could only be offered by burning in a clean place outside the camp, and not as an offering and sacrifice, because they were already His, but as already belonging to Him. They were already devoted to Yahweh.
This point is taken up by the writer to the Hebrews in chapter 13.10-13 when he stresses that our Lord Jesus offered up Himself outside the camp, in His case totally, because of His extreme holiness. Jerusalem was no longer holy enough for Him to be offered there, and God took Him without the camp to His own special altar, for Him to be offered there in holiness. Jerusalem meant it as a reproach. God by it indicated His extreme holiness. Jerusalem testified against itself. As a result He Is able to make holy and to purify all Who come to God through Him, for he is their purification for sin offering.
This second type of purification for sin offering is to occur when the whole congregation, the congregation as a nation, and thus the whole nation, has sinned. The ‘congregation’ was the gathering of Israel. This ‘gathering’ would take place especially at the regular feasts, but would also occur whenever they were called together. At these gatherings decisions would be made both about the past and the future. Judgments had to be given and future options determined. However, it was always possible that any decisions then made, and the courses that followed, might finally be discovered to be contrary to the covenant. They may by them have unintentionally ‘sinned’. This would include judgments made on certain disputed matters. And God’s anger, His antipathy against sin, would therefore have been aroused. It was then that this act of atonement had to come into play.
13 ‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which should not be done, and are guilty;
The peoples’ sins have consequences for the whole community and so there is a whole class of sacrifice to be offered when the whole congregation of Israel commits error. And again, there is a class of offering that is to be given if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing the things that the Lord has commanded not to be done.
You see the principle there? There are corporate consequences for the sins of everyone in Israel. You remember the story of Achan in the days of Joshua? One man, one family: consequences for the whole of Israel. Do you think of yourself as accountable to one another in this congregation in that light? Do you realize that you can't just live your life like you want to live your life if you’re a part of a local congregation and it not have an impact on all? It does. So there's a whole class of sacrifices to be offered in this instance, because the sin of every member of Israel impacts every member of Israel. And that principle is carried out in the New Testament as well. We’re accountable to one another. We need one another's commitment to holiness, and we are corporately accountable.
The idea is that the ‘assembly’, those who represent the whole congregation, has become aware in some way that its decisions and actions have been contrary to Yahweh’s will. It had not been done deliberately, but they have come to recognize how wrong they had been. It has in mind decisions which publicly affect the whole people. They realize that they, or someone acting on behalf of the whole, have done what Yahweh commanded not to be done, and that they are all therefore guilty of breaking the covenant, and that they have done it as the nation as a whole. They recognize that, unless they act to restore it, the covenant has therefore been invalidated and has ceased to be effective. And they are all guilty as though they were one.
14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting. 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD. Then the bull shall be killed before the LORD.
The procedure is slightly summarized and is no doubt to follow closely that for the Priest’s sins. Here it is ‘the elders of the congregation’, their main leaders as representatives of the whole assembly, who lay hands on the bull ox. The bull ox represents the whole congregation. One or two of their number will then slay the bull ‘before Yahweh’. The death is drawn to His attention, and it is made clear that they are following His demands. The blood will then be collected by the priest in a basin to be further dealt with.
16 The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tabernacle of meeting. 17 Then the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil. 18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
The same procedure is followed as for the Priest. The same gravity of offence has been committed which involves both the priest and the whole nation, for the priest was a part of the nation. The seriousness of the priest’s sin lay in that he was the God-chosen representative of the whole nation; here the sin has been the whole nation’s. In both cases therefore the whole covenant has been shattered. The blood is brought within the tent of meeting into the Holy Place. And this ‘blood made holy’ is now sprinkled by means of the priest’s finger seven times before Yahweh within the Holy Place of the tabernacle, before the veil, to demonstrate that all that has to do with the whole congregation has now again been made holy. Not only the people but also the Holy Place had been defiled, for among them had been the Priest and his sons. But that shed blood was the proof of holiness fully restored to the whole through the shedding of blood (17.11). It completed the cleansing. The covenant was restored. The Priest’s mediating work could go on. The people were still His people.
19 He shall take all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. 20 And he shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering; thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.
Reference is here made back to the previous example. All is done the same. And the consequence is that atonement is made for them and they are as a nation forgiven. Atonement had not been mentioned in the case of the Priest, for he could not atone for himself, but it had been necessary and could be assumed in the light of this statement here. Atonement must always be made if men are to approach God. But here the Priest can ‘make atonement’ because he is not just acting for himself. He comes as the mediator for the nation.
So in this second example a detail is added which was not mentioned in the first and yet applied to it. We have seen before how in the second example a detail is brought in that was not given in the first example, but still applied. But as we have previously noted, the priest could not have been said to ‘make atonement’ for himself. That was something he could not do.
21 Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly.
The same treatment of the remains also follows. God’s action and holiness, in response to the death of their representative, has neutralized and atoned for the sin of a whole nation, resulting in the offering being suffused with His holiness. The offering has become excessively holy. It has been taken over by Him. It must therefore be ‘given to God’, to Whom it now belongs exclusively, in a clean place away from the camp, a place which is ‘holy’, and in this case too this would include the hide. It is too holy to belong to anyone but God. No one who was a part of the sin could have a part of it.
In the same way as the bull ox could atone for the sins of a whole nation, so in Hebrews are we made aware that our Lord Jesus’ sacrifice for Himself is sufficient for the sins, not only for a nation but for the whole world, if only they will repent and believe. There is no limit to the redeeming power of God.
We now come to a step down to a ruler of the people. The situation is now different. He does not represent the whole nation, nor, although appointed by God, is he God’s anointed mediator for the whole people. This is a sin of only a section of the people. It is therefore not a total rejection of the covenant. Thus the offering too is toned down and its remains disposed of differently, as with the peace sacrifices. It is necessary for atonement and the restoration of the unity of the nation, but not for the restoration of the covenant as a whole.
22 ‘When a ruler has sinned, and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD his God in anything which should not be done, and is guilty, 23 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a male without blemish.
The ruler’s sin may be personal, or it may have affected others. Either way it affects those over whom he is responsible. Thus he has brought guilt on himself and those he is over. This time the offering is to be a he-goat. And it must be without blemish, for it is in the place of one who is blemished so that its death may be on his account. Its maleness reflects the importance of, and vitality of, the offering.
‘If his sin be made known to him.’ The rulers and elders are clearly responsible to account for each other. The idea is probably that his behavior has come to the attention of the other rulers, and they approach him in order to deal with the matter for the sake of the whole, exerting peer pressure. It may, however, mean made known by God.
24 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it at the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD. It is a sin offering.
It is clear now that this sacrifice is of a lesser nature. The tension is no longer there, except for the person involved. It is a he-goat and it is slain where all whole burnt offerings are slain. The reason that it is not to be a sheep is possibly because he-goats are often used to depict rulers. They are ‘stately in their going’ as the book of Proverbs 30 verses 29 -31 points out,“There are three things which are majestic in pace, yes, four which are stately in walk: 30 A lion, which is mighty among beasts and does not turn away from any; 31 A greyhound, a male goat also, and a king whose troops are with him.[, Thus the he-goat adequately represents a ruler.
25 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
The blood is applied to the horns of the altar of whole burnt offerings rather than within the Holy Place. The future of Israel is no longer seen as in doubt. Nevertheless the strength of God is called on, and the plea of the blood goes up to Him through the horns of the altar, and the altar is purified. The rest of the blood is then flung at the base of the altar to make atonement for it (8.15). It is all presented before God. It is the shedding of the blood which results in forgiveness of sins. It is the blood that makes the atonement for the whole person (17.11).
26 And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of the peace offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
The fat of the sin offering is treated like the fat of the peace offerings, presumably along with all the inner organs. They belong to God. Nothing is said of the meat and the skin. These actually go to the priest. They are holy, but not most holy. For in 6.26-29 we learn that all the priests may eat of the meat, but only in the tabernacle precincts because it is holy.
‘And the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven.’ The result of the work of the priest, using God’s allotted means, results in atonement for the ruler. He is forgiven.
This offering brings out the responsibility of Christian leadership. Those who lead others sin is more bitter, for they hurt not only themselves but those that they lead. But Christ having been made our purification for sin offering purification and atonement is available through Him, even for those who sin in leadership and bear more guilt.
This is of either a female goat or a female sheep. It is thus of lower rank than that of the ruler, which was male, but may be of either kind. By having the two dealt with separately we have five different types of purification for sin offerings described, the bull ox for the priest, the bull ox for the community, the he-goat for the ruler, the female goat for the commoner, or the female sheep for the commoner. This thus makes five types of offering, and five is the number of covenant. It may be no coincidence in that this offering deals with breaches of the covenant.
27 ‘If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty,
Finally we have the offering for any of the common people who sin ‘unwittingly’, and thus not in open rebellion against Yahweh. It is for those who sin against the ‘you shall not’ commands. They have sinned against God’s direct command. If they have done so they are guilty and must go through the atoning procedures.
28 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
Exactly the same procedure occurs here as for the ruler, except that the offering is a lesser one, a female goat. But it is still to be without blemish. Only as such will it make a perfect representative and substitute. The commoner presses his hand on it, and slays it, and then some of its blood is put on the horns of the altar and the remainder at the foot of the altar. His sin results in death and is therefore neutralized by God acting in mercy, and his offering becomes holy. He is in process of being accepted by God and atoned for.
31 He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the LORD. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
The fat and all connected with it is then burnt on the altar and rises as ‘a pleasing odor to Yahweh’. We may probably assume that this is true of all the offerings of fat from the purification for sin offerings, although previously the emphasis has been on the need for forgiveness and atonement and it has not been specifically brought out. The priest has thus made atonement for him and he is forgiven.
32 ‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. 33 Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
The procedure is exactly the same as for the female goat. This may appear redundant to us, but for the Israelite the fivefold description was fully meaningful. Without its fivefold nature it would not have had the same impact.
35 He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the LORD. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
In this end description there is an addition to what has gone before, the fat and the innards are ‘an offering made by fire’ to Yahweh. This is almost certainly intended to be applied to all the purification for sin offerings apart from the two where the burning was outside the camp in a clean place, and even then it applied to the fat. The fat and innards of all as offered up are both a pleasing odor to Yahweh (verse 31) and are an offering made by fire. The writer has so written it that without the fivefold description, the picture would not have been complete. The whole is skillfully and cleverly composed, introducing all the elements in the offerings while keeping attention focused on the main one, the purification for sin.
These sacrifices for the common people, offered one by one, remind us of God’s interest and concern for each of us, however lowly, and that His full provision is there on our behalf when we come to Him in faith and trust.
So the great importance of properly dealing with sin has been brought out, and our need for purification and atonement, and the sacrifices are copies and shadows of the work of our Great High Priest Jesus, illustrating the work that He finally accomplished when He offered Himself up to God once-for-all for our sins as the perfect purification for sin offering, and the perfect atonement offering, sweeping up into His work all the offerings and sacrifices which had been offered from true hearts throughout all ages. Their effectiveness came from Him.
