Leviticus 4

Le 4:1, 2.

SIN

OFFERING OF

IGNORANCE.

2. If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the

commandments of the Lord--a soul--an individual. All sins may be

considered, in a certain sense, as committed "through ignorance,"

error, or misapprehension of one's true interests. The sins, however,

referred to in this law were unintentional violations of the ceremonial

laws,--breaches made through haste, or inadvertency of some negative

precepts, which, if done knowingly and wilfully, would have involved a

capital punishment.

do against any of them--To bring out the meaning, it is

necessary to supply, "he shall bring a sin offering."

Le 4:3-35.

SIN

OFFERING FOR THE

PRIEST.

3. If the priest that is anointed do sin--that is, the high

priest, in whom, considering his character as typical mediator, and his

exalted office, the people had the deepest interest; and whose

transgression of any part of the divine law, therefore, whether done

unconsciously or heedlessly, was a very serious offense, both as

regarded himself individually, and the influence of his example. He is

the person principally meant, though the common order of the priesthood

was included.

according to the sin of the people--that is, bring guilt on the

people. He was to take a young bullock (the age and sex being

expressly mentioned), and having killed it according to the form

prescribed for the burnt offerings, he was to take it into the holy

place and sprinkle the atoning blood seven times before the veil, and

tip with the crimson fluid the horns of the golden altar of incense, on

his way to the court of the priests,--a solemn ceremonial appointed

only for very grave and heinous offenses, and which betokened that his

sin, though done in ignorance, had vitiated all his services; nor could

any official duty he engaged in be beneficial either to himself or the

people, unless it were atoned for by blood.

11. the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh--In ordinary

circumstances, these were perquisites of the priests. But in the

expiation necessary for a sin of the high priest, after the fat of the

sacrifice was offered on the altar, the carcass was carried without the

camp

[Le 4:12],

in order that the total combustion of it in the place of ashes might

the more strikingly indicate the enormity of the transgression, and the

horror with which he regarded it (compare

Heb 13:12, 13).

13-21. if the whole congregation of Israel sin through

ignorance--In consequence of some culpable neglect or

misapprehension of the law, the people might contract national guilt,

and then national expiation was necessary. The same sacrifice was to be

offered as in the former case, but with this difference in the

ceremonial, that the elders or heads of the tribes, as representing the

people and being the principal aggressors in misleading the

congregation, laid their hands on the head of the victim. The priest

then took the blood into the holy place, where, after dipping his

finger in it seven times, he sprinkled the drops seven times before the

veil. This done, he returned to the court of the priests, and ascending

the altar, put some portion upon its horns; then he poured it out at

the foot of the altar. The fat was the only part of the animal which

was offered on the altar; for the carcass, with its appurtenances and

offals, was carried without the camp, into the place where the ashes

were deposited, and there consumed with fire.

22-26. When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance

against any of the commandments--Whatever was the form of

government, the king, judge, or subordinate, was the party concerned in

this law. The trespass of such a civil functionary being less serious

in its character and consequences than that either of the high priest

or the congregation, a sin offering of inferior value was required--"a

kid of the goats"; and neither was the blood carried into the

sanctuary, but applied only to the altar of burnt offering; nor was the

carcass taken without the camp; it was eaten by the

priests-in-waiting.

27-34. if any one of the common people sin through ignorance--In

this case the expiatory offering appointed was a female kid, or a

ewe-lamb without blemish; and the ceremonies were exactly the same as

those observed in the case of the offending ruler

[Le 4:22-26].

In these two latter instances, the blood of the sin offering was

applied to the altar of burnt offering--the place where bloody

sacrifices were appointed to be immolated. But the transgression of a

high priest, or of the whole congregation, entailing a general taint on

the ritual of the tabernacle, and vitiating its services, required a

further expiation; and therefore, in these cases, the blood of the sin

offering was applied to the altar of incense

[Le 4:6, 17].

35. it shall be forgiven him--None of these sacrifices possessed

any intrinsic value sufficient to free the conscience of the sinner

from the pollution of guilt, or to obtain his pardon from God; but they

gave a formal deliverance from a secular penalty

(Heb 9:13, 14);

and they were figurative representations of the full and perfect sin

offering which was to be made by Christ.