Remember This - The Sin Offering (Leviticus 4:1-5:13)
As you probably know from experience, believers commit sins. And as you will probably know that the bible also that sin comes between the believer and God. So, the question is: how do you deal with that kind of problem? The answer may sound pretty simple, and most of us probably think that we know it. But there are some ramifications to it that we need to discuss.
In the book of Leviticus, there are a number of sacrifices or offerings. As I have pointed out already in this series. But these are for memorials, and they are not for salvation. They are reminders for believers, redeemed people. The people it was written to had been redeemed out of Egypt, and now the Lord gives them ordinances, statutes, and rituals that he wants them to obey. So, there purpose is not to save people; that's already happened. Rather, it is to tell them, as believers, what they should do as a memorial because the Lord wants them and us to remember some important things.
Now, we've gone through three of the five so far. The first was the burnt offering, which reminded them and us that redemption is based on the blood of Christ. Then we looked at the meal offerings a couple of days ago, which tells us that God has provided for us and we should trust him. And then we saw in chapter 3 the peace offering, and I suggested that because of the fact that this is the only sacrifice where they took a portion of it home and ate it, that it is telling usit has a fellowship aspect to it.
Now, the 4th sacrifice/offering is the one that we come to today and it is called the sin offering. So, I want us to look at the sin offering and based on its name it is obvious that this offering has to do with sin in the life of a believer So, with that in mind, will you turn with me to Leviticus chapter four and these first two verses are sort of an introduction to what follows, so I'm going to start by just reading those first two verses.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “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.
(Leviticus 4: 1-2)
Now, let's pause and consider the introduction right away. It begins with the phrase, 'Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying.' This phrase reappears in chapter 5, verse 14, suggesting that 4:1 through 5:13 forms a cohesive unit. We'll be examining this whole section over the next few days.
Another key point in the introduction is the mention of 'unintentional sin.' In Hebrew, 'unintentional' translates to accidental or 'inadvertently,' implying actions not done with conscious intent. It's sin without a deliberate defiance or rebellion, covering acts stemming from human weakness. This offering addresses errors, oversights, ignorance, lack of consideration, or carelessness.
Now, while I could provide specific examples of inadvertent sins at this stage, the passage will do this later for us and we will address that then So, for now, we'll follow the flow of the passage and explore the offenders, those who might commit such sins. Moses outlines three categories in this extensive portion. So, let's begin in verse 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. 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.”
(Lev 4: 3-4)
Now, who is this anointed priest? Well, the answer is, the high priest. He's the only priest that was anointed. So, if he committed this unintentional sin, he was to bring his bull to the door of the Tabernacle, lay his hands on it, and kill it. Does that sound familiar? As we've looked at some of these offerings, that's what they did all they way through. Thereby the offeror of the sin sacrifice was ritually putting his sin on the sacrificed animal. This is a symbolic gesture. This ritual of the sin offering followed the same general pattern as the other offerings, but with distinctive features in the details pertaining to what was done with the blood, which we will see as we go through this next section.
Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. 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.
(Lev 4: 5-6)
Now, if you recall, in the prior offerings, the blood was sprinkled around the altar. But now the high priest is to go into the Tabernacle itself. If you will recall, the Tabernacle is divided into two parts: a holy place and the holy of holies and between the two was a veil. So, the high priest goes in front of where the Lord resided in the holy of holies and stands before the veil and sprinkles the blood before the Lord. That is makes this little detail different than what was done in the other offerings. Verse 7 then says,
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.
(Lev 4: 7)
The brazen altar had little horns on the four corners. He was to sprinkle some of the blood on those four horns. That was different again to than what was done previously.
'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, 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. 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.”
(Lev 4: 8-9)
Now, we have seen this before in the other offerings. And this is the portion that belonged to the Lord.
But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal 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.
(Lev 4: 11-12)
So, in this case, the ashes were to be taken out with parts of the animal, and they were burned outside the camp. All these verses are telling us is that when the high priest committed a sin unintentionally, this was the ritual he was to go through. Some of it was similar to the previous offerings; some of it is different.
The next offence covered is one when the whole congregation has sinned, so let’s look at verse 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.”
(Lev 4: 13)
In the first case, it was the high priest; now it's the whole congregation. Sometimes, apparently, they as a whole committed an unintentional sin. When they did, this is the procedure that was to be followed.
“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.”
(Lev 4: 14)
This verse is interesting because the sin was unintentional, they might not even know they've done it. As a matter of fact, as I pointed out previously the King James translates this as 'the sin of ignorance.' They weren't aware or aware that it was sin but at some point maybe it dawns on them and this is the procedure that they must follow.
“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.”
(Lev 4: 15)
Again, the laying on of hands is an act of identification. So, the elders, representing the congregation, are laying hands on the sacrifice to identify their sin with it.
“The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tabernacle of meeting. Then the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil. 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.
(Lev 4: 16-19)
All of that is a repetition of what the priest must do, but in this case, it's for the congregation.
“He shall take all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. 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. 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.
(Lev 4: 20-21)
So far, we've had the sin offering introduced, and we're in the portion of the passage where it is telling us about the potential occasions when this is needed, it when someone has committed unintentional sin, either the high priest or the whole congregation."
The third group mentioned in this type of sin atonement now is a ruler.
“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, 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. 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. 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. 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.
(Lev 4: 22-26)
So far we've seen three groups of people: the high priest, the whole congregation, and now the ruler. Now, he mentions a fourth group. Beginning in verse 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, 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. 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. 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. 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. If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. 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.
(Lev 4: 27-33)
Now, we've looked at the high priest, the ruler, and the whole congregation as a unit. All of them together. Now, he's going to mention the common people. In other words, he's going to mention all the people, all people individually, and the ordinary person.
Verse 34 says.
“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. 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.
(Lev 4: 34-35)
We just been through 35 verses, and what is going on here is pretty simple: If you sin unintentionally, you have to give an offering, and there's a procedure that you have to go through. The various people that do this range from the high priest to the ordinary citizen and that is because everybody commits unintentional sin.
We see here the sin offerings reflect the fact that if a private citizen sins, his action polluted the sanctuary only to a limited extent; therefore, the blood purification offered was only smeared on the horns of the altar of the burnt sacrifice. If, however, the whole nation sins or the holiest member of the nation, the high priest, sins, that was more serious. The blood had to be taken inside the Tabernacle and sprinkled on the veil and the altar of incense. Finally, over a period of a year, the sins of the nation could accumulate to such an extent that they polluted even the holiest of holies where God dwelt. If he was to continue to dwell among his people, this too had to be cleansed in the annual Day of Atonement ceremony.
I think that statement summarizes this whole chapter, covering all the various groups and yet pinpointing the distinction in the ritual between them. If there's any lesson to be learned, it is this, really simple. Are you ready? All have sinned. Everyone sins, and apparently, God wanted us to understand that so much he has repeats it over and over and over and over again. The bottom line is, from the high priest to the lowly ordinary citizen, people sin and sometimes they all do it together.
The relationship between chapter 4 and chapter 5 verses 1 to 13 has been debated by scholars because beginning it is after 5:14 that it talks about other kinds of offerings. So, the question is, does this opening section of chapter five go with the guilt offerings in chapter four. That's the ongoing debate. Now, without boring you with all the details, I'm going to suggest simply that the sin offering, and the guilt offering are so different that. I have concluded, as have many others, that this goes with the sin offering and the break in the narrative really should be at chapter 5:13. These sins are ones of neglect, they're not premeditated, they're unintentional. So, what are these sins? Are you ready? Look at verse one of chapter five, of the next chapter, because it will tell us.
‘If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter, if he does not tell it, he bears guilt.”
(Lev 5: 1)
Here's the first of several unintentional sins people are guilty of: sinning if they do not tell what they know when summoned to court.
This is when they are a witness. The context of this sin is in court, where someone who has knowledge of a crime yet refuses to testify at the hearing even after the high priest or the judge puts them under oath. In this instance, a person who does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify may withhold information through neglect. Perhaps he didn't intend to, but the point is he didn't tell everything he knew.
The second case is in verses two and three.
‘Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and he is unaware of it, he also shall be unclean and guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness, whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.
(Lev 5: 2-3)
By the way, the last part of verse three really puts its finger on what's going on in this passage. He was unaware of it and then he realizes it. That's the unintentional sin. Now, later in the book, we're going to get to all the things God said were unclean and clean. But this passage is saying if you, without knowing it, you touched an unclean thing, that was sin, in the sense you are no longer holy. It made you unclean, and you needed to provide a sacrifice for that. One illustration of that is touching a dead body. So, if you unintentionally touched a dead body according to the Mosaic law, you were considered unclean and you needed to be forgiven of that sin, symbolized by making an offering. You can imagine this happening, coming upon somebody that's lying there, maybe asleep or dead, and you try to shake him and wake him up, and you didn't intend to touch a dead body, but you did because you weren't aware. That's a great illustration of this sin. And then you realize when you touch the body and it was cold, and you had just touched a dead body. So, then you need to go make this offering. So, this verse deals with the defilement contracted by touching a dead body, even if he didn't know it at the time.
There's a third: verse four.
“Or if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever it is that a man may pronounce by an oath, and he is unaware of it, when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in any of these matters.”
(Lev 5: 4)
Now, we could really have fun with this verse. Do you ever speak thoughtlessly? I think who hasn't done that? Maybe, alright, but that's not exactly what it's talking about. If you read the whole verse, what this is really talking about is that you pronounced an oath thoughtlessly. In other words, you were unable to fulfil a vow you made. The idea of this verse is that you made a vow, and you did it too quickly without thinking. And then after you did it, you realize, 'I can't do that, I don't have the ability to do it.' Well, it's a sin because you shouldn't make a vow without honouring it and therefore, you need to go make the offering.
Next.
‘And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing; and he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats as a sin offering. So, the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.
(Lev 5: 1-6)
Verse 5 continues, stating that the person should bring their sin offering to the Lord for the sin they have committed. The priest makes atonement for them concerning their sin. There has to be a sacrifice. Now, I have great news for you today. You don't have to bring a lamb or a goat. Christ takes away the sins of the world. All that's left for us to do is confess. It's the blood of Christ that cleanses us from the sin.
Let's discuss the offerings. In the rest of the verses in this section, he talks about the offerings. I’m not going to read them all but you can follow along on the episode notes page.
‘If he is not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord, for his trespass which he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons: one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. And he shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it completely. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. And he shall offer the second as a burnt offering according to the prescribed manner. So, the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him. ‘But if he is not able to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring for his offering one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it, nor shall he put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. Then he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as a memorial portion, and burn it on the altar according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. It is a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for him, [d]for his sin that he has committed in any of these matters; and it shall be forgiven him. The rest shall be the priest’s as a grain offering.’ ”
(Lev 5: 7-13)
Verse 7 states that if a person is unable to bring a lamb, they can bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So, if you couldn't afford the more expensive animals, you could bring an inexpensive animal like a pigeon. The person should bring them to the priest, who will offer the sin offering first and wring off its head but not divide it completely. This is giving us the procedure. We've seen this kind of thing time and time again; it's the ritual they had to go through. So again, the priest makes atonement on behalf of the sin which the person has committed, and it shall be forgiven. There has to be a blood sacrifice, that's what this is saying. Again, all of this shows that the priest makes atonement for the person for the sin they have committed in any of these matters, and it shall be forgiven. The rest belongs to the priest as a grain offering. Remember, the priest was supported by receiving a portion of some of the sacrifices.
I feel like we just jogged through this passage quite quickly and covering a lot of verses. The basic point of chapter 4, verse 1 all the way to chapter 5, verse 13 is simple: if you commit sin, even an unintentional sin, you are to do two things: acknowledge it ,and give an offering to the Lord.
I want to conclude by making some observations. As we ran through this passage there's a truth that has emerged that we need to ponder. When we talk about sin, we normally think of something we did that we shouldn't have done and knew better. But as Christians if there's unintentional sin how much trouble are we in. I could commit sin and not even know it. This leads me to suggest that sin is much more than what we normally think it is. In fact, I think the average person defines sin as what somebody else does that they don't do. That's normally how we define sin. Certainly, most people think it is an overt act of something. But according to this passage, sin may permeate our lives even more than we are aware of. This leads me to my next observation.
I want to direct your attention to the book of 1 John, specifically chapter one. The subject there also revolves around the presence of sin in the life of a believer. This chapter addresses this aspect quite explicitly. Let's start with verse 5.
“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(Lev 5: 5-7)
So, there's a sense in which, when you really immerse yourself in the scriptures and walk closely with the Lord, the more you realize that what you've done is a sin. As long as you're in the darkness, you may not even realize your shirt is dirty. But you get in the light, and look at it, and you realize, wow, the light exposed that. So a Christians what happens then. Keep reading?
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1: 8-9)
The sacrifice is quite simple, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Got it? It's that confession part. That's why I brought you to this chapter. This is one of the few verses in the entire New Testament that discusses the Christian view of confession. James 5 talks about confessing to another believer, but this chapter addresses confessing to the world. If you examine these verses closely, what I'm about to tell you is very important. If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus says "If we confess the sins that we know because they've been exposed by the light, because we're in fellowship with him, then he cleanses us from those sins and all unrighteousness." In other words, I'm not under the Mosaic law, I don't have to worry about unintentional sin that I'm not aware of, as long as I'm walking in the light and I'm confessing the sins I know. Then, I'm cleansed from all unrighteousness, which includes the one we don’t even know about. Got it? You're forgiven. That's the good news.
Hear me, hear me well. If you're walking in the light and confessing the sins that the light exposes, you are cleansed from all unrighteousness. Got it? You're forgiven of everything because the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.
I want to close by saying this.
"Under the new covenant, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the believer from all sin. Thereby, these types of Levitical offering is now obsolete for Christians. However, sin in the believer's life can still grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit. Though Christ's death we have been purified from sin's contamination and any condemnation that might have been due. Anyone who became aware of something done or undone must acknowledge it, confess it to the Lord and you will ALWAYS find forgiveness through God's provision of atonement. Christ died as the final sin offering; he was our substitute. His sacrifice was for our sake and under the new covenant, the blood of Christ cleanses the believer from all sin, and we are no longer under the Old Testament law.