Sin offering
4
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 📚“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a person sins through ignorance in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and does any of them, 3 📚if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him bring for his sin which he has committed a young ox without blemish to the LORD for a sin offering.4:3 The sin offering signifies the Lord Jesus Christ in the sinner’s place, bearing their sin and their sinfulness and dying for them (Isa 53:5-6, 12; Matt 26:28; John 1:29; Rom 3:25; 1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 1:4; 1 Pet 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 2:2; Rev 1:5). Christ died for what we are as well as for what we have done. The sin offering was most holy (Lev 6:25, 29). It was altogether set apart for God. And though Christ bore the sins of the world, counted them His own and suffered in behalf of sinners and in their place, He lost none of His personal holiness.🪶
4 📚And he shall bring the ox to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in the presence of the LORD, and shall lay his hand on the ox’s head, and kill the ox before the LORD. 5 📚And the anointed priest shall take of the ox’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation, 6 📚and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the veil of the sanctuary. 7 📚And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour all the blood of the ox at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is near the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
4:5-7 This is the only one of these five offerings the blood of which was taken inside the tabernacle and sprinkled in the holy place, and applied to the altar of incense. Perhaps this was to show that the holy place was defiled by the presence of the priests who served there daily. Atonement is needed wherever the steps of sinful man have fallen.🪶
8 📚And he shall take off all the fat of the ox from it for the sin offering, the fat that covers the inner parts, and all the fat that is on the inner parts, 9 📚and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them which is by the loins, and the lobe on the liver, with the kidneys which he shall remove, 10 as it was removed from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.
11 📚“And the skin of the ox, and all its flesh, with its head, with its legs and its inner parts and its dung, 12 📚the whole ox, he shall carry outside the camp 📖 to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. It is to be burned where the ashes are poured out.
13 📚“And if the whole congregation of Israel sins through ignorance, and the matter is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and are guilty, 14 📚when the sin which they have committed against God’s command becomes known, then the congregation shall offer a young ox for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of the congregation. 15 📚And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the ox before the LORD, and the ox shall be killed in the presence of the LORD.
4:15 Corporate or national sin means corporate or national responsibility, and a sacrifice had to be made to atone for such sin. Perhaps there is a suggestion in this that Christ would die not only for the individual sinner, but for the whole Jewish nation (John 11:49-52) and for the Church as a unit (Eph 5:25). The sacrifice was the same as for an individual priest who sinned.🪶
16 📚And the anointed priest shall bring some of the ox’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation, 17 📚and the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, before the veil. 18 📚And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
4:18 Verse 7. The prayers of Christ and His people’s prayers through Him, together with the remembrance of His blood, rise up to the heavenly Father.🪶
19 📚And he shall take all its fat from it, and burn it on the altar. 20 📚And he shall do with the ox as he did with the ox for a sin offering. And the priest shall do just the same with this, and make atonement for them, and it will be forgiven them.
4:20 Verses 26,31,35. They obtained forgiveness not because the animal sacrifice took away their sin, but because Christ would come and take away the sins of His people by the sacrifice of Himself. The Old Testament believing Jew understood that the sacrifices were symbolic of a yet future sacrifice of God's Perfect Atonement, Whom they trusted. We know, since God has revealed Him, that this is none other than Jesus Christ, God's eternal Son, spoken of often by the Old Testament prophets, and shown to us in the New Testament. What was for Old Testament believers still future, is now documented history for us.🪶
21 📚And he shall carry the ox outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first ox. It is a sin offering for the congregation.
22 📚“When a leader has sinned, and through ignorance has done any of the things the LORD his God has commanded not to be done, and is guilty, 23 📚if his sin which he has committed becomes known to him, he shall bring his offering, a young goat, a male without blemish.
4:23 It is interesting that the priest was to offer a bull, the leader to offer a goat. Are leaders more likely to be “goats” than other men? or were the sins of the priests likely to be greater, more costly than others?🪶
24 📚And he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD. It is a sin offering. 25 📚And the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out its blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. 26 📚And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings is burned. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and it will be forgiven him.
27 📚“And if any of the common people sin through ignorance, doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and is guilty, 28 📚if his sin which he has committed becomes known to him, then he shall bring his offering, a young goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.
4:28 Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice for both men and women.🪶
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.
4:1-2 In this chapter the sins of four categories of persons are in view: priests, the congregation as a whole, leaders, and ordinary individuals. All the sins mentioned are unintentional ones. Why is this? Was there no sacrifice for intentional sins? There was (Lev 16:30), but it was not stated here (see Lev 6:1-7). Perhaps the reason for this was to emphasize that sin even committed unintentionally is still sin and needs atonement. How much more then sins committed intentionally. In the sacrifice of Christ for sin in the New Testament no distinction is made between intentional and unintentional sins. He died for sinners and all their sin, and all sin (except one) may be forgiven (Matt 12:31-32).🪶
30 📚And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all its blood at the bottom of the altar. 31 📚And the priest shall take away all its fat, as the fat is taken away from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and burn it on the altar for a soothing aroma to the Lord. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
32 📚“And if he brings a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish.
4:32 A lamb would be cheaper and more easily obtained by the poor.🪶
33 📚And 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 📚And the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all its blood at the bottom of the altar. 35 📚And the priest shall take away all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the LORD. Thus the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it will be forgiven him.