Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Leviticus 4:13-21
The Purification For Sin Offering For The Whole Congregation (Leviticus 4:13).
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.
‘And if the whole congregation of Israel err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and are guilty;'
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 recognise how wrong they had been. It has in mind decisions which publicly affect the whole people. They realise 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 recognise 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.
As the offering is later said to be the ‘sin offering for the assembly' (Leviticus 4:21) this may suggest that ‘the assembly' represents all the men of Israel, with ‘the congregation' including the women and children. It may however just be that it means an assembly representing the whole people. Or it may be a synonym for the congregation of Israel. (In fact ‘the congregation' itself sometimes mean all the mature men of Israel, and sometimes all the people, and sometimes a group representing all the people).
‘When the sin by which they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull ox for a sin-offering, and bring it before the tent of meeting. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull ox before Yahweh; and the bull ox shall be killed before Yahweh.'
The procedure is slightly summarised 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.
The ‘elders of the congregation' are heads of tribes and families, here the main heads of the tribes (compare Exodus 3:16; Exodus 3:18; Exodus 4:29). They were called elders because they were seen as old in wisdom, and usually were so in person, but not necessarily always. The tribal leaders would mainly be so because they were heads of prominent families. But particularly prominent younger men could sometimes be appointed as ‘elders' as well. It was to these elders that Moses came when he first brought word of deliverance from God. See also Numbers 11:16 for the selection from among them of chosen leaders of the people to act in God's name as His spokesmen. For the hierarchy see Joshua 7:17; the tribe, then the sub-tribe, then the wider family, then the family itself, then the individual. Each tribe would have its prince or chieftain, supported by a group of elders, and similarly the sub-tribe whose chief would be an elder in the main group, and himself supported by elders, and so on.
‘And the anointed priest shall bring of the blood of the bull ox to the tent of meeting, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil. And he shall put of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before Yahweh, that is in the tent of meeting; and all the blood shall he pour out at the base of the altar of whole burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tent 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 (Leviticus 17:11). It completed the cleansing. The covenant was restored. The Priest's mediating work could go on. The people were still His people.
‘And all its fat shall he take off from it, and burn it on the altar. Thus shall he do with the bull ox; as he did with the bull ox of the sin-offering, so shall he do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.'
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 (e.g. Leviticus 1:11). 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.
Note how the greatest detail is still given with regard to the application of the blood. This was of essential importance and sealed the restoration of the covenant.
‘And he shall carry forth the bull ox outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull ox; it is the purification for 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 neutralised 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. (At other times the priest could receive the hide because he was holy, but not where he himself had been involved in the sin).
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 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 (see also 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:14; John 1:29; John 3:16; John 4:42; 1 Timothy 4:10). There is no limit to the redeeming power of God.