Leviticus 4:1-35
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:
3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.
4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the LORD.
5 And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:
6 And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary.
7 And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
8 And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,
9 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away,
10 As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering.
11 And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,
12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth withouta the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.
13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;
14 When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.
15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.
16 And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock'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, even before the vail.
18 And he shall put some of the blood upon 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 the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
19 And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar.
20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.
21 And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.
22 When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty;
23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:
24 And he shall lay his hand upon 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 of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering.
26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
27 And if any oneb of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty;
28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.
29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.
30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.
31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
32 And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.
33 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.
34 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:
35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
Leviticus 4:2. Sin through ignorance. Ignorance is itself a crime, for all men ought to know the scriptures; or in doubtful cases, they should ask advice. Error and negligence are therefore without excuse.
Leviticus 4:3. If the priest do sin. The LXX read the highpriest; and the Vulgate version adds, making the people to be delinquents, their sins tending to seduce them. The jewish highpriest we see was not infallible, much less is the Roman pontiff. The sins of men high in office in the sanctuary are doubly conspicuous, and doubly heinous.
Leviticus 4:6. Seven times. This number is much used in scripture as a number of perfection; but it is used here to mark the perfection of the atonement. The fathers had a notion that the world should endure seven thousand years; hence they affirmed, that Christ's blood should be sprinkled throughout the seven ages or periods.
Leviticus 4:21. Carry forth the bullock without the camp. Maimonides observes here, as in the case of the red heifer and of the scape-goat, that the more heinous crimes of the nation, for which no atonement was provided by the altar, but the law requiring on the contrary that such offenders should be put to death, those crimes were expiated by the victims being burned without the camp. And as no vestige of such sacrifices remained, so the remembrance of the sin was forgotten. The people, returning from those tragic sacrifices, left their sins behind their backs. An apostle calls those sins, “dead works,” which could only be purged by the superior efficacy of the blood shed on Calvary.
REFLECTIONS.
For wilful and presumptuous crimes there was no atonement: the soul so offending was to be cut off from the congregation of the Lord, and then to fall into the hands of divine justice. But for sins of ignorance and negligence, however great, atonement was provided. And if the highpriest at the head of the Jewish church, who bore the breastplate of righteousness and wore the robe of purity, was not infallible; if his sins subjected him to appear at the bloody altar as the chief of sinners, it should be a striking caution to all clothed with the ministerial character to beware of sin. See the highpriest bring his sacrifice, and stand arraigned with thieves and robbers, what an awful sight! He being the anointed of the Lord, and chief shepherd of the flock, it required a young bullock to be offered; the very same sacrifice to purge his sin, as to purge the sin of the whole congregation! The blot of ministers is not a common blot. The irregularity of their conduct is pregnant with mischief to weak believers, and to the infidel world, beyond all that language can convey.
If the highpriest had need of these atonements, then he was not the true priest, because his person and services were all defective. There was consequently a holier priest to arise, who should perfect the atonement without the camp, even on Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem, once for all, and then appear in the presence of God for us.
The priest was not only to sprinkle the blood seven times before the Lord, but to put some of it on the horns of the altar of incense; and the veil so sprinkled was a striking figure of the raiment of Christ dipped or spotted with blood; and that altar, whose horns were tipped with gore, shows that there is no approach to God, no offering up of the incense of prayer, without the merits of Jesus Christ.
It was surely no small humiliation to the priest, and no small mark of the greatness of his sin, to see a ruler or a prince stand by him with a kid of the goats, though he had been guilty of the same offence. This evidently teaches that the sins of magistrates and of secular men, are far less heinous than the sins of those who officiate in the sanctuary of God. But let not the rich man triumph in his pride, as though the Lord took no cognizance of his crimes; for unless he also appear before his Maker with humility, with sincere repentance and all its fruits, he abides under the divine displeasure, and is cut off from his kingdom.
Whether an individual had offended in a private way, or whether the people had offended by a popular crime, atonement must be made. The prince and the peasant, the priest and the people, must all stand guilty before the tribunal of the Lord. No man being free from sin, no man can be exempt from repentance. Let every one therefore make haste, and sprinkle his conscience with the blood of the covenant; for if the destroying angel should pass by, and find no mark on his forehead, no blood on the door of his house, he will become a victim of divine justice, and be cut off from the city and temple of our God.