Part 4.1- The Sin Offering

CHAPTER IV. THE SIN OFFERING. THE sin offering is characterized by its name. But it is not wilful sin that is here specified; it is that which is done " through ignorance." And the offering is appointed for the guilty when they become conscious of their sinfulness.

Leviticus 4:3. The question of consciousness of the sin is not mentioned in this first part of the ordinance, which deals with the Priest. For he must have been well aware of the conditions of a sin offering, since one had been offered for him when he was " hallowed " (Exodus 29:1-46).

We may here remark that, when the priest was hallowed, the blood was put on the altar of burnt offering.

Then, in the present instance (Leviticus 4:6), it is brought into the tabernacle, and sprinkled before the vail, his place of service. Also it is put on the altar of incense which signifies prayer. Afterwards (Leviticus 16:1-34), in the sin offering for the high-priest when going to the holiest, it is brought into the holiest, with a cloud of incense, and sprinkled upon and before the mercy-seat.

If the priest sin "according to the sin of the people."

Though a priest he yet partakes, alike with all, of sinfulness and infirmity (Hebrews 5:2), and, from his very standing as a priest, knows that it is so, and that he has need of the cleansing offering. His offering shall be a young bullock; such is his apprehension of the value of Christ as the sin-offering. It shall be brought and killed as the burnt-offering. The blood is taken to the Tabernacle of the congregation, and sprinkled seven times before the vail. This is the place of the priest’s service, and there is need that sin should be perfectly put away there, and that he should know it; it is a holy place. And this is the place of our service-the place where the blessings are given to the Church, and where the Church exhibits the manifold wisdom of God.

He shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense. This is prayer, and we know that He heareth us. Nearness to the divine presence makes the knowledge of the cleansing blood precious ; for even our prayers are defiled. But " all the blood shall be poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering." For this is the place where the sin and defilement were contracted and abound; there must be cleansing here before we go a step further. A portion of the animal is to be taken-the same as that from the peace offering-and burnt on the altar of burnt offering. It is not said to be a sweet savour (though every aspect of the offering of Jesus was intrinsically so before God), but it was accepted; its being burnt on the altar showed that. But although it was accepted, yet there was sin connected with it, that which is hateful to God; and thus it might not be a sweet savour, or at least might not be declared to be so. The whole bullock was to be burnt with fire without the camp, to mark it as an unclean thing. Nevertheless it was to be burnt in a clean place, and was pronounced most holy (Leviticus 6:25). Thus was the holy One of God, Who knew no sin, made sin for us, and, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate, and was for a moment utterly forsaken of God, when He cried, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" But such was the intrinsically holy character of this offering that whatever touched the flesh, or was sprinkled by the blood, became holy, whether it was a man, or a vessel, or a garment.

Leviticus 4:11. We here have particular mention of the parts of the bullock which were to be burnt without the camp. The skin-that which in the burnt offering was for the priest. It is not, however, the mere knowledge of sin put away that yields us a robe of covering ; but the sense of perfect righteousness and acceptance. The flesh-the whole mass, except that which was to indicate God’s acceptance and knowledge of the most holy thing. His head, that which characterized it. So Christ was in all things like unto His brethren, a man. But His " visage was more marred than any man’s;" the ravages of sin imputed were there. His legs, his inwards, and dung. That which in the burnt offering was washed and shown, though in the midst of defilement, to have no taint of it, was here with all its defilement to be destroyed. For He hath not only made an atonement for sinners, but, as it is more fully and expressively declared, " He hath put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." " He bore our sins in His own body," &c. Therefore it was proclaimed to the whole world that, " whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The sin offering for the priest or congregation was burnt according to the ordinance (Leviticus 6:30), since the blood was brought into the tabernacle. Our communion is not specially with the act thus signified; for Jesus entered Himself alone with His own blood into the heavens for us (Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 4:14). But that offering whose blood was not brought into the tabernacle was to be eaten. (See x. 18.) The greater blessing is, however, evidently for the priest that offers it; this is the individual apprehension of Christ in His fulness and perfection.

Leviticus 4:13. The whole congregation. Their offering, as that of the priest, was a young bullock. The Church’s apprehension of Christ is the full apprehension, as taught by the Spirit of God: for she is considered to be the body, the bride, who would simply echo the voice of the Spirit’s testimony to Christ. The identification of the congregation, or the impartation of their sin, was by the elders laying on their hands. Thus it is that a few and not the many are the depositaries of the full measure of understanding. These are appointed teachers in the Church, and the character of the mass will ever be formed by the power given to, and exercised faithfully by, those whom the Lord has gifted. But the Church as such needs, and has, the full and perfect Christ, and knows it. And all the consequent blessings of sin put away, perfect acceptance, and an inheritance of glory, are hers. The individual intelligence is another thing. The blood, as in the offering for the priests, was to be sprinkled before the vail. For the Church’s place as seen of God, and declared by Him, is in the heavenlies, and her service there : for she is a royal priesthood. The remainder of the ordinance is exactly the same as that for the priest.

Leviticus 4:22. When a ruler hath sinned, his offering shall be a kid of the goats. Neither gift, nor knowledge, nor power, is of itself communion, or realization of the value and preciousness of Christ in the soul This is the portion of the priest and the Church. It comes from what God has made us to be, not from what He has given to us to use for others: though the latter will generally be used in power in proportion to our understanding of the former. The blood was not to be carried into the tabernacle.

It is the priest whom God has appointed to go there, and there the Church is blessed with all spiritual blessings. But no difference of condition as to power, gifts, and knowledge, gives any advantage in this respect.

Leviticus 4:27. " If any one of the common people" that is, any individual of the general mass. In this case the appointed offering was a female. Here is a glimpse of the Church in her blessed service of helping in communion the weak. But this is but a feeble apprehension of Christ, and its communion is but with earthlies: the blood goes no further than the altar of burnt offering. It is remarkable that, in this instance alone of the ordinance of the sin offering, the part burnt on the altar is said to be a sweet savour. Here is surely a shining forth of the grace of God to His poor and weak ones. There may be much of ignorance and weakness, but there is Christ, and that is ever, as here it is said to be, " a sweet savour unto the Lord." But in this instance the victim is either a kid of the goats or a lamb. This has been noticed before in the ordinance of the burnt offering.

Here the only difference in the ordinance is the omission in the latter case of the declaration that it is a sweet savour. Probably in the lamb (vid. sup.) there is more understanding, and this, though not expressed, is known, or may be known. In the two latter instances the.blood was to be put on the horns of the altar of burnt offering (as in the former on that of incense). This was the highest point of the altar, and was, as it were, an invitation to those who were afar off to approach with safety.