The Sin Offering (Leviticus 4:1-5:13)

The opening clause of chapter 4 (And the Lord spoke to Moses) indicates that the two offerings about to be described (the sin offering and the guilt offering) are separated from the three previous offerings (the burnt offering, the grain offering and the peace offering). A suggested reason is that the former three were voluntary whereas the sin and guilt offerings were compulsory whenever a sin had been committed.

The fourth offering to be specified in Leviticus concerns unintentional sin (sin means to miss a mark or standard). Four types of persons are identified as likely to commit unintentional sin: a priest (vv. 2-12), the congregation corporately (vv. 13-21), a leader (vv. 22-26) and an ordinary individual (vv. 27-35), with four examples of possible sins being mentioned (5:1-13). Specific sacrifices must be offered by each type of person when guilty of unintentional sin: a priest had to offer a bull without blemish, a congregation had to do the same, the leader had to offer a male goat without defect, and the ordinary individual had to offer a female lamb or kid that was flawless, or if he was very poor he could offer a pigeon or small cake instead (5:7ff.).

When the sacrifice was a bull for a priest, the fatty portions were offered on the altar of burnt offering and the rest of the animal was burned outside the camp. Distinct from what took place with the sin offering of others some of its blood was taken into the tent of meeting: ‘the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting’ (vv. 6-7). 

The reason why some of the blood was sprinkled before the veil, some put on the horns of the altar of incense, and the rest poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offering was that the holy place, in which all this took place, was where the priest served the Lord. Because the priest had been contaminated, the location of his service needed to be cleansed. The ordinary Israelite did not get past the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle, but the priest, as it were, served between the altar of burnt offering and the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies.

As far as a sin offering for the congregation was concerned, the ritual was the same as that for the priest except that no blood was put on the horns of the altar of incense. With regard to the sacrifices for leaders and individuals, no instructions are given regarding the disposal of the dead carcases after the blood and fat has been removed (however Leviticus 6:26 says that the priests could use the carcases as food); as with the offering for the congregation, the blood of the sacrifices for leaders and individuals was not sprinkled on the altar of incense.

Whatever else we take from the descriptions of the sin offering, we can see how offensive sin is to God, but we can also see his desire to provide a way of atonement. We will think of other aspects in the next few readings.