LEVITICUS - CHAPTER 4
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000, 2004 James Melough
THE
SIN OFFERING
Before beginning our study of
this chapter it is necessary to note the difference between the sin offering and
the trespass offering. The former has to do with the old sin nature within us
even as believers, while the latter has to do with the trespasses (sins)
produced by that old nature. Having seen no better explanation of this than
that given by Jukes in his book The Law of the Offerings, published by
Kregel Publications, I quote him, “...we naturally look at what man does
rather than at what he is ... while we are willing to allow that he
does evil, we perhaps scarcely think that he is evil. But God judges
what we are as well as what we do; our sin, the sin in us, as much as our
trespasses. In His sight sin in us, our evil nature, is as clearly seen
as our trespasses, which are but the fruit of that nature.... He knows
the root is evil, and so will be the buddings.... Thus in the Sin offering no
particular act of sin is mentioned, but a certain person is seen
standing confessedly as a sinner: in the Trespass offering certain acts
are enumerated, and the person never appears. In the Sin offering I see
a person who needs atonement, offering an oblation for himself as a
sinner: in the Trespass offering I see certain acts which need atonement, and
the offering offered for these particular offences,” pp. 148-149.
(Relative to Jukes’ above
statement that “in the Sin offering no particular act of sin is
mentioned,” it is to be noted that this is true only if verses 1-13 of chapter
five relate to the trespass offering, but many understand them to relate to the
sin offering).
The same writer points out
that until the Law there was neither Sin offering nor Trespass offering, for it
is the Law which gives us the knowledge of a sinful nature within us which
produces trespasses, i.e., infractions of the Law, infraction being impossible
until there was given a Law which man could break.
4:1.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,”
4:2.
“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:”
There was provision only for
sins committed in ignorance: none for wilful sin, a fact which displays the
amazing extent of God’s grace to Israel: He was willing to look upon their
crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ as having been committed in ignorance, see
Acts 3:17. But the fact that there was no provision for sins of deliberate
commission doesn’t mean that such sin couldn’t be forgiven: consider, for
example the case of David and his sin with Bathsheba. Grace, anticipating the
atoning death of Christ, could come in and grant the pardon for which the law
had no provision. It was the comprehension of the fulness of God’s grace that
impelled John Newton the one-time slave trader, to write the hymn Amazing
Grace.
It is to be noted that sin is
“against ... the commandments of the Lord,” a thing clearly impossible until the
commandments had been given, as it is written, “...where no law is, there is no
transgression” Romans 4:15.
“...concerning things which
ought not to be done,” makes it clear that the sins referred to were those of
commission rather than omission, and indicates that such sin is more heinous in
God’s sight. Clearly the doing of wrong is worse than failure to do right.
4:3.
“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.”
There is an instructive
omission relative to the sin of the anointed priest. In the case of the
congregation, the ruler, or the common man, it is written, “When the sin is
known,” or “when it comes to his knowledge” he is to offer the prescribed
offering, but this condition is missing from the instructions given the priest,
and for a reason. He portrays Christ bearing our sins, and making atonement for
them, and the lesson being taught in the omission is that when the Lord assumed
that responsibility, it was with full knowledge of all that was involved: it
would entail His sufferings and death at Calvary.
“...according to the sin of
the people” is generally taken to mean that since the priest was also one of the
people, his sin also involved them; and as noted above by Jukes, it is a person,
not a sin which is specified, for the sin offering has to do, not as much with a
sin committed, as with the sinful nature which produces sin.
The bullock represents Christ
as the strong patient Servant Whose whole will was actively devoted to doing
God’s will. (As already discussed, the female speaks of the passivity of the
will in perfect submission to God’s). It’s being young reminds us that the Lord
offered Himself to God as our Sin offering while He was in the full vigor of
young manhood; and its being free from blemish speaks of His moral purity.
4:4.
“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.”
The door of the tabernacle
speaks of approach to God; and the laying of his hands on the animal’s head
signified the transfer of his sin to the guiltless bullock, the type being
fulfilled when sinners trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing in Him the One Who
has willingly assumed responsibility for their sins, and Who has died so that
they might be atoned for.
The deadly nature of sin is
revealed in that the moment the man put his hands on the bullock’s head was the
same moment in which he had to kill it. Sin brings death, and there could be no
remission of sin apart from the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as our
Substitute.
4:5.
“And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it
to the tabernacle of the congregation.”
The presumption that a priest
with sin upon him couldn’t make atonement for that sin, has prompted the
suggestion that this was not the same priest as he whose sin was being dealt
with, but it is to be remembered that the High Priest always represents the Lord
Jesus Christ, and when He went to Calvary bearing our sins, and to make
atonement for them, He Himself was made sin, as it is written, “For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him,” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
It to be noted further that
“the priest that is anointed” is generally recognized as being the High Priest,
and here in verse 5 it is also “the priest that is anointed,” the same one as in
verse 3, who offers the atoning sacrifice.
It is of further instructive
significance that relative to the whole congregation, a ruler, or one of the
common people, it is said, “and it shall be forgiven them,” verse 20; “and it
shall be forgiven him,” verses 26, 31 and 35; but in the case of the anointed
priest this assurance is omitted, not because he wasn’t forgiven, but because he
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for Him there was no forgiveness.
Having assumed responsibility for our sins, He must die. This is the truth
being declared symbolically in the omission of the assurance relative to the
High Priest; and is the assurance that the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins upon
Himself, and died to make full atonement for them, so that all who trust Him as
Savior rest in the assurance that all their sins - past, present, and future -
are all forgiven.
It seems that all the
animals were killed on the north side of the brazen altar, which stood in the
uncovered foreground of the tabernacle tent, and since the significance of this
has been discussed in 1:11, the comments on that verse may be reviewed here.
The priest’s taking the blood
“to the tabernacle” means simply that he carried it into the first compartment
of the tent, that is, the Holy place, itself a figure or type of heaven, the
type being fulfilled on the resurrection morning when the Lord said, “Touch me
not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father,” John 20:17. Between that moment
and their holding Him by the feet, Matthew 28:9, it is generally believed that
He had ascended to heaven to fulfill the type of the verse we are now
considering, i.e., to present there His Own precious blood shed at Calvary for
the remission of sin. That gap may also be viewed as a type of what happened on
the Day of Atonement when the High Priest carried the blood into the Most Holy
Place.
4:6.
“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.”
The blood was then sprinkled
seven times (number of perfection or completeness) on the ground in front of the
vail or curtain which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The
reason for this appears to have been that the offending priest, as a member of
the priestly company, had defiled that whole company, so that they in the course
of executing their priestly duties, had unwittingly defiled the Holy Place,
hence the need for it to be cleansed by the sevenfold application of the atoning
blood. The lesson is that sin defiles everything with which it has even the
slightest contact, and in this ritual God would have us learn more fully the
defiling character of sin.
4:7.
“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.”
Since the golden (incense)
altar speaks of worship, the application of the blood to it declares that sin
spoils our worship, for it is to be remembered that we as believers are a royal
kingdom of priests whose privilege it is to worship God, something an unsaved
man can’t do. Inasmuch as it was the sin of just one priest that made necessary
this application of the blood to the ground of the Holy Place and to the golden
altar, God would have us learn that the sin of one member of the local assembly
affects the whole company. How great therefore is the responsibility devolving
upon each of us to ensure that I am not the one to bring defilement into the
assembly! There is very great need for each one of us to guard carefully
against even inadvertent sin.
“...and he shall pour all the
blood ... at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering....” The pouring of
the blood at the bottom of the altar reminds us that the blood of Christ is the
foundation of our peace here on earth, and of all our hope for eternity. This
was the brazen altar, but it is significant that here it is referred to as “the
altar of the burnt offering.” Brass is the biblical symbol of judgment, but the
name “altar of the burnt offering” rather than “the brazen altar” is to focus
attention, not on our sin, but on the value to God of the true burnt offering,
the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood has atoned for all our sins, past,
present, and future. Because faith in Christ has made us a royal kingdom of
priests, the sins we commit as believers have all been atoned for even before we
commit them, and the symbolic reminder of that is the continual burnt offering,
always burning on the altar before God, together with the blood poured out at
the bottom of the altar. The focus is not on our sins, but on the worth of the
Sacrifice that has atoned for them. That continuously burning offering on the
altar, plus the poured out blood of the priest’s sin offering, are the symbolic
announcement of what is written in 1 John 1:7-9 “...the blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
It is to be remembered that
what is being discussed here is not the initial forgiveness granted when we
first trusted Christ as Savior, but the forgiveness of the sins we commit as
believers - those sins interrupting our communion with our Father, but not
robbing us of His irrevocable gift of eternal life.
4:8.
“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,”
4:9.
“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,”
4:10. “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.”
Since everything here relating
to the fat has the same meaning as in connection with the fat of the peace
offering, the notes on chapter three should be reviewed here. The fact that the
burning fat of the sin offering ascended to God as a sweet savor, assures us
that when the Lord was made sin for us, and the Father had to pour out upon the
head of His Son all the wrath and judgment due to our sins, that sacrifice was
no less a sweet savor than when He fulfilled the type of the burnt or peace
offering.
4:11. "And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with
his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,"
4:12. "Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth outside
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."
As with the fat of the peace
offering, so was it also with that of the sin offering: all of it was burned on
the altar, and for the same reason: it speaks of that aspect of the Lord’s
sacrifice which only God can comprehend.
Unlike the skin of the burnt
offering which went to the officiating priest, the skin of the sin offering was
burnt. The skin or covering speaks of Christ's righteousness. That of the
burnt offering going to the priest declares that the former sinner is now a
royal priest clothed in Christ's righteousness; but having obtained that
covering from the burnt offering, there is no need to obtain it a second time
from the sin offering. For him to be given the skin of any offering besides
that of the burnt offering would be to say symbolically that the believer could
lose his salvation, requiring him to be born again a second time. The
impossibility of this is illustrated in the Lord’s washing the feet of the
disciples in John 13:4-11. The man, once bathed (saved and cleansed) needs
thereafter only to wash his feet, i.e., to remove the defilement clinging to his
feet on the way home from the public baths, picture of the saint, saved once and
eternally, having only to confess daily sin as he walks home to heaven, not to
get salvation afresh, but to restore his communion with His heavenly Father.
The dung portrays the vileness
of sin, and its being burnt is the symbolic assurance that all our sin,
no matter how vile, has been "burnt up" at Calvary. God will neither see it nor
remember it again. The fire of divine wrath fell upon Christ consuming, burning
up all our sin. What is true of those who will enter the millennial kingdom is
true of us, as it is written, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no
more,” Hebrews 10:17.
With the exception of the
blood, which made atonement, there wasn’t one particle of the sin offering that
wasn’t burnt, this being the symbolic assurance that when Christ died on the
cross as our Substitute, all our sins, past, present, and future, have been
fully atoned for, and put away for ever.
Its being burnt outside the
camp, in a clean place where the ashes were, may certainly speak of Christ's
being crucified outside Jerusalem, but the spiritual truth being taught is that
the camp of Israel wasn't a clean place: it was made up of believers and mere
professors, and was defiled by sin. Such was Judaism in Christ's day. The
"clean place" is the realm of faith outside all the empty ritual of Judaism,
where the Lord is received by faith, and valued above all else by those whose
sin He has put away by the sacrifice of Himself. It would also point us to
heaven where the memorial of Christ’s vicarious sin-atoning death will remain
eternally.
The sin offering portrays
Christ as described in Hebrews 13:12, “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might
sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.” A practical
reason for its being burnt outside the camp would be to distinguish it from the
burnt offering.
Its being burned to ashes
where the memorial ashes of the burnt offering were carried, may be to remind us
that no matter from which perspective we view the Lord’s death, the central fact
remains that His death has dealt with every aspect of our sin. Whether it be
the sins of our unconverted days, or those we have committed as believers;
whether they be sins of commission or omission, all are atoned for by that one
perfect sacrifice, that precious blood shed at Calvary.
A further truth being declared
in the burning of the sin offering on top of the ashes which had been removed
from the brazen altar (those ashes being the memorial of the animals which had
been burnt on that altar), is the symbolic announcement that all the types had
their fulfillment in Christ. His one perfect sacrifice of Himself was the last
sacrifice that would ever have to be offered. It would need no repetition, as
it is written, “... this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for
ever, sat down on the right hand of God,” Hebrews 10:12.
4:13. "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;"
4:14. “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.”
4:15. "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."
The ritual is the same as for
the sin of a priest, for the priest is not only the representative of the people
before God, but he is also a member of the congregation. The sin of the
individual believer (a royal priest) affects the whole assembly, and the sin of
the assembly as a corporate body, affects each individual member.
4:16. “And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the
bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:”
4:17. “And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the
blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the vail.”
The priest was a member of the
congregation, and as such incurred defilement by their sin, so that he in turn
defiled the Holy Place in the course of his priestly ministry, hence the need to
cleanse it by the same means as had been used when he himself had committed the
sin. This continues to emphasize the truth that the sin of one individual
affects the whole assembly, and vice versa: where the whole congregation is
guilty of some sin, every member will be affected. See for example the case of
Achan recorded in Joshua 7, where his sin caused the defeat of Israel at the
hands of the men of Ai, and the death of thirty-six of his fellow Israelites.
Another illustration is that
of the ten spies who brought back a bad report of the land, discouraging the
people from entering, and provoking God to anger so that a whole generation died
out during the following thirty-eight years of wandering in the wilderness, and
requiring faithful Joshua and Caleb to also endure those years of wandering
before they could enter Canaan.
God would remind us repeatedly
of the need to keep sin out of our lives, for as noted above, the sin of one
affects the whole company.
4:18. “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.”
4:19. “And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it
upon the altar.”
4:20. “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.”
4:21. “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.”
Since the spiritual meaning
here is exactly the same as when it was the priest who had sinned, the notes on
verses 3-12 should be reviewed here.
4:22. "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;"
4:23. “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:”
It continues to be emphasized
that the provision was for sins of ignorance, i.e., sins committed unwittingly.
The ruler represents any who occupy prominent positions in the assemblies of
God’s people.
As the animal most often used
for the sin offering, the goat represents the Lord Jesus Christ as the One Who
was made sin for us so that we might be made righteous. Its being a male
continues to point to the activity of Christ’s will in doing the will of the
Father; and its being unblemished is the symbolic announcement of the Lord’s
moral perfection.
4:24. “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.”
The laying of his hand upon
the goat’s head continues to speak of our identification with Christ, and of the
transfer of our sins to Him as our Substitute, its immediate death declaring the
deadly nature of sin: it brings death. Its being killed “where they kill the
burnt offering,” i.e., on the north side of the altar (the side that speaks of
intelligence), declares symbolically that as the intellect is involved when we
trust in Christ for salvation, so is it also involved in connection with the
putting away of the sins we commit as believers, as it is written, “The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is
understanding,” Proverbs 9:10.
4:25. "And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin
offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the alter of burnt
offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt
offering.”
In the case of a ruler or a
common man the blood was not taken into the Tabernacle because they never went
there (that was the prerogative of the priests) so it wasn't defiled by their
sin. The flesh of the offering of the ruler or common man, instead of being
burnt, was given to the priest and his male relatives (6:26, 29) to be eaten in
the court of the Tabernacle,
to teach us that the same
Christ Who makes atonement for all our sins is the same One Who is the
Sustainer of our new life.
The focus on the male
relatives of the priest declares two truths: (1) the woman is comprehended as
being in the male, and (2) activity of the will is involved in feeding on the
Word for it involves activity of the will to reserve time to read and meditate,
and the willingness to do the necessary work connected with study, and the male
speaks of the activity of the will.
Where the blood was taken into
the Tabernacle (the first compartment, the Holy Place), the carcase was to be
burnt in a clean place outside the camp, and this was so only when the offering
was for a priest or for the whole congregation. The reason for this is that the
Holy Place is connected with worship, not with service, or the study of
Scripture portrayed in the eating of the carcase; hence the burning of the
carcase. And as noted already, only the priests went into the Holy Place, which
was defiled by the priest’s sin, but since he was also a member of the
congregation, the people too were involved in the defilement of the Holy Place
through their representative, the priest.
The twice repeated use of the
name “the altar of burnt offering” rather than “the brazen altar” is to remind
us that in connection with the sin of believers, the focus is on the Lord Jesus
Christ as the burnt offering, His one sacrifice offered at Calvary as our sin
offering, being eternally efficacious for cleansing of the defilement incurred
in our journey through this evil world. The name “the altar of burnt offering”
speaks of the eternal worth to God of that sacrifice offered at Calvary, first
for His glory, and then for the remission of our sins. The name “brazen altar”
is associated with judgment (of which brass is the biblical symbol), but for the
believer, all his sins, past, present, and future, have been judged at Calvary.
He has passed for ever beyond condemnation, as it is written, “There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1.
The placing of the blood on
the horns of the brazen altar, and the pouring out of the blood at its base, are
the symbolic reminders that the Christ represented by the burnt offering (which
was first for God’s glory) is the same One Who, as the sin offering, poured out
His precious blood to make atonement for sin.
4:26. "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."
The burning of the fat
continues to represent that aspect of the Lord’s sacrifice which only God can
comprehend. It declares also that even when He was made sin for us He never
ceased to be in Himself holy, sinless, and precious to His Father.
The words, “and the priest
shall make an atonement for him” reminds us that man can’t atone for his sins.
That great work could be done only by our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is only on the basis of that one perfect sacrifice that God can
forgive sins.
4:27. “And if any one 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;”
4:28. “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.”
Appropriate to the common man
who is subject to the rule of others, a female kid was the prescribed offering,
the female speaking of submission of the will; and inasmuch as the offering
continues to portray Christ, its being a female points to the passivity of His
will, which was always submissive to the will of the Father.
4:29. “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.”
The slaying of the sin
offering in the same place as the burnt offering, declares that He Who first
offered Himself without spot to God for God’s glory, is the same One Who offered
Himself also for our salvation, for our sins.
4:30. “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.”
4:31. “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 savor unto the Lord; and the priest
shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.”
The details here have the same
significance as when the offering was for a ruler, because ruler and people are
inseparably linked together.
4:32. “And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall
bring it a female without blemish.”
4:33. “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.”
4:34. “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:”
4:35. “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.”
The female lamb portrays the
meek submissiveness of God’s Lamb; and all the other details here have the same
spiritual significance as noted in relation to the other animals used for the
sin offering.