35 And let him take away all its fat, as the fat is taken away from the lamb of the peace-offerings; and let it be burned by the priest on the altar among the offerings made by fire to the Lord: and the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely gave to us in the Loved One: In whom we have salvation through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, through the wealth of his grace,
Being conscious that you have been made free from that foolish way of life which was your heritage from your fathers, not through a payment of things like silver or gold which come to destruction, But through holy blood, like that of a clean and unmarked lamb, even the blood of Christ:
And from Jesus Christ, the true witness, the first to come back from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who had love for us and has made us clean from our sins by his blood; And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to his God and Father; to him let glory and power be given for ever and ever. So be it.
And the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burned offering, and all the rest of its blood is to be drained out at the base of the altar. And let all its fat be taken away, as the fat is taken away from the peace-offerings, and let it be burned on the altar by the priest for a sweet smell to the Lord; and the priest will take away his sin and he will have forgiveness.
And the voice of the Lord came to Moses out of the Tent of meeting, saying, Give these orders to the children of Israel: When anyone of you makes an offering to the Lord, you are to take it from the cattle, from the herd or from the flock. If the offering is a burned offering of the herd, let him give a male without a mark: he is to give it at the door of the Tent of meeting so that he may be pleasing to the Lord. And he is to put his hand on the head of the burned offering and it will be taken for him, to take away his sin. And the ox is to be put to death before the Lord: then Aaron's sons, the priests, are to take the blood and put some of it on and round the altar which is at the door of the Tent of meeting. And the burned offering is to be skinned and cut up into its parts.
And the Lord said to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they took in strange fire before the Lord and death overtook them; The Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, your brother, that he may not come at all times into the holy place inside the veil, before the cover which is on the ark, for fear that death may overtake him; for I will be seen in the cloud on the cover of the ark. Let Aaron come into the holy place in this way: with an ox for a sin-offering and a male sheep for a burned offering. Let him put on the holy linen coat, and the linen trousers on his body, and the linen band round him, and the linen head-dress on his head; for this is holy clothing, and before he puts them on his body is to be washed with water. And let him take from the children of Israel two he-goats for a sin-offering and one male sheep for a burned offering. And Aaron is to give the ox of the sin-offering for himself, to make himself and his house free from sin. And he is to take the two goats and put them before the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting. And Aaron will make selection from the two goats by the decision of the Lord, one goat for the Lord and one for Azazel. And the goat which is marked out for the Lord, let Aaron give for a sin-offering. But the goat for Azazel is to be placed living before the Lord, for the taking away of sin, that it may be sent away for Azazel into the waste land. And Aaron is to give the ox of the sin-offering for himself and take away sin from himself and his house, and put to death the ox of the sin-offering which is for himself. And he is to take a vessel full of burning coal from the altar before the Lord and in his hand some sweet perfume crushed small, and take it inside the veil; And let him put the perfume on the fire before the Lord so that the ark may be covered with a cloud of the smoke of the perfume, in order that death may not overtake him. And let him take some of the blood of the ox, shaking drops of it from his finger on the cover of the ark on the east side, and before it, seven times. Then let him put to death the goat of the sin-offering for the people, and take its blood inside the veil and do with it as he did with the blood of the ox, shaking drops of it on and before the cover of the ark. And let him make the holy place free from whatever is unclean among the children of Israel and from their wrongdoing in all their sins; and let him do the same for the Tent of meeting, which has its place among an unclean people. And no man may be in the Tent of meeting from the time when Aaron goes in to take away sin in the holy place till he comes out, having made himself and his house and all the people of Israel free from sin. And he is to go out to the altar which is before the Lord and make it free from sin; and he is to take some of the blood of the ox and the blood of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar and round it; Shaking drops of the blood from his finger on it seven times to make it holy and clean from whatever is unclean among the children of Israel. And when he has done whatever is necessary to make the holy place and the Tent of meeting and the altar free from sin, let him put the living goat before the Lord; And Aaron, placing his two hands on the head of the living goat, will make a public statement over him of all the evil doings of the children of Israel and all their wrongdoing, in all their sins; and he will put them on the head of the goat and send him away, in the care of a man who will be waiting there, into the waste land. And the goat will take all their sins into a land cut off from men, and he will send the goat away into the waste land. Then let Aaron come into the Tent of meeting and take off the linen clothing which he put on when he went into the holy place, and put them down there; And after bathing his body in water in a holy place, he is to put on his clothing and come out and give his burned offering and the burned offering of the people, to take away his sin and the sin of the people. And the fat of the sin-offering is to be burned by him on the altar. And the man who takes away the goat for Azazel is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and then he may come back to the tent-circle. And the ox of the sin-offering and the goat of the sin-offering, whose blood was taken in to make the holy place free from sin, are to be taken away outside the tent-circle and their skins and their flesh and their waste are to be burned with fire. And the man by whom they are burned is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water, and then he may come back to the tent-circle. And let this be an order to you for ever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day, you are to keep yourselves from pleasure and do no sort of work, those who are Israelites by birth and those from other lands who are living among you: For on this day your sin will be taken away and you will be clean: you will be made free from all your sins before the Lord. It is a special Sabbath for you, and you are to keep yourselves from pleasure; it is an order for ever. And the man on whose head the holy oil has been put, and who has been marked out to be a priest in his father's place, will do what is necessary to take away sin, and will put on the linen clothing, even the holy robes: And he will make the holy place and the Tent of meeting and the altar free from sin; he will take away sin from the priests and from all the people. And let this be an order for ever for you, so that the sin of the children of Israel may be taken away once every year. And he did as the Lord gave orders to Moses.
And they may have righteousness put to their credit, freely, by his grace, through the salvation which is in Christ Jesus: Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment; And to make clear his righteousness now, so that he might himself be upright, and give righteousness to him who has faith in Jesus.
For when we were still without strength, at the right time Christ gave his life for evil-doers. Now it is hard for anyone to give his life even for an upright man, though it might be that for a good man someone would give his life. But God has made clear his love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us. Much more, if we now have righteousness by his blood, will salvation from the wrath of God come to us through him. For if, when we were haters of God, the death of his Son made us at peace with him, much more, now that we are his friends, will we have salvation through his life; And not only so, but we have joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we are now at peace with God.
But the free giving of God is not like the wrongdoing of man. For if, by the wrongdoing of one man death came to numbers of men, much more did the grace of God, and the free giving by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, come to men. And the free giving has not the same effect as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's sin was punishment by the decision of God, but the free giving had power to give righteousness to wrongdoers in great number. For, if by the wrongdoing of one, death was ruling through the one, much more will those to whom has come the wealth of grace and the giving of righteousness, be ruling in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. So then, as the effect of one act of wrongdoing was that punishment came on all men, even so the effect of one act of righteousness was righteousness of life for all men. Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man. And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace: That, as sin had power in death, so grace might have power through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For what the law was not able to do because it was feeble through the flesh, God, sending his Son in the image of the evil flesh, and as an offering for sin, gave his decision against sin in the flesh: So that what was ordered by the law might be done in us, who are living, not in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 4
Commentary on Leviticus 4 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 4
Le 4:1, 2. Sin Offering of Ignorance.
2. If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord—a soul—an individual. All sins may be considered, in a certain sense, as committed "through ignorance," error, or misapprehension of one's true interests. The sins, however, referred to in this law were unintentional violations of the ceremonial laws,—breaches made through haste, or inadvertency of some negative precepts, which, if done knowingly and wilfully, would have involved a capital punishment.
do against any of them—To bring out the meaning, it is necessary to supply, "he shall bring a sin offering."
Le 4:3-35. Sin Offering for the Priest.
3. If the priest that is anointed do sin—that is, the high priest, in whom, considering his character as typical mediator, and his exalted office, the people had the deepest interest; and whose transgression of any part of the divine law, therefore, whether done unconsciously or heedlessly, was a very serious offense, both as regarded himself individually, and the influence of his example. He is the person principally meant, though the common order of the priesthood was included.
according to the sin of the people—that is, bring guilt on the people. He was to take a young bullock (the age and sex being expressly mentioned), and having killed it according to the form prescribed for the burnt offerings, he was to take it into the holy place and sprinkle the atoning blood seven times before the veil, and tip with the crimson fluid the horns of the golden altar of incense, on his way to the court of the priests,—a solemn ceremonial appointed only for very grave and heinous offenses, and which betokened that his sin, though done in ignorance, had vitiated all his services; nor could any official duty he engaged in be beneficial either to himself or the people, unless it were atoned for by blood.
11. the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh—In ordinary circumstances, these were perquisites of the priests. But in the expiation necessary for a sin of the high priest, after the fat of the sacrifice was offered on the altar, the carcass was carried without the camp [Le 4:12], in order that the total combustion of it in the place of ashes might the more strikingly indicate the enormity of the transgression, and the horror with which he regarded it (compare Heb 13:12, 13).
13-21. if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance—In consequence of some culpable neglect or misapprehension of the law, the people might contract national guilt, and then national expiation was necessary. The same sacrifice was to be offered as in the former case, but with this difference in the ceremonial, that the elders or heads of the tribes, as representing the people and being the principal aggressors in misleading the congregation, laid their hands on the head of the victim. The priest then took the blood into the holy place, where, after dipping his finger in it seven times, he sprinkled the drops seven times before the veil. This done, he returned to the court of the priests, and ascending the altar, put some portion upon its horns; then he poured it out at the foot of the altar. The fat was the only part of the animal which was offered on the altar; for the carcass, with its appurtenances and offals, was carried without the camp, into the place where the ashes were deposited, and there consumed with fire.
22-26. When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments—Whatever was the form of government, the king, judge, or subordinate, was the party concerned in this law. The trespass of such a civil functionary being less serious in its character and consequences than that either of the high priest or the congregation, a sin offering of inferior value was required—"a kid of the goats"; and neither was the blood carried into the sanctuary, but applied only to the altar of burnt offering; nor was the carcass taken without the camp; it was eaten by the priests-in-waiting.
27-34. if any one of the common people sin through ignorance—In this case the expiatory offering appointed was a female kid, or a ewe-lamb without blemish; and the ceremonies were exactly the same as those observed in the case of the offending ruler [Le 4:22-26]. In these two latter instances, the blood of the sin offering was applied to the altar of burnt offering—the place where bloody sacrifices were appointed to be immolated. But the transgression of a high priest, or of the whole congregation, entailing a general taint on the ritual of the tabernacle, and vitiating its services, required a further expiation; and therefore, in these cases, the blood of the sin offering was applied to the altar of incense [Le 4:6, 17].
35. it shall be forgiven him—None of these sacrifices possessed any intrinsic value sufficient to free the conscience of the sinner from the pollution of guilt, or to obtain his pardon from God; but they gave a formal deliverance from a secular penalty (Heb 9:13, 14); and they were figurative representations of the full and perfect sin offering which was to be made by Christ.