Leviticus 4:1 - Meaning and Application

The laws in the first three chapters seem to have been given to Moses at one time. Here begins a new set of commands, given on another day. God spoke them from the throne of glory between the cherubim, and he now turns to a subject that is even more distinct than the earlier ones.

Burnt offerings, grain offerings, and peace offerings had apparently been brought before the law was given at Mount Sinai. The patriarchs were not unfamiliar with those sacrifices (Genesis 8:20; Exodus 20:24), and they used them with sin in view, to seek atonement for it (Job 1:5). But now that the law had been added because of transgressions (Galatians 3:19), and had entered so that wrongdoing might increase in awareness (Romans 5:20), the people were given a fuller way to seek atonement for sin through sacrifice. That whole system was more than any other ceremonial practice a shadow of the good things to come, but the reality is Christ, and his one sacrifice by which he put away sin and made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The general case is given in Leviticus 4:2. Sin is described here as something done against any of the Lord’s commandments. Sin is breaking God’s law. Human opinions, rules, or inventions cannot make something sinful if God’s law has not called it sin. The text also says, “if a soul sins,” because sin is an act of the person, and it is the soul that is harmed by it (Micah 6:7; Proverbs 8:36).

The offerings here are for visible acts of sin. If every sinful thought or careless word had required a sacrifice, the burden would have been endless. Those hidden sins were dealt with in a general way on the Day of Atonement, once a year. But here the law speaks of sins done against the commandments, meaning acts of disobedience. It also deals with sins of commission, things that should not have been done. Omissions are sinful too and will be judged, but what was left undone could be done later. A wrong act, once done, cannot be taken back.

These sacrifices were for sins committed in ignorance. If a person sinned defiantly, with open contempt for the law and the Lawgiver, that person was to be cut off, and no sacrifice was provided for that kind of sin (Hebrews 10:26-27; Numbers 15:30). But if someone was ignorant of the law, which is easy to imagine in many cases because the commands were so many and varied, or was caught off guard and fell into sin without planning it, then this law gave relief through the sin offering. The sin had to be one for which the guilty person would otherwise have been cut off if it had been done proudly and knowingly.

The law begins with the case of the anointed priest, that is, the high priest, if he should sin in ignorance. The law appointed men who were subject to weakness as priests. His ignorance was less excusable than that of others, yet he still was allowed to bring an offering. His office did not make his sin harmless, so that he could be forgiven without sacrifice. But his office also did not make it so serious that it could not be forgiven when he brought the required sacrifice.

If he sins “according to the sin of the people” (Leviticus 4:3), that means he is treated here like any other Israelite, without any privilege from his office. He had to bring a bull without defect for a sin offering (Leviticus 4:3), a costly offering like the one required for the whole congregation (Leviticus 4:14). By contrast, a leader or an ordinary person could bring a goat (Leviticus 4:23, 28). This shows how serious the guilt of a high priest’s sin was. His high position, and his close relation both to God and to the people, made his offenses much worse (Romans 2:21).

The one bringing the offering had to lay his hand on the animal’s head (Leviticus 4:4), with a humble confession of the sin he had committed, placing that sin on the head of the sin offering (Leviticus 16:21). There is no forgiveness without confession (Psalm 32:5; Proverbs 28:13). This act also showed trust in God’s appointed way of dealing with guilt, as a picture of something better still to come, though they could not clearly see it. By laying his hand on the animal’s head, the worshiper admitted that he deserved to die and that it was God’s mercy to accept the animal’s death in his place. Even Jewish writers say that the sin offering and guilt offering made atonement only for those who repented and believed in the atonement.

The bull had to be killed, and the blood had to be handled with great care, because the blood made atonement, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Leviticus 4:5-7). Some of the high priest’s sin offering blood was sprinkled seven times before the curtain, looking toward the mercy seat, though it was hidden. Some was put on the horns of the golden altar, because that was the altar where the priest himself served. This showed the removal of the stain that his sins brought even to his ministry. It also helps us see the power of Christ’s satisfaction, that is, his full payment for sin, in giving strength to his intercession, his speaking for us before the Father. The blood of his sacrifice is set, as it were, on the altar of incense and sprinkled before the Lord.

After that, the rest of the blood was poured out at the base of the bronze altar. This rite showed that the sinner deserved to have his own blood poured out like water. It also pointed to true repentance, where the soul is poured out before God, and it foreshadowed our Savior pouring out his soul to death.

The fat on the inner parts was to be burned on the altar of burnt offering (Leviticus 4:8-10). This showed that the offering and the atonement made through it were aimed at the glory of God, who had been dishonored by the sin and was now honored by the sacrifice. It also pointed to the sharp suffering of the Lord Jesus when he was made sin, that is, made a sin offering, for us, especially the sorrows of his soul and his inward pain. It also teaches us, in union with Christ’s death, to put to death the sinful nature.

The head and body of the animal, skin and all, were to be carried outside the camp to a place appointed for that purpose and burned to ashes (Leviticus 4:11-12). This was very meaningful. It showed the duty of repentance, which means putting sin away as something hateful, something the soul rejects. True repentant people say to their idols, “Go away from us; we want nothing more to do with them.” The sin offering itself is called sin.

What they did to the animal, we must do to our sins. The body of sin must be destroyed (Romans 6:6). This points to the privilege of forgiveness. When God pardons sin, he removes it completely and puts it behind his back. The guilt of Judah will be searched for, but it will not be found.

The apostle especially notes this ceremony and applies it to Christ (Hebrews 13:11-13). Jesus suffered outside the gate, at the place called Golgotha, which means “place of a skull.” There, the ashes of dead men were poured out, just as the ashes from the altar were.