Prepare

How is it with you and your heavenly Father right now? What words would you use to describe your relationship? Turn your thoughts into prayer.

Bible passage

Leviticus 4:1 – 5:13

The sin offering

4 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Say to the Israelites: “When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands –

³ ‘“If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. ⁴ He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the Lord. ⁵ Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and carry it into the tent of meeting. ⁶ He is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord, in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. ⁷ The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the bull’s blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸ He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering – all the fat that is connected to the internal organs, ⁹ both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys – ¹⁰ just as the fat is removed from the ox sacrificed as a fellowship offering. Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹ But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines – ¹² that is, all the rest of the bull – he must take outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.

¹³ ‘“If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realise their guilt ¹⁴ and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. ¹⁶ Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. ¹⁷ He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times in front of the curtain. ¹⁸ He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, ²⁰ and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. ²¹ Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.

²² ‘“When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realises his guilt ²³ and the sin he has committed becomes known, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect. ²⁴ He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering. ²⁵ Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ²⁶ He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the leader’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

²⁷ ‘“If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realise their guilt ²⁸ and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. ²⁹ They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰ Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

³² ‘“If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they are to bring a female without defect. ³³ They are to lay their hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. ³⁴ Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵ They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

5 ‘“If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.

² ‘“If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty – if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground) and they are unaware that they have become unclean, but then they come to realise their guilt; ³ or if they touch human uncleanness (anything that would make them unclean) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realise their guilt; ⁴ or if anyone thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil (in any matter one might carelessly swear about) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realise their guilt – ⁵ when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned. ⁶ As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.

⁷ ‘“Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin – one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸ They are to bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one for the sin offering. He is to wring its head from its neck, not dividing it completely, ⁹ and is to splash some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar; the rest of the blood must be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰ The priest shall then offer the other as a burnt offering in the prescribed way and make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

¹¹ ‘“If, however, they cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, they are to bring as an offering for their sin a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour for a sin offering. They must not put olive oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering. ¹² They are to bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful of it as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. It is a sin offering. ¹³ In this way the priest will make atonement for them for any of these sins they have committed, and they will be forgiven. The rest of the offering will belong to the priest, as in the case of the grain offering.”’

New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Explore

It is a long reading! But in all these details of the sacrificial system it’s important to remember what is going on. God was inviting his people to live with him, in close fellowship. The great obstacle to enjoying the blessings of that intimacy was sin: even unintentional sin polluted the worshipper and spoiled the relationship with a holy God (4:1,13,22,27; 5:2).

The good news here is that God is so keen to see things put to rights that he offers multiple ways for sacrifices to be made, by priests (4:3), the community as a whole (4:13), leaders (4:22) – in fact anyone at all (4:27), even the poorest in society (5:11). Instead of the worshipper bearing the penalty (5:6) for their sin, they were permitted to offer an animal in their place. The goal of ‘atonement’ (4:20,26,31,35; 5:6,10) – literally ‘at- one- ment’ – is secured by the price of the lifeblood of the sacrifice.

How wonderful to know that Jesus fulfils all these sacrifices, and his death covers even our unintentional sins (1 John 2:1,2).

Respond

‘Oh, wonder of all wonders, that thro’ thy death for me, my open sins, my secret sins, can all forgiven be … Help me to take it in, what it meant to thee, the holy one, to bear away my sin’ (Katherine Kelly, 1869–1942).

Deeper Bible study

Can you think of some unintentional sin you committed recently? What did you do about it?

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks described in a short video three types of unintentional sin covered by the sin offering in Judaism.¹ One is to do something without knowing that it was sin. Another is to know, but to do it in an act of carelessness, such as breaking the Sabbath because you thought it was Friday. The third is to know it to be sin but to do it unknowingly – breaking the speed limit, for instance, because you relied on a faulty speedometer. There is nothing anyone can do to erase such human errors, but God provided the way to make it right with him. Here we have full descriptions for the process of atonement – for priests (4:3–12), for secular leaders (vs 22–26), for ordinary individuals (vs 27–31) and for the community at large (vs 13–21). 

From our human point of view, unintentional sin is really no big deal. As CS Lewis put it, ‘I am not angry with a man who trips me up by accident; I am angry with a man who tries to trip me up, even if he does not succeed. Yet the first has hurt me and the second has not’.² Surely, it would be charitable of God to ignore unintentional sin and concentrate his ire on wilful violation of his Law? Whether intended or not, however, sin separates us from God and always leaves its poisonous stain behind. We may not always see that stain, but God does. Regardless of how it comes about, God takes all sin very seriously.

In that video, Jonathan Sacks explained that animal sacrifices removed the stain of sin. For us, they are merely a pointer to what was to come. It is the blood of Jesus Christ which deals with the root of sin, not merely its stain.³

Think about how much David’s prayer in Psalm 51 applies to you today.

¹ Jonathan Sacks, https://youtu.be/YSjFs6fa2WQ  ² CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, Macmillan, 1943, p28 ³ 1 John 1:7–10

Bible in a year

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 47,48; Matthew 17

Pray for Scripture Union

Pray for the South East team as they build on foundations made over the past few months through a wide array of summer opportunities: engaging in outward-facing mission, building relationships with mission partners and churches and forming new relationships through a summer festival.

Join the conversation