“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to do as follows with one who sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s commandments and does what is forbidden by them:
If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. He must bring the bull to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and slaughter it before the LORD. Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting. The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. The priest must then apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then he shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys— just as the fat is removed from the ox of the peace offering. Then the priest shall then burn them on the altar of burnt offering. But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs and its entrails and dung— all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap.
Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the LORD’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden, when they become aware of the sin they have committed, then the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the Tent of Meeting. The elders of the congregation are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the LORD, and it shall be slaughtered before the LORD. Then the anointed priest is to bring some of the bull’s blood into the Tent of Meeting, and he is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the veil. He is also to apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting, and he must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. And he is to remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. He shall offer this bull just as he did the bull for the sin offering; in this way the priest will make atonement on their behalf, and they will be forgiven. Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is prohibited by any of the commandments of the LORD his God, he incurs guilt. When he becomes aware of the sin he has committed, he must bring an unblemished male goat as his offering. He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering. Then the priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. He must burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the peace offerings; thus the priest will make atonement for that man’s sin, and he will be forgiven.
And if one of the common people sins unintentionally and does what is prohibited by any of the LORD’s commandments, he incurs guilt. When he becomes aware of the sin he has committed, he is to bring a female goat without blemish as his offering for that sin. He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. Then the priest is to take some of its blood with his finger, apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Then he shall remove all the fat just as it is removed from the peace offering, and the priest is to burn it on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.
If, however, he brings a lamb as a sin offering, he is to bring an unblemished female. And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. Then the priest must take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, apply it to the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. And he is to remove all the fat, just as the fat of the lamb is removed from the peace offerings, and he shall burn it on the altar along with the offerings made by fire to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.”
At first this chapter seems both repetitious and tedious. There are several categories of people who might need to make sin offerings:
The anointed priest– As a spiritual leader, the anointed priest is held to a high standard because he represents all the people. The anointed priest must bring a young bull without blemish, lay hands on it, symbolically transferring his guilt to the animal, and then slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. “Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting. The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. The priest must then apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then he shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys— just as the fat is removed from the ox of the peace offering. Then the priest shall then burn them on the altar of burnt offering. But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs and its entrails and dung— all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap.
“Now if the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly so that they violate any of the LORD’s commandments and incur guilt by doing what is forbidden, when they become aware of the sin they have committed, then the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the Tent of Meeting.” The elders will lay hands on the bull and then slaughter it, after which, the remainder of the sacrifice is carried out just as for the anointed priest.
If a leader sins, he brings an unblemished male goat, lays hands on it thereby transferring his guilt, and slaughters it. The priests handle the blood and body parts as they have for the other sin offerings.
If a commoner sins, he must bring an unblemished female goat or lamb as an offering. The animal will be handled as for the other sin offerings.
Why all these regulations? God wants His people to recognize when they have sinned, and God also wants His people to deal effectively with their guilt. Once the guilty party or parties lay hands on the animal, they are transferring their guilt to the animal. Once the animal has been sacrificed, the guilty parties are freed from guilt until they sin again. But future sins will also have to be paid for with blood sacrifices. Since animals are lower than humans in creation, the blood of a single animal can never be a permanent payment for sins.
APPLICATION: Hebrews 9:11-28 (The Message) tells us, “But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent” – the true Holy Place – once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all.
If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.
Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.
Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law – God’s “will” – he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, “This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God.”
He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.
That accounts for the prominence of blood and death in all these secondary practices that point to the realities of heaven. It also accounts for why, when the real thing takes place, these animal sacrifices aren’t needed anymore, having served their purpose. For Christ didn’t enter the earthly version of the Holy Place; he entered the Place Itself, and offered himself to God as the sacrifice for our sins.
He doesn’t do this every year as the high priests did under the old plan with blood that was not their own; if that had been the case, he would have to sacrifice himself repeatedly throughout the course of history. But instead he sacrificed himself once and for all, summing up all the other sacrifices in this sacrifice of himself, the final solution of sin.
Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ’s death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.”
Once Jesus offered himself as a sinless blood sacrifice, there was no further need for slaughtering animals. Now we can accept Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins and then confess our sins to God when we sin, confident that God will forgive us because of the blood of Jesus.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we know that we cannot earn our way into heaven. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for our sins so that our sins have been paid for with His blood. Lord, forgive us, help us to change our ways so that we will please You in all that we do. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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