Chapter 4

Describes the sin offering.  Per JSB, in vs 2, the Hebrew word translated unintentionally, or inadvertently, conveys the idea that if someone forgets to carry out an instruction, he would still be guilty of breaking it.  Or, if someone were ignorant of a law and therefore did not obey it, he too would still be guilty of transgressing the Torah, even though it was unintentional. 

I note that the wording in ESV and JSB indicates that this is something done that should not have been done.  It does not seem to me to be about sins of omission, but of sins committed.  Wrong acts, not undone requirements.  But this is just what I get from the wording.  Neither Bible states it.  MSB does say this is about commission of sin, not about omission of good.  Hmm...so a price must be paid, a sentence must be served, for accidental sins.  But a sin committed on purpose?  Death was the sentence for that,  under the law.

If it was a priest who had sinned, he kills the bull, sprinkles the blood seven times in front of the veil - so this is inside the holy place first, and then he puts some blood on the horns of the incense table.  After this, he burns the fat as in the peace offering - on the altar outside, and then the rest including the head, skin, legs, dung, and entrails, is carried outside the camp and burned there on a wood fire.  These parts are not eaten by anyone, and they are not placed on the altar.  These are the specifics of the sin offering IF it is an anointed priest who inadvertently sins.  This also is typology for Christ's death on the cross.  The "sinful part" of the sacrifice is carried outside the camp and burned not on any kind of special holy consecrated altar - because the altar makes what is on it holy, per Jesus in the NT - but on a common, rude, pile of whatever wood they could find.  The symbolism is that the good part - the best fat and organs - is offered to the Lord for appeasement, and the sinful part is just eliminated quickly and expediently and out of the sight of the camp.

The procedure for a sin of the whole people is very similar.  Some blood is taken into the Holy Place, the fat parts are burnt after the elders lay their hands on the head of the sacrifice, and then kill the bull.  Vs 20 says the priest does this burning and it is characterized as the priest making "atonement for them and they shall be forgiven".  Then the rest of the bull is taken outside the camp and burned.

Leaders of the people offered a male goat, not a bull, and none of the blood is taken inside the Holy Place.  This sin offering takes place on the altar at the door of the tent.  

2021 - Common people brought a female goat as a sin offering, or maybe a female lamb.  It is interesting that the "value" of the required offering in earthly terms gets less as the position of the sinner is less.  It is expected that those higher up the food chain will have greater wealth.  Isn't this an interesting principle...

In every case, the result of the sin offering is forgiveness from God for the infraction.  MSB says this offering was required, not voluntary, once the person or people who had committed the sin are made aware of their sin.  They are guilty even before they are aware, but atonement is required once guilt is realized.  Is this a sort of type of an age of accountability also?  The sin is there but not imputed until the sin is realized?

2024 -It occurred to me this year that perhaps the whole animal rights movement is a sort of end run at substitutionary death.  No animal rights activist would ever think killing an animal to appease God for human sin was ok.  The idea would be revolting.  Get everyone seeing it that way and wouldn't Jesus dieing for the whole world be inexplicable?  Yet look how many cultures sacrificed to god's.  The Muslims still do it...do the Taoist do so...or just food offerings?