Key Verses
1:1-4 The
Lord summoned Moses to the tabernacle with this message for the people: “Tell
the Israelites, ‘Whenever one of you comes to me with an offering…if it is a
burnt offering from among your herd, it should be a male animal and have no
defects. Bring it to me at the entrance to the tabernacle and I will accept it.
Place your hand on the head of the offering and I will accept it as an
atonement for you.’”
2:1-10 “‘If
you present grain for your offering…bring it first to the priest. He will bring
your gift to the altar, burning a portion as a memorial that pleases the Lord.
The remainder of the grain offering is for Aaron the high priest and his sons.
It is equally as sacred as the other portions of the offerings made to me.’”
3:1-17 “‘If you are offering a peace and fellowship
offering, it can be either male or female. But it must be an animal that has no
defects. Place your hand on the animal’s head and sacrifice it at the entrance
to the tabernacle tent. …All of the fat portions of the offering are for the
Lord. For generation after generation this law is to be observed no matter
where you live: No fat or blood is to be consumed.’”
4:1-6 “When a person accidentally sins by disobeying
any of the Lord’s commandments …if it is a priest that sins…he must present a
bull without defects to the Lord as an offering for his sin. He is to bring the
bull to the front of the tabernacle tent before the presence of the Lord. Then
he is to place his hand upon the head of the bull and sacrifice it to the Lord.
The priest is then to carry a portion of the bull’s blood into the tabernacle tent
where he is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times in front
of the inner sanctuary curtain that is before the Lord.”
4:13-21 “When the entire congregation accidentally
sins by disobeying any of the Lord’s commandments…they are guilty even though
they may not know it at the time. However, when they realize they’ve sinned,
the entire congregation must present a bull in front of the tabernacle tent as
a sacrificial offering. The congregational elders must place their hands on the
head of the bull to be sacrificed before the Lord as one of them slays it. Then
the anointed priest must carry some of the blood into the tabernacle tent where
he is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times in front of
the inner sanctuary curtain that is before the Lord. …In this manner the
anointed priest makes atonement for the entire congregation, which is then forgiven.”
4:22-33 “When
a leader accidentally sins by disobeying any of the Lord’s commandments, he is
guilty even though he may not know it at the time. However, when he does
realize he has sinned, he is to bring a male goat without any defect for his
offering. The leader must then place his hand upon the goat’s head and slay
it…in the presence of the Lord as a sin offering. …When any other member of the
congregation accidentally sin…he is to bring a female goat without any defect
for his offering. He must then place his hand upon the head of the goat and
sacrifice it as a sin offering...”
5:1-11 “A person is responsible to speak up as a
witness if he has seen or heard about a case involving a crime. …If he does not, he is guilty and must
confess his sin and bring to the Lord a sin offering of either a female lamb or
goat. …But if the person is too poor to afford a lamb or goat, he may
substitute two doves or pigeons as his sin offering. …And if he is too poor to
afford even two doves or pigeons, he may bring two quarts of finely-ground
wheat flour for his sin offering.”
6:1-7 “When a person sins before the Lord by lying, deceiving, cheating, or stealing from his neighbor who has trusted him with something …when his sin is discovered and confirmed, he is responsible to return or reimburse the value of whatever was entrusted to him by his neighbor, plus an additional twenty percent of the value of the property. This he is to do it the same day he brings his guilt offering to the Lord. The guilt offering—his penalty for his sin—must be a ram without defect that matches the value of the stolen or lost property at issue. This he brings to the priest who makes atonement for the person in the presence of the Lord. Then will the person be forgiven for his sin and freed from his guilt.”
Basic Message
God gave Moses specific instructions about the various types
of offerings for sin: the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, the peace
offerings, the compensation offerings, and the sin offerings. He specified how
the offerings were to be made and which portions of them should be devoted to
God, which went to the priests and their families, and which were to be
disposed outside the camp. God gave instructions for those who sinned—whether
priests, leaders, or ordinary people—along with the different types of animal
sacrifices each was to make. The priests, for instance, sacrificed a bull;
leaders and common people sacrificed a goat or lamb; while poor people
sacrificed doves and pigeons or grain, oil, and incense as suited their ability
to pay. In some cases, the priests were
to lay their hands on the heads of the sacrificed animals just prior to killing
them, while in other cases those who committed the sin were to lay their hands
on the animals’ heads. Each sacrifice involved the ritual spreading of the animal’s
blood on either the altar, before the curtain to the inner sanctuary, on the
person performing the sacrifice, or a combination of the above. In all cases,
the animal that was sacrificed was to be without blemish.
God also gave Moses some details about various types of sin that required offerings, and the fact that even if the sin was unintentional, it still rendered the sinner guilty and he or she was to make an appropriate offering after becoming aware of the offense. One such sin was by way of omission—withholding eyewitness information in cases of wrongdoing. Deception, outright lying, stealing and extortion are also listed as sin. In cases of stealing and extortion, the offender was not only to compensate the injured party for the value of the item but also had to pay back an extra twenty-percent, plus make a compensation offering to God of a ram from his flock. Only then could the priest absolve the person of his sin.
Comments
* It is important to understand that for the Israelites, it was not following the Mosaic laws per se that made the people righteous, but rather their obedience to God through obeying those laws. Following the Law was only an outward expression of a more vital inward commitment to be obedient to God. The purpose of the Law was to bring forth an awareness of sin, which could then be consciously avoided. But when sin did occur inadvertently, which it always did, the Law provided God’s prescribed means to resolve the sin, guilt, and social discord that resulted from it. The Law of Moses, as any law today, exists to curtail lawbreakers. Those who break the law, hate the law. While those who make a habit of obeying the law feel protected by it. Ultimately, the Law helped the people of Israel to build a moral society, one freed from the culturally-imposed values of the country from which they came (ancient Egypt, where a totalitarian structure existed to benefit the rich and powerful) and the country to which they were going (Canaan, where various forms of idol worship led to practices such as child sacrifice and sacred prostitution).
* The animal
sacrifices and the spilling and use of their blood was not for God’s sake (the
blood-thirsty god of the Old Testament argument), but for the people themselves
who needed to grasp the seriousness of sin and the awful price required to
remedy it. In light of God’s holiness, sin was a hideous, cancerous blight that
only enlarged the gulf between himself and mankind. That gulf was not easily
bridged; rather, it required a sacrificed life along with a confessing heart.
Blood was seen as the symbol of life and a constant reminder that sin was not
only costly but was directly associated with death. By laying one’s hand on the
head of the animal and seeing its life-blood spilled for one’s own sin, a
personal association was formed between the sinner and the sacrifice, and one
was forced to consider the ultimate toll sin takes on an innocent creatures. Yet
sin was costly for the Israelites in another way; they had to give of their
herds or other provisions to pay for it. It created an economic loss, no less
dreaded than any we face today. Understanding how readily responsive humans are
to economic incentives, God instituted offerings that cost them materially. The
more one sinned, the poorer he or she became, and vise versa; and that
increasing material poverty also stood as a metaphor for the increased
spiritual poverty that attended a life of sin
* Those too poor to give the prescribed herd or flock animal for sin were accounted for in God’s laws for the people. They were allowed to give whatever they could afford, whether doves and pigeons or grain sacrifices. It was still an offering that hurt financially, but not one that would break the giver and lead them into poverty from which they could not recover. The Law of Moses was an equal opportunity system that was costly even for the priests, who had to sacrifice one of the most valued of animals for their sins—a bull. It is not hard to see how righteousness and wealth became associated in the Hebrew Scriptures since the association grows right out of the Mosaic sacrifices.
* The priests and their families ate from the sacrifices to God. Their portions were said to be a most holy part of the sacrifice, showing that it was not to be considered less important than the portion that went to God himself. The priests were made holy by their association with a holy God, and their portion of the sacrifices was thus rendered holy as well. The people were not to resent the priests’ portion because they were to consider it as holy as that devoted to God. Those who devoted their lives to serving God and the people were taken care of by way of the Law. Those who serve in similar capacities today—pastors, missionaries, religious non-profit workers, and many others whose vocations are devoted to the poor, abused, and disenfranchised—should also be seen as deserving a portion of whatever gifts are devoted to God.
Biblical Themes
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
