Sin Offering Leviticus 4

Leviticus 4:1-2 "And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: v3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering."

Outline
v1 The sin offering of ignorance
v3 for the priest
v13 for the congregation
v22 for the ruler
v27 for any of the people

This chapter brings me to remember Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"

In our outline we see that provision for sin was made for the people, the priest and up to the rulers. None of us can point a finger at another and say 'I am better than you.'

Remember the sermon Jesus preached:

Matthew 7:3 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

Jesus was also a carpenter and uses some of the language.

The fact is a provision for sin had to be made for all because all are subject to sin. This chapter also deals with the possibility that someone might sin in ignorance. The law is newly written and so will take some time before all the details are ingrained into their conscienceness. Because of the importance it is no wonder they had passages to wear and post by the door to represent the law they were commanded to obey.

We have been introduced to:
-meat offering which we learned was a vegetable offering
-peace offering which allows the people to approach the Lord even before the
-sin offering is made which is with the shedding of blood

v25 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering."

Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

We are now studying the blood sacrifices under the law given by God via Moses to the people of Israel. Remember it is our schoolmaster and so I refer to the new testament where we find not a continuous system of sacrifice for sin but a one time sacrifice of blood by Jesus for sin to all who believe. The road leads from the sin in the garden of Eden to the cross where Jesus died for sin. Along this road we see the people being trained for what was to come. To stop along this road is to not make it to the cross.

v32 And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish."

Here the sin offering is referred to the common people. And a female lamb is brought. Value was placed on animals. I think this may have been to relieve the burden of expense for the common people. You will notice that those more able to bear expense were required to bring a male from their flock. I do not think this places more value on either gender for gender's sake but reflects the reality of the expense of acquiring the animals.

Psalm 40:11 "Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me."