Leviticus 4:16-35 NKJV
16 The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the tabernacle of meeting. 17 Then the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil. 18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 19 He shall take all the fat from it and burn it on the altar. 20 And he shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering; thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. 21 Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly.
22 ‘When a ruler has sinned, and done something unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord his God in anything which should not be done, and is guilty, 23 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a male without blemish. 24 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and kill it at the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord. It is a sin offering. 25 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 26 And he shall burn all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of the peace offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
27 ‘If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and is guilty, 28 or if his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge, then he shall bring as his offering a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. 31 He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
32 ‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. 33 Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. 35 He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
It was not only the high priest and whole congregation who had to offer sin offerings for unintentional sins. The Lord also commanded the leaders and common people to make the sin offering for unintentional transgressions of God’s commands. Leaders of Israel were to bring “a kid of the goats, a male without blemish” (23). Common people could bring “a kid of the goats, a female without blemish” (28) or female lamb without blemish (32). By including everyone from the high priest to the common man, the Lord taught that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
The fact that God required sin offerings for unintentional sin shows how seriously God takes His word and Israel’s sin against it. It is sinful human nature to imagine that an unintentional sin isn’t really sin, so that if we didn’t mean to sin it isn’t technically sin. But any violation of God’s commandments, regardless of our awareness, is still a violation of God’s commandment. Sin is sin and as such, atonement must be made for it.
God also takes Israel’s salvation seriously, which is why He provided a means of making atonement for their unintentional sins. Through the sin offerings for unintentional sin, the Lord also taught Israel to be circumspect about how they live, so that they would strive to live according to God’s law and avoid sinning. Because of the sinful nature, they would most certainly sin without intending, for as Solomon writes, “There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin” (Eccl 7:20). Yet whenever they discovered their fault, they knew the remedy and where to seek it.
Like ancient Israel, we can sin without intending. Yet God has provided His Son as the atoning sacrifice four all our sins. His blood covers our unintentional sins. Knowing that we daily sin, we pray each day, “Forgive us our trespasses” and, when our fault becomes known to us, we know the remedy and where to seek it—in the suffering and death of Christ for all our sins. Let us pray: Keep us from sin, O Lord, by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Forgive us those trespasses of which we are not aware and strengthen us to walk in your commandments. Amen.