Leviticus 4:1-15 NKJV
4 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, 3 if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. 4 He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the Lord. 5 Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. 6 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails, 9 the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, 10 as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. 11 But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal— 12 the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.
13 ‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which should not be done, and are guilty; 14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for the sin, and bring it before the tabernacle of meeting. 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord. Then the bull shall be killed before the Lord.
God regulated the divine service of the Old Testament and expected the priests to follow His word to the letter. However, as a sinful man, there would be times when the high priest unintentionally sinned against what God’s commands. Such a sin would also bring guilt on the entire community of Israel since the high priest was Israel’s representative before God.
To make atonement for such a sin, the priest brought a bull, the chief of all livestock, slaughtered it, and collected its blood. Blood was sprinkled on the veil of the sanctuary seven times, applied to horns of the incense altar in the Holy Place, and the remainder was poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offerings. The fat of the bull is removed and burned as with the peace offering. The rest of the animal is taken to a ritually clean place outside the camp and incinerated. The same procedure is followed for the unintentional sin of the whole congregation.
The fact that the anointed high priest could unintentionally sin against God’s commands for worship reminded Israel of their own sinful nature, imperfection, and need for God’s forgiveness. Seeing the imperfection of Israel’s high priests, the author of Hebrews wrote:
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever” (Heb 7:26-28).
Every anointed high priest—each with the weakness of sin— looked forward to the anointed high priest who would not need sacrifices for any of His own sins but who would make perfect atonement for all sins by shedding His blood on the cross so that He might apply His blood to all who believe and are baptized.
Let us pray: We give You thanks, Lord Jesus, for being our sinless high priest, making perfect atonement for all our sins and sprinkling us with Your blood through faith. Amen.