Sin Offering

Leviticus 14:15-24 – Then the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. And some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. The priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. And afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. “But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil; also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the Lord. And the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord.

Leviticus 4:2-3,5-6 - “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering…And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary.

Application:

• ·         Although the burnt, grain and fellowship offerings were voluntary, the sin offering was compulsory. As soon as an anointed priest became aware of unintentional sin, he was to bring his sin offering to the Lord.
• ·         There were two types of sin offerings.The first and more important involved sprinkling the blood in the tabernacle in front of the inner curtain or, in the case of the solemn Day of Atonement, on and in front of the atonement cover itself. Our parallel to this sin offering was Jesus, who suffered outside the city gate. This type of sin offering was offered by and for a priest or by the elders for the whole community. The second type of sin offering was for a leader of the nation or a private individual. The offering included confession and the symbolic transfer of guilt by laying hands on the sacrifice. Then the priest who offered the sacrifice made atonement for the sin, and the Lord promised forgiveness. By bringing such a sin offering, a faithful Israelite under conviction of sin sought restoration of fellowship with God.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV