Scripture Daily

Context No. 80 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 4:27-35: in context

27“‘If anyone of the common people sins unwittingly, in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and is guilty, 28if his sin which he has sinned is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without defect, for his sin which he has sinned. 29He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. 30The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. 31All its fat he shall take away, like the fat is taken away from the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasant aroma to the LORD; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. 32“‘If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without defect. 33He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering; and all the rest of its blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar. 35He shall remove all its fat, like the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall burn them on the altar, on the offerings of the LORD made by fire. The priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned, and he will be forgiven.

This is the last rung of the ladder in Leviticus 4. The chapter has given the sin offering for the anointed priest, for the whole community, and for a ruler. Now it reaches the ordinary person, one of the common people, who sins unintentionally and then learns of it.

The procedure is the same in shape and different in scale. The offering is a female goat or a lamb without defect, smaller than the ruler's male goat and far smaller than the bull required of the priest. The person lays a hand on its head, it is killed at the place of burnt offering, the priest puts blood on the horns of the altar, burns the fat, and the same sentence closes it: the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

The ranking runs the way people usually do not expect. The higher the standing, the costlier the offering, because the priest's fault implicates the whole people and the ruler's damages the nation. But the closing verdict does not change by rank. Everyone gets the same six words. The sliding scale is on the cost, never on the forgiveness. Where do I apply a stricter standard to someone with less standing than I would to myself?

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