Leviticuschapter 4
35 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Leviticus Overview.
A new speech opens here and brings a new subject, the sin a person commits without meaning to and learns of afterwards. It was given to a nation ranked from its anointed priest down to the ordinary man of the land, and each rank is dealt with in turn. The price of the remedy changes with the rank, and so does the path of the blood. Listen for how far toward the presence of God the blood is carried in each case, and for the sentence that closes every case in the same words. It teaches that guilt is real before anyone notices it.
Context
- Who
- A whole nation ranked from the anointed priest down to the people of the land, each told what their own case would cost
- What
- Instruction for the sin offering for an unintentional sin, graded by rank from the anointed priest to one of the common people.
- Where
- The tabernacle at Sinai, from the altar of incense inside the tent to the altar in the court and a clean place outside the camp.
- When
- About 1445 BC on the traditional dating, at Sinai in the first month of the second year after the Exodus, while other scholars date the writing of the priestly laws later.
- Why
- To show that a sin committed in ignorance still needs atonement, and that the remedy is open to every rank once the sin is known.
Historical context
A new speech opens at verse 1, one of the thirty-three in this book where the LORD speaks to Moses. The subject is a person who sins unintentionally and comes to know it afterwards.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The chapter grades one offering by who sinned. The anointed priest stands at verse 3, the whole congregation at verse 13, a leader at verse 22 and a member of the common people at verse 27.
A first hearer would have followed the blood, because the blood is what moves. For the priest and the congregation it goes inside the tent, sprinkled seven times before the veil and put on the horns of the golden altar of incense. From the leader down it stays in the courtyard.
The altar of incense was where the priest served day by day, so his own sin was answered on the furniture his service touched. The rest of his bull was carried out of the camp to a clean place and burned, which meant the men who brought it received nothing back.
The word rendered leader at verse 22 is nasi, which covers the head of a tribe or of a household as well as a king. Verse 22 is also the one place in the chapter that says the commandments of the LORD his God, where verses 2, 13 and 27 say only the LORD.
Significance
The chapter told Israel that guilt was real before anyone noticed it. A nation could be wrong about something none of it had seen, and the remedy stayed open once the fact came out.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
It also told them the price moved with the person. The animal fell from a bull to a female goat as the rank fell. The sentence at the end of each case stayed the same, that the priest makes atonement and the person is forgiven.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter sets the sin offering for a wrong done by mistake, and the tradition fixes exactly where each act took place. The priest carried the blood into the sanctuary itself, into the Tabernacle first and into the Temple hall later (Rashi on Leviticus 4:5:1). He sprinkled it towards the holiest spot, opposite the gap between the staves of the Ark, standing far enough back that the blood did not reach the veil (Rashi on Leviticus 4:6:1). Touching the veil did not spoil the rite. The rest of the blood was poured at the base of the altar on the west side, the side facing the entrance (Rashi on Leviticus 4:18:1). The animal for a commoner was killed on the north side of the altar, where the burnt offering was killed (Rashi on Leviticus 4:24:1). The bull was burned outside the city at a clean place, which Rashi distinguishes from the tip outside Jerusalem where diseased stones were thrown and the dead were buried (Rashi on Leviticus 4:12:1). Rashi is quoted from the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, which the corpus marks public domain. No sin offering has been brought since the Temple fell in AD 70, a break this site records on its feasts layer (src/lib/hebraic/feasts.ts).
How it is read
The tradition reads this chapter as being about the honest mistake and about who answers for it. A sin offering is owed only where the deliberate act would have carried the penalty of being cut off (Rashi on Leviticus 4:2:1). The anointed priest owes one only where he ruled wrongly and then acted on his own ruling (Rashi on Leviticus 4:3:1). The congregation of the thirteenth verse is read as the Great Sanhedrin rather than the crowd (Rashi on Leviticus 4:13:1). The word that opens the paragraph on the prince is read as the word for happy. Rashi carries the saying that the generation is happy whose ruler brings an offering for what he did by accident. Such a ruler will certainly repent of what he did on purpose (Rashi on Leviticus 4:22:1).
Two parables in the corpus carry the weight of the chapter. Rashi asks why the veil is called the veil of the sanctuary when the priest alone has sinned, and simply the veil when the whole people has sinned. He answers with a king whose country revolts. A revolt by a part leaves his household standing, and a revolt by the whole country leaves him no household at all (Rashi on Leviticus 4:17:1). The second parable explains why the rite for the whole people is written short. It is told of a king angry with his friend, who "abridged the account of his offence because of the affection he bore him" (Rashi on Leviticus 4:19:1). The missing details are supplied from the priest's own rite by the twentieth verse (Rashi on Leviticus 4:20:1). That verse also teaches that leaving out one application of the blood makes the offering void, where a single application at the outer altar would have been enough (Rashi on Leviticus 4:20:1).
Rashi ties this offering to the peace offering twice. The fat portions of the bull match those of the ox brought as a peace offering. The tradition reads the comparison as teaching that this offering too brings peace to the world (Rashi on Leviticus 4:10:1). The fat of the goat matches the fat of the goat among the peace offerings (Rashi on Leviticus 4:26:1). Two smaller notes stand beside them. The first reads the fat of any bull brought as a sin offering, which draws in the bull of the Day of Atonement (Rashi on Leviticus 4:8:1). The second reads a word in the twenty third verse as when rather than or (Rashi on Leviticus 4:23:1).
Ibn Ezra stands on the fourteenth, fifteenth, twenty first and twenty seventh verses (Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 4:14:1, 4:15:1, 4:21:1 and 4:27:1). The corpus keeps no text of him, because the licence Sefaria reports does not permit it. Malbim stands on the first and fourth, and Sefaria holds no English version of either (Malbim on Leviticus, Vayikra 191:1 and 209:1).
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty Midrash and Talmud locators on this chapter and the text of none of them. Each is cited here rather than quoted, and what each teaches is reported as the teaching of the rabbis.
Twenty five of them are Talmudic, and the tractate on the erring court carries most weight. Horayot stands four times, at 10a:2 and 10a:13 on the anointed priest, at 5a:11 on the congregation and at 13a:1 on the atonement made. The Jerusalem Talmud carries the same tractate five times, at Horayot 1:1:5, 2:1:1, 1:8:3, 3:2:27 and 2:7:1. It carries eight more, at Yoma 5:6:5 and 2:1:7, Yevamot 10:2:5, Megillah 1:11:6, Taanit 2:1:7, Pesachim 5:4:6 and 5:2:3, and Shevuot 1:5:2. Eight Babylonian locators stand singly, at Bekhorot 39b:1, Menachot 27b:3 and 77b:17, Chullin 117a:3 and 5b:1, Pesachim 65a:1, Keritot 12b:9, and in the Introductions to Amoraic Literature at Pesachim, Chapter I 99.
Fifteen midrashic locators run beside them. Midrash Lekach Tov carries seven, at Leviticus 4:4:1, 4:5:1, 4:11:1, 4:21:1, 4:30:1, 4:31:1 and 4:35:1. Ein Yaakov carries four, at Yoma 3:6, Zevachim 4:1 and Pesakhim 4:17 in the Glick Edition, and at Shevuot 1:7. The others are Otzar Midrashim, Sefer Tagin 5:226, Bamidbar Rabbah 15:24, Aggadat Bereshit 6:1 on the prince, and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayigash 3.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Leviticus 4:2:1 to 4:26:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 4:14:1, 4:15:1, 4:21:1 and 4:27:1, cited by ref because the licence Sefaria reports does not permit the text; Malbim, Malbim on Leviticus, Vayikra 191:1 and 209:1, cited by ref because Sefaria holds no English version; MannaFest, the feasts layer, src/lib/hebraic/feasts.ts, on the Temple's fall in AD 70; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/leviticus/4.json, the 40 Midrash and Talmud locators of this chapter.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
When the anointed priest sins
Leviticus 4:1-2
The subject given is one who sins unintentionally against any of the LORD’s commandments. The burnt offering of chapter 1 was brought with no sin named, and this one is required of a man the moment he learns what he did.
Leviticus 4:1
“And the Lord spake ... Israel - This formula is the commencement of a distinct section of the Law. Lev 4:2 If a soul shall sin - The sin-offering was a new thing, instituted by the Law. The older kinds of sacrifice Lev 2:1; Lev 3:1 when offered by individuals were purely voluntary: no special occasions were prescribed. But it was plainly commanded that he who was conscious that he had committed a sin should bring his sin-offering.”
The verse opens the case of a man who sins unintentionally and does what one of the LORD's commandments forbids. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown restrict it to breaches of the ceremonial law through haste or oversight that would have carried a capital penalty if done knowingly. Adam Clarke reads the verse to say that a sin done in ignorance still requires its sacrifice once the man learns of it.
Leviticus 4:2
“If a soul shall sin through ignorance - That is, if any man shall do what God has forbidden, or leave undone what God has commanded, through ignorance of the law relative to these points; as soon as the transgression or omission comes to his knowledge, he shall offer the sacrifice here prescribed, and shall not suppose that his ignorance is an excuse for his sin.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 4:2
“The sins, however, referred to in this law were unintentional violations of the ceremonial laws,--breaches made through haste, or inadvertency of some negative precepts, which, if done knowingly and wilfully, would have involved a capital punishment. do against any of them--To bring out the meaning, it is necessary to supply, "he shall bring a sin offering." Le 4:3-35.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Leviticus 4:3-4
The chapter grades one offering by who sinned, and it begins at the top. The anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain by his office, since the man who carries Israel in to God cannot sin privately. He brings a young bull, the costliest animal named in the chapter, and lays his own hand on its head.
Leviticus 4:3
“The priest that is anointed - i. e. the high priest. (Compare Lev 8:12; Lev 21:10; Exo 29:7). On the anointing of the other priests see the note at Lev 8:13. The graduation of the sin-offerings is remarkable. It might seem that the distinction addressed itself more pointedly to each individual according to his rank and consequent responsibility (see Lev 4:32). According to the sin of the people - Rather, to bring guilt on the people. The whole nation is concerned in every transgression of its representative.”
The bull is brought to the same entrance where the burnt offering of 1:3 was presented, and the phrase before the LORD is said twice in the verse. The rite starts as the burnt offering started. Albert Barnes, at verse 5, marks the handling of the blood that follows as the point where the sin offering becomes special.
Leviticus 4:5-7
The blood of this bull goes where the blood of the earlier offerings never went. Adam Clarke counts three places: seven times in front of the veil, on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense, and the rest at the base of the altar of burnt offering. The incense altar is where the priest served day by day, so the blood touches the furniture his own sin touched.
Leviticus 4:5
“The treatment of the blood was special in the sin-offerings. In the inferior sin-offerings it was smeared on the horns of the altar of burnt-offering Lev 4:25, Lev 4:30, Lev 4:34, while in this offering for the high priest, and in that for the nation, the high priest himself sprinkled the blood seven times within the tabernacle and smeared it on the horns of the altar of incense Lev 4:6-7, Lev 4:17-18. The different modes of sprinkling appear to have marked successive degrees of consecration in advancing from the altar of burnt-offering to the presence of Yahweh within the veil.”
2 more voices on this verse
Leviticus 4:5
“Some of the blood of the high-priest's sin-offering was to be sprinkled seven times before the veil, with an eye towards the mercy-seat, though it was veiled: some of it was to be put upon the horns of the golden altar, because at that altar the priest himself ministered; and thus was signified the putting away of that pollution which from his sins did cleave to his services.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Leviticus 4:5
“He is called by two names, Jesus Christ; Jesus because he is a savior, Christ because he is a priest. With this in mind the divinely inspired prophet Moses gave these two titles to two men eminent above all, changing the name of his own successor in the sovereignty, Auses, to Jesus, and giving his own brother, Aaron, the surname Christ, that through these two chosen men he might represent at once the high priesthood and the kingship of the one Jesus Christ who was to come.”
Cyril of Jerusalem · written before 386 · Catechetical Lecture 10.11patristic
The priest sprinkles with his finger seven times in front of the veil that closed off the Most Holy Place. Matthew Henry notes that the blood was directed toward the mercy seat behind it, though the veil hid it from view. Albert Barnes sees the different ways of applying the blood as marking steps toward the presence of the LORD within the veil.
Leviticus 4:6
“Seven times - See Clarke’s note on Exo 29:30. The blood of this sacrifice was applied in three different ways: 1. The priest put his finger in it, and sprinkled it seven times before the veil, Lev 4:6. 2. He put some of it on the horns of the altar of incense. 3. He poured the remaining part at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offerings, Lev 4:7.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Two altars stand in this verse, the altar of fragrant incense inside the tent and the altar of burnt offering at its entrance. The horns of the inner altar receive blood, and the rest is poured out at the base of the outer one. Albert Barnes holds that the pouring had no sacrificial meaning of its own and was a fitting way to dispose of what remained.
Leviticus 4:7
“Pour - All the blood that was left after the sprinkling and the smearing should be disposed of in such a manner as to suit the decorum of divine service. It had no sacrificial significance.”
Leviticus 4:8-10
Verse 10 measures this offering against another, just as the fat is removed from the ox of the peace offering. The fat over the entrails, both kidneys and the lobe of the liver go up on the altar, the portions Leviticus 3:3-4 names in the peace offering. What goes up to God from a sin offering and from the offering a worshipper eats from are the same parts.
Leviticus 4:8
“By this the intention of the offering and of the atonement made by it was directed to the glory of God, who, having been dishonoured by the sin, was thus honoured by the sacrifice. It signified the sharp sufferings of our Lord Jesus, when he was made sin (that is, a sin-offering) for us, especially the sorrows of his soul and his inward agonies.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The list of portions continues from verse 8 in the same order and wording as Leviticus 3:4, the kidneys, the fat near the loins and the lobe of the liver. The sentence runs on past the end of the verse, and verse 10 completes it. Matthew Henry, at verse 8, reads the burning of the fat as signifying the sufferings of Christ, especially the sorrows of His soul.
The fat is burned on the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard, though the blood of this bull was carried inside to the altar of incense. Matthew Henry, at verse 8, reads the burning of the fat as directing the atonement to the glory of God, who had been dishonoured by the sin. Verse 11 turns to the rest of the animal.
Leviticus 4:11-12
Nothing of this animal is eaten. Hide, flesh, head, legs, entrails and dung are taken outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place and burned on a wood fire. Hebrews 13:11-12 reads this verse, where the bodies are burned outside the camp, and so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate.
Leviticus 4:11
“But in the expiation necessary for a sin of the high priest, after the fat of the sacrifice was offered on the altar, the carcass was carried without the camp [Le 4:12], in order that the total combustion of it in the place of ashes might the more strikingly indicate the enormity of the transgression, and the horror with which he regarded it (compare Heb 13:12, 13).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The place outside the camp is ceremonially clean and is where the ashes from the altar are poured out. Adam Clarke reads the removal as a picture of the sin carried away, since the priest's sin passed to the animal by his confession and the laying on of his hands, and the carcass was then taken out of the LORD's sight. It burns on wood on the ash heap.
Leviticus 4:12
“Without the camp - This was intended figuratively to express the sinfulness of this sin, and the availableness of the atonement. The sacrifice, as having the sin of the priest transferred from himself to it by his confession and imposition of hands, was become unclean and abominable, and was carried, as it were, out of the Lord’s sight; from the tabernacle and congregation it must be carried without the camp, and thus its own offensiveness was removed, and the sin of the person in whose behalf it was offered.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
When the whole congregation strays
Leviticus 4:13-15
A nation can be guilty of something none of it noticed: the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and still they incur guilt, so the guilt stands before the knowledge arrives. John Gill records the reading of Rashi and Maimonides that the congregation here means the Sanhedrin, whose ruling led the people wrong. The elders lay their hands on the bull for the whole people.
Leviticus 4:13
“And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance,.... That is, all Israel, or the greatest part of them, as Gersom interprets it, through the ignorant teaching of the judges, who by their instruction cause the people to err, and commit sins of ignorance, as Baal Hatturim on the place observes, and Maimonides elsewhere (g); wherefore Jarchi, and some others, by the congregation of Israel understand the sanhedrim, or the bench of judges, consisting of seventy one.”
The offering waits for the moment the assembly learns of its sin, and John Gill says the knowledge might come through a priest or through anyone else. The assembly brings a young bull, the same animal required of the anointed priest at verse 3. Gill cites Aben Ezra, who explains the match by counting the high priest equal to all Israel.
Leviticus 4:14
“When the sin which they have sinned against it,.... Any of the commandments of the Lord forbidding such a thing to be done: is known; is made known to them by the priest, or any other, so that they are convinced that what has been done is wrong, though done through ignorance: then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation; the same offering with that of the anointed priest, he being, as Aben Ezra on the place observes, equal to all Israel.”
The elders lay their hands on the bull on behalf of the whole congregation. John Gill records the disagreement over how many took part, at least two, with some saying three and some five, while the Targum of Jonathan names the twelve rulers of the tribes. He adds that a priest, a Levite or a butcher could do the killing.
Leviticus 4:15
“And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord,.... These must be two at least, some say three, and some say five (h); the more generally received notion is, that they were three of the sanhedrim (i); though the Targum of Jonathan makes them to be the twelve rulers of the twelve tribes: and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord; in the court near the altar of burnt offering, either by a priest, or Levite, or by a butcher, as the above Targum expresses it. (h) Misn.”
Leviticus 4:16-18
The congregation's bull is handled exactly as the priest's was, and the text writes the whole procedure out a second time. The blood goes seven times in front of the veil, on the horns of the altar inside the tent, and at the base of the altar of burnt offering. A whole nation and the anointed priest pay the same animal and the same rite.
Leviticus 4:16
“And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood,.... That is, the chief priest, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan explain it: to the tabernacle of the congregation; as he brought the blood of his own bullock, Lev 4:5 from hence to the Lev 4:16 an account is given of the same rites to be observed in the sin offering, for the congregation, as for the anointed priest; See Gill on Lev 4:6, Lev 4:7, Lev 4:12.”
The sevenfold sprinkling of verse 6 is repeated for the congregation's bull, with the same finger and before the same veil. Albert Barnes, at verse 5, notes that only the offering for the high priest and the offering for the nation brought blood inside the tabernacle, while the lesser sin offerings put it on the altar of burnt offering.
The blood goes on the horns of the altar inside the Tent of Meeting, and the rest is poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, as verse 7 directed for the priest's bull. Adam Clarke's three uses of the blood at verse 6 hold here as well. The horns of an altar receive blood in every sin offering of the chapter.
Leviticus 4:19-21
Verse 20 says the priest will make atonement on their behalf, and they will be forgiven, and the pair falls again at verses 26, 31 and 35. It falls nowhere in the verses on the anointed priest's own offering, and the chapter gives no reason. Hebrews 5:3 states the priest's own need, that he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins.
The bull for the congregation is handled like the bull for the priest, including the fat of verses 8 to 10. Matthew Henry notes that the promise of forgiveness rests on the atonement. He reads the forgiveness of a whole congregation as the turning away of the national judgments its sin deserved.
Leviticus 4:20
“The promise of remission is founded upon the atonement. It is spoken here of the forgiveness of the sin of the whole congregation, that is, the turning away of those national judgments which the sin deserved.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The congregation's bull leaves the camp and burns as the priest's bull did at verse 12, and the verse names it the sin offering for the assembly. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, at verse 11, read the complete burning of the high priest's bull outside the camp as showing the enormity of the transgression.
When a ruler sins without knowing
Leviticus 4:22-23
The word rendered leader is nasi, which John Gill traces to a root meaning lifted up, and it covers the head of a tribe or a household as well as a king. His animal steps down from a bull to an unblemished male goat. Verse 22 alone in the chapter says the commandments of the LORD his God, so the man set over others is reminded whose he is.
Leviticus 4:22
“When a ruler hath sinned,.... Or "prince", the "nasi", one that is lifted up above others in honour, power, and authority, or that bears the weight of government: the word comes from one which signifies to lift up, or to bear; it may be understood of a governor of a family, or of a tribe, as Aben Ezra observes; and so in the Talmud (k) it is said, it means the prince of a tribe, such as Nachson the son of Amminadab, prince of the tribe of Judah.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 4:22
“When a ruler hath sinned - Under the term נשיא nasi, it is probable that any person is meant who held any kind of political dignity among the people, though the rabbins generally understand it of the king. A kid of the goats was the sacrifice in this case, the rites nearly the same as in the preceding cases, only the fat was burnt as that of the peace-offering. See Lev 4:26 and Lev 3:5.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The ruler's offering is required as soon as he becomes aware of the sin. Albert Barnes identifies the animal as a shaggy male goat, the regular sin offering at the yearly feasts and at the consecration of the priests in Leviticus 9:3. A male is required of the ruler, and verse 28 requires a female of the common man.
Leviticus 4:23
“Or if his sin - Rather, And if his sin. Come to his knowledge - i. e. when he had become conscious of his sin. A kid of the goats - A shaggy he-goat, in distinction from a smooth-haired he-goat. It was the regular sin-offering at the yearly festivals Lev 16:9, Lev 16:15; Num 28:15, Num 28:22, Num 28:30, and at the consecration of the priests Lev 9:3; while the smooth-haired goat appears to have been generally offered for the other sacrifices Psa 50:9; Isa 1:11.”
Leviticus 4:24-26
From the leader down, the blood stays in the courtyard, on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. Leviticus 6:26 and 6:30 give the working rule: a sin offering whose blood was carried into the tent is burned, and one whose blood was not is eaten by the priest in a holy place. The two halves of this chapter end in those two ways.
Leviticus 4:24
“And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat,.... His right hand, as the Targum of Jonathan; See Gill on Lev 1:4. and kill it; not the prince, but the priest after mentioned, or the butcher, as the same Targum: in the place where they hill the burnt offering before the Lord; in the court on the north side of the altar, see Lev 1:11, it is a sin offering: an offering for his sin of ignorance, or "sin"; so Christ our offering is said to be, 2Co 5:21.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 4:24
“The burnt-offering - So called by way of eminency, to wit, the daily burnt-offering. It is a sin-offering - And therefore to be killed where the burnt-offering is killed; whereby it is distinguished from the peace-offering, which were killed elsewhere.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The priest applies the blood with his finger, as the high priest did inside the tent at verse 6, and here puts it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering in the court. The rest is poured out at its base. Albert Barnes, at verse 5, cites this verse as the pattern for the lesser sin offerings.
The ruler's fat is burned like the fat of the peace offerings, and the verse closes on atonement and forgiveness for that man's sin. John Wesley reads the forgiveness two ways, as release from church censure and civil punishment, and as real pardon given on repentance and faith in the Messiah to come.
Leviticus 4:26
“It shall be forgiven - Both judicially, as to all ecclesiastical censures or civil punishment; and really, upon condition of repentance and faith in the Messiah to come.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
When one of the common people sins
Leviticus 4:27-28
The chapter has come down from the anointed priest to one of the common people, the people of the land in the Hebrew. His unblemished female goat is the least costly of the four animals, and it still gains forgiveness. Peter stands on this ground at Acts 3:17, you acted in ignorance, and Luke 23:34 has Jesus pray for those who do not know what they are doing.
Leviticus 4:27
“The common people - literally, as in the margin, “the people of the land.” Compare Lev 20:2, Lev 20:4; 2Ki 11:18. It was the ordinary designation of the people, as distinguished from the priests and the rulers.”
The common man brings his goat once he becomes aware of the sin, the same moment set for the ruler at verse 23. John Wesley explains the female as sufficient because the sin of one of the people was less than the sin of a ruler, for whom a male was required. The price of the animal falls with the rank of the sinner.
Leviticus 4:28
“A female - Which here was sufficient, because the sin of one of those was less than the sin of the ruler, for whom a male was required.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Leviticus 4:29-31
Verse 31 calls this offering a pleasing aroma to the LORD, and it is the only sin offering in Leviticus that carries the phrase. It carries it over the smallest animal brought by the least of the four offerers named here. The same verse gives the man the whole formula, atonement made for him and his sin forgiven.
Leviticus 4:29
“And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering,.... His right hand, as the Targum of Jonathan; not the priest that shall offer it, but the man that has sinned, that brings it, thereby confessing his sin, and transferring it to the sacrifice: and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering; that is, on the north side of the altar.”
From this verse the priest takes over, putting the blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pouring the rest at its base. John Gill notes that everything before it, the bringing, the hand on the head and the killing, was done by the man who had sinned. The priest's part begins at the blood.
Leviticus 4:30
“And the priest shall take of the blood,.... So that all the preceding actions, the bringing the offering, the putting the hand upon the head of it, and slaying it, were done by the man that sinned; of this and what follows here and in the next verse Lev 4:31; see Gill on Lev 4:25, Lev 4:26.”
The fat is removed as in the peace offering and burned, and the priest makes atonement so that the man is forgiven. Matthew Henry draws two lessons, that sin must be a very bad thing if so many innocent creatures die to atone for it, and that Christ, the true sin offering, is to be valued because His blood cleanses from all sin.
Leviticus 4:31
“That is certainly a very bad thing to make atonement for which so many innocent and useful creatures must be slain and mangled thus. To value Christ, the great and true sin-offering, whose blood cleanses from all sin, which it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away. Now, if any man sin, Christ is the propitiation ( 1 John ii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Leviticus 4:32-35
The chapter closes by giving the common man a choice nobody above him is given, a lamb in place of the goat. John Gill records the Talmud's observation that the lamb, usually named before the goat, is named after it here, read to mean the two stand equal. The chapter ends on atonement for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:32
“And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering,.... As he might if he would; the Jews observe, that in all places a lamb is put before a goat, as being more excellent in its kind; but here it is mentioned after, which shows, they say, that they are equally alike (p): he shall bring it a female without blemish; typical of Christ the Lamb of God, without spot and without blemish, 1Pe 1:19. (p) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 57. 2. & Ceritot, fol. 28. 2.”
1 more voice on this verse
Leviticus 4:32
“A lamb - A sheep. See Lev 3:7 note. Three points are to be observed in regard to the victims for sin-offerings. (a) The common people had to offer a female, as the less valuable animaI; they might present either a sheep or a goat to suit their convenience: (b) the rulers had always to offer a male-goat: (c) the goat was preferred to the sheep, unlike the victim for a peace-offering or burnt-offering. The sin-offerings were not accompanied by meat-offerings or drink-offerings. See Num 15:3-11.”
The lamb is killed where the burnt offering is killed, on the north side of the altar named at 1:11. John Gill cites the Talmud to the effect that the lamb had to be slain with the purpose of a sin offering. Killing it for another purpose, such as a burnt offering, made the rite invalid.
Leviticus 4:33
“He shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering,.... On the head of the lamb, as on the head of the goat, even his right hand, as the above Targum, as before: and slay it for a sin offering, in the place where they kill the burnt offering: for if it was not slain for a sin offering, but for something else, or on any other account, as for a burnt offering, it was not right (q). (q) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 7. 1. & Menachot, fol. 4. 1.”
The lamb's blood goes where the goat's went at verse 30, onto the horns of the altar of burnt offering by the priest's finger, and the rest is poured out at the base. John Gill refers the reader back to his notes on verses 25 and 26 for this step. Whichever animal the common man chose, it receives the same rite.
Leviticus 4:34
“And the priest shall take of the blood,.... See Gill on Lev 4:25, Lev 4:26.”
The fat of the lamb is removed as it is from the lamb of the peace offerings at 3:9 to 3:11, a list that includes the fat tail. It is burned along with the offerings made by fire, and John Wesley takes this to mean with or after them, since the burnt offerings held the first place. He notes that the fat came in several kinds.
Leviticus 4:35
“Burn them - The fat; but he useth the plural number, because the fat was of several kinds, as we saw ver. 8, 9. upon the offerings, together with them, or after them; because the burnt- offerings were to have the first place.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Case law in ritual form, one offering graded across four classes of offender, as law classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The four ranks the one rite is graded across | The anointed priest at verse 3, the whole congregation of Israel at verse 13, a leader at verse 22 and a member of the common people at verse 27. The animal falls with the rank, from a young bull to a female goat or lamb.Counted for this lane over the store's Berean Standard Bible rows for Leviticus, 19 September 2026, Berean Standard Bible, Leviticus, read from the store. | Leviticus 4:3, Leviticus 4:13, Leviticus 4:22, Leviticus 4:27 |
| The sentence that closes three of the four cases | The priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. Counted over the store's Berean rows, both phrases fall four times in this chapter, at verses 20, 26, 31 and 35.Counted for this lane over the store's Berean Standard Bible rows for Leviticus, 19 September 2026, Berean Standard Bible, Leviticus, read from the store. | Leviticus 4:20, Leviticus 4:26, Leviticus 4:31, Leviticus 4:35 |
| The rite written out twice at full length | The congregation's bull at verses 14 to 21 is handled exactly as the priest's bull at verses 3 to 12, and the text writes the whole procedure a second time. The blood is sprinkled seven times before the veil, put on the horns of the altar of incense, and poured out at the base of the altar in the court.Counted for this lane over the store's Berean Standard Bible rows for Leviticus, 19 September 2026, Berean Standard Bible, Leviticus, read from the store. | Leviticus 4:5, Leviticus 4:6, Leviticus 4:16, Leviticus 4:17 |
| The one rank told whose commandments they are | Verse 22 says the commandments of the LORD his God, where verses 2, 13 and 27 say only the LORD. The man set over other men is the one reminded whose he is.Counted for this lane over the store's Berean Standard Bible rows for Leviticus, 19 September 2026, Berean Standard Bible, Leviticus, read from the store. | Leviticus 4:2, Leviticus 4:13, Leviticus 4:22, Leviticus 4:27 |
The words that are withheld from the first case
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
Counted over the store's Berean rows, the phrase make atonement and the phrase will be forgiven each fall four times in this chapter, at verses 20, 26, 31 and 35. Neither phrase appears anywhere in the ten verses given to the anointed priest's own offering at verses 3 to 12. The chapter gives no reason for that silence and does not fill it. Hebrews 5:3 states the priest's own need plainly, that he is obligated to offer for his own sins as well as for the people's.
The one sin offering called a pleasing aroma
Verse 31 calls this offering a pleasing aroma to the LORD. Counted over the whole book, the phrase stands in seventeen verses of Leviticus, and 4:31 is the only sin offering that carries it. It carries it over the smallest animal, brought by the least of the four men the chapter names.
The New Testament's use
Verses 11 and 12 send the whole bull outside the camp to be burned on wood in a clean place. Hebrews 13:11 describes that arrangement, and Hebrews 13:12 says Jesus suffered outside the gate for that reason. Peter uses this chapter's own category at Acts 3:17, telling the men of Israel that they acted in ignorance, as did their leaders. Luke 23:34 has Jesus asking the Father to forgive them on that ground.
Where the chapter reaches
This site's published dossier carries the sin offering under the heading The Sin Offering: one bears the penalty of another. It reads the chattath as laying the offerer's guilt on a substitute that died in the offerer's place, and sets Hebrews 9:22 beside it.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Counted for this lane over the store's Berean Standard Bible rows for Leviticus, 19 September 2026, Berean Standard Bible, Leviticus, read from the store; The text's own summary line, Leviticus 7:37, Berean Standard Bible, read from the store and This site's published filing of Leviticus among the books of the law, src/lib/bible/book-sections.ts, the entry Leviticus: law.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services; Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Sir Robert Anderson, Types in Hebrews.