God was very specific to His People who were rescued from Egypt to live a new life following in His ways, leaving behind their former life of slavery. God was detailed with how to deal with sin in the camp, both realized and unintentionally committed.  God is teaching His people often with how to honor and love Him along with how to love each other because this new life with God has not been fully internalized.  God is the Master Teacher who speaks through His representative, Moses.  God appointed and anointed Moses’ brother Aaron and his sons to be the priests to carry out all the details according to God’s instructions to deal with all sin. 

To us who believe in Jesus, believe that He was the One and Only sacrifice for our sins, read with wonder, maybe even with a bit of distain, because of the slaughter of animals from their herds, the burnt offerings of these animals, with the sprinkling of the blood from them. But look closely at the repetitiveness for what is repeated often in God’s Word is what God wants us to know and realize for our relationship with Him. 

We learn we must deal with all our sins.  Since Adam and Eve sinned against God, all the generations succeeding have sinned.  Paul reminds us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  ALL of us.  All sin must be dealt with before God.  Don’t let the process here distract us from the ultimate plan of God to redeem us.

Leviticus 4

The Sin Offering

The Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—

³ “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. ⁴ He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the Lord. ⁵ Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and carry it into the tent of meeting. ⁶ He is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord, in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. ⁷ The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the bull’s blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸ He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—all the fat that is connected to the internal organs, ⁹ both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys— ¹⁰ just as the fat is removed from the ox sacrificed as a fellowship offering. Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹ But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines— ¹² that is, all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.

¹³ “‘If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt ¹⁴ and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. ¹⁶ Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. ¹⁷ He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times in front of the curtain. ¹⁸ He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, ²⁰ and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. ²¹ Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.

²² “‘When a leader sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the Lord his God, when he realizes his guilt ²³ and the sin he has committed becomes known, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect. ²⁴ He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the Lord. It is a sin offering. ²⁵ Then the 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 pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ²⁶ He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the leader’s sin, and he will be forgiven.

²⁷ “‘If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realize their guilt ²⁸ and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. ²⁹ They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰ Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³¹ They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

³² “‘If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they are to bring a female without defect. ³³ They are to lay their hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. ³⁴ Then the 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 pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵ They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND TO GOD?

It is interesting, but not surprising, that God knew that His People, who He called out and rescued from living in the Egyptian culture were so jaded by their past, so conformed to past habits of worshiping many gods with survivalist lifestyle; that many of their sins become labeled as “unintentional” or not yet known to them as sin.  Generations were birthed into the Egyptian culture.  God heard their cries for help and brought them out. Now God is teaching them His ways while providing for them daily.

God sees and knows the hearts of all mankind.  God loves His created.  God wants His best for them.  So, God convicts and corrects His people of all sin, known and unintentional, that holds them back, hindering their connected relationship to God with ways to cover their sins through sacrifice of unblemished animals from their herds given to them as a blessing from God.  Did it occur to them that God gave them the sacrifice for their sins?

Does it occur to us that God gave us His Son Jesus, as the sacrifice for our sins?  We provide nothing but humble confession and remorseful repentance. God provides all the rest!  Jesus was given, unblemished by sin, to be the sacrifice for our sin.  Jesus, willingly laid down His life, taking all the sins of the world upon His shoulders, as The Way to rid us of our sins, cleansing our hearts completely.  Our sins repented in Jesus Name are gone, removed “as far as the east is from the west”, forgiven forever, “to be remembered no more”!  Jesus rescued us and brought us out of our own culture and past sin to give us new life with Him!  Hallelujah!

The bottom line is this: God requires His people to deal with their sins against Him and against each other.  God still requires this of us today.  God made a Way for us to come to Him, repent of our sins and be forgiven.  Jesus was, is and always will be the One and Only Way.  God gave us His One and Only Son as the once and for all sacrifice, for all the sins of the world—yours and mine.  God provided the Lamb to be slain for our sins.

Pause and let all this sink into our hearts. May Truth be internalized within our being.

Lord,

Cleanse my heart of all sin that needs to be removed.  Convict me of unintentional sins that I am ignoring.  Forgive me.  Correct me.  May Your Holy Spirit continue to renew my mind, that leads to the transformation of my behaviors because I want to be more like you and less like the unbelieving world around me.  Comfort me.  Refresh my soul with your new tender mercies for today.  Restore continually the ever-flowing, everlasting joy of you in me and me in you; as your salvation work molds and shapes me into who you created me to be.  Compel me to love like you love me so others will know you, too.

In Jesus Name, for our good, and Your Glory, Amen! Yes!