Leviticus 4:1

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Then the LORD said to Moses,²"Tell the sons of Israel to do as follows with one who sins unintentionally against any of the LORD's commandments and does what is forbidden by them: ³If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. ⁴He must bring the bull to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull's head, and slaughter it before the LORD. ⁵Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting. ⁶The priest is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷The priest must then apply some of the blood to the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. And he is to pour out the rest of the bull's blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁸Then he shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ⁹both kidneys with the fat that is on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys, ¹⁰just as the fat is removed from the ox of the peace offering. The priest shall then burn them on the altar of burnt offering.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Leviticus 4:13 - through ignorance Leviticus 7:37 - sin

Cross-References

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 4:25
And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him."

Genesis 5:29
And he named him Noah, saying, "May this one comfort us in the labor and toil of our hands caused by the ground that the LORD has cursed."

Numbers 31:17
So now, kill all the boys, and kill every woman who has had relations with a man,

1 John 3:12
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Continued to speak to him, or, after some pause made, proceeded to speak to him, and give things in commandment concerning the sin offering, what it should be, and for whom, as follows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the Lord spake ... Israel - This formula is the commencement of a distinct section of the Law.

Leviticus 4:2

If a soul shall sin - The sin-offering was a new thing, instituted by the Law. The older kinds of sacrifice Leviticus 2:1; Leviticus 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. In the abridged rules for sin-offerings in Numbers 15:22-31, the kind of sin for which sin-offerings were accepted is contrasted with that which cut off the perpetrator from among his people (compare Leviticus 4:22 with Leviticus 4:30). The two classes are distinguished in the language of our Bible as sin through ignorance and presumptuous sin. The distinction is clearly recognized in Psalms 19:12-13 and Hebrews 10:26-27. It seems evident that the classification thus indicated refers immediately to the relation of the conscience to God, not to outward practices, nor, immediately, to outward actions.

The presumptuous sinner, literally he who sinned “with a high hand,” might or might not have committed such a crime as to incur punishment from the civil law: it was enough that he had with deliberate purpose rebelled against God (see Proverbs 2:13-15), and ipso facto was “cut off from among his people” and alienated from the divine covenant (see Leviticus 7:20; Exodus 31:14; compare Matthew 12:31; 1 John 5:16). But the other kind of sin, that for which the sin-offering was appointed, was of a more complicated nature. It appears to have included the entire range of “sins, negligences and ignorances” for which we are accustomed to ask forgiveness. sin-offerings were required not only when the conscience accused the offender of having yielded to temptation, but sometimes for what were breaches of the Law committed strictly in ignorance Leviticus 4:13, Leviticus 4:23, Leviticus 4:28; Leviticus 5:17, and sometimes on account of ceremonial pollution. They are thus to be regarded as protests against everything which is opposed to the holiness and purity of the divine Law. They were, in short, to be offered by the worshipper as a relief to the conscience whenever he felt the need of atonement.

Sin through ignorance - Sin through error; that is, through straying from the right way. See Psalms 119:67; Ecclesiastes 5:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER IV

The law concerning the sin-offering for transgressions committed

through ignorance, 1, 2.

For the priest thus sinning, 3-12.

For the sins of ignorance of the whole congregation, 13-21.

For the sins of ignorance of a ruler, 22-26.

For the sins of ignorance of any of the common people, 27-35.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV.