---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Leviticus 4"
description: "CHAPTER 4  Leviticus 4:1;
Leviticus 4:2. SIN
OFFERING OF IGNORANCE. 2. If a soul shall sin through
ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord—a"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/leviticus/4"
---

CHAPTER 4

[Leviticus 4:1](../../../kjv/leviticus/4/1);
[Leviticus 4:2](../../../kjv/leviticus/4/2). SIN
OFFERING OF IGNORANCE.

**2. If a soul shall sin through
ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord**—a soul—an
individual. All sins may be considered, in a certain sense, as
committed "through ignorance," error, or misapprehension of
one's true interests. 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."
. SIN OFFERING
FOR THE PRIEST.

**3. If the priest that is anointed do
sin**—that is, the high priest, in whom, considering his
character as typical mediator, and his exalted office, the people had
the deepest interest; and whose transgression of any part of the
divine law, therefore, whether done unconsciously or heedlessly, was
a very serious offense, both as regarded himself individually, and
the influence of his example. He is the person principally meant,
though the common order of the priesthood was included.
**according to the sin of the
people**—that is, bring guilt on the people. He was to take a
young bullock (the age and sex being expressly mentioned), and having
killed it according to the form prescribed for the burnt offerings,
he was to take it into the holy place and sprinkle the atoning blood
seven times before the veil, and tip with the crimson fluid the horns
of the golden altar of incense, on his way to the court of the
priests,—a solemn ceremonial appointed only for very grave and
heinous offenses, and which betokened that his sin, though done in
ignorance, had vitiated all his services; nor could any official duty
he engaged in be beneficial either to himself or the people, unless
it were atoned for by blood.

**11. the skin of the bullock, and all
his flesh**—In ordinary circumstances, these were perquisites of
the priests. 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 [], 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
[Hebrews 13:12](../../../kjv/hebrews/13/12); [Hebrews 13:13](../../../kjv/hebrews/13/13)).

**13-21. if the whole congregation of
Israel sin through ignorance**—In consequence of some culpable
neglect or misapprehension of the law, the people might contract
national guilt, and then national expiation was necessary. The same
sacrifice was to be offered as in the former case, but with this
difference in the ceremonial, that the elders or heads of the tribes,
as representing the people and being the principal aggressors in
misleading the congregation, laid their hands on the head of the
victim. The priest then took the blood into the holy place, where,
after dipping his finger in it seven times, he sprinkled the drops
seven times before the veil. This done, he returned to the court of
the priests, and ascending the altar, put some portion upon its
horns; then he poured it out at the foot of the altar. The fat was
the only part of the animal which was offered on the altar; for the
carcass, with its appurtenances and offals, was carried without the
camp, into the place where the ashes were deposited, and there
consumed with fire.

**22-26. When a ruler hath sinned, and
done somewhat through ignorance against any of the
commandments**—Whatever was the form of government, the king,
judge, or subordinate, was the party concerned in this law. The
trespass of such a civil functionary being less serious in its
character and consequences than that either of the high priest or the
congregation, a sin offering of inferior value was required—"a
kid of the goats"; and neither was the blood carried into the
sanctuary, but applied only to the altar of burnt offering; nor was
the carcass taken without the camp; it was eaten by the
priests-in-waiting.

**27-34. if any one of the common
people sin through ignorance**—In this case the expiatory
offering appointed was a female kid, or a ewe-lamb without blemish;
and the ceremonies were exactly the same as those observed in the
case of the offending ruler []. In these two latter instances, the blood of the sin
offering was applied to the altar of burnt offering—the place where
bloody sacrifices were appointed to be immolated. But the
transgression of a high priest, or of the whole congregation,
entailing a general taint on the ritual of the tabernacle, and
vitiating its services, required a further expiation; and therefore,
in these cases, the blood of the sin offering was applied to the
altar of incense [[Leviticus 4:6](../../../kjv/leviticus/4/6);
[Leviticus 4:17](../../../kjv/leviticus/4/17)].

**35. it shall be forgiven him**—None
of these sacrifices possessed any intrinsic value sufficient to free
the conscience of the sinner from the pollution of guilt, or to
obtain his pardon from God; but they gave a formal deliverance from a
secular penalty ([Hebrews 9:13](../../../kjv/hebrews/9/13);
[Hebrews 9:14](../../../kjv/hebrews/9/14)); and they were
figurative representations of the full and perfect sin offering which
was to be made by Christ.

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