Leviticus 4 commentary

Burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, and peace-offerings, had been offered before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai; and in these the patriarchs had respect to sin, to make atonement for it. But the Jews were now put into a way of making atonement for sin, more particularly by sacrifice, as a shadow of good things to come; yet the substance is Christ, and that one offering of himself, by which he put away sin. The sins for which the sin-offerings were appointed are supposed to be open acts. They are supposed to be sins of commission, things which ought not to have been done. Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment: yet what had been omitted at one time, might be done at another; but a sin committed was past recall. They are supposed to be sins committed through ignorance. The law begins with the case of the anointed priest. It is evident that God never had any infallible priest in his church upon earth, when even the high priest was liable to fall into sins of ignorance. All pretensions to act without error are sure marks of Antichrist. The beast was to be carried without the camp, and there burned to ashes. This was a sign of the duty of repentance, which is the putting away sin as a detestable thing, which our soul hates. The sin-offering is called sin. What they did to that, we must do to our sins; the body of sin must be destroyed, Ro 6:6. The apostle applies the carrying this sacrifice without the camp to Christ, Heb 13:11–13.

If the leaders of the people, through mistake, caused them to err, an offering must be brought, that wrath might not come upon the whole congregation. When sacrifices were offered, the persons, on whose behalf they were devoted, were to lay their hands on the heads of the victims, and to confess their sins. The elders were to do so, when the sacrifices were offered for the whole congregation. The load of sin was supposed then to be borne by the guiltless animal. When the offering is completed, it is said, atonement is made, and the sin shall be forgiven. The saving of churches and kingdoms from ruin, is owing to the satisfaction and mediation of Christ.

Those who have power to call others to account, are themselves accountable to the Ruler of rulers. The sin of the ruler, committed through ignorance, must come to his knowledge, either by the check of his own conscience, or by the reproof of his friends; both which even the best and greatest, not only should submit to, but be thankful for. That which I see not, teach thou me, and, Show me wherein I have erred, are prayers we should put up to God every day; that if, through ignorance, we fall into sin, we may not through ignorance abide in it.

Here is the law of the sin-offering for a common person. To be able to plead, when charged with sin, that we did it ignorantly, and through the surprise of temptation, will not bring us off, if we have no interest in that great plea, Christ hath died. The sins of ignorance committed by a common person, needed a sacrifice; the greatest are not above, the meanest are not below Divine justice. None, if offenders, were overlooked. Here rich and poor meet together; they are alike sinners, and welcome to Christ. From all these laws concerning the sin-offerings, we may learn to hate sin, and to watch against it; and 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. For us to err, with the Bible in our hands, is the effect of pride, sloth, and carelessness. We need to use frequent self-examination, with serious study of the Scriptures, and earnest prayer for the convincing influences of God the Holy Spirit; that we may detect our sins of ignorance, repent, and obtain forgiveness through the blood of Christ.

After Moses had treated of the offerings and other sacrifices, which were testimonies of gratitude and exercises of piety, he now descends to the sin-offering (expiationem) which held the chief place amongst the sacrifices, inasmuch as, without reconciliation, there could never be any intercourse between men and God; for since He deservedly abominates the whole human race on account of the corruption of our nature, and because we all continually provoke His wrath, the whole hope of salvation must needs be founded on the remedies provided for propitiating Him. This principle, being established, we must remember that Moses will henceforth speak of the expiatory sacrifices which propitiate God to men by the removal of their guilt. He here shews how God is to be appeased, where a man shall have sinned through ignorance or inconsiderateness; wherein too a distinction is laid down between different persons, since one kind of victim is required of a king, another of the priests, and another of ordinary persons; whilst regard is had to the poor, that they may not be burdened by so great an expense as the rich. But, since it will appear from the context that all kinds of ignorance are not here included, we must see what the word שגגה, shegagah, S.M. says the word means, “a sin into which the perplexed mind has been driven under the impulse of some passion, through thoughtlessness, imprudence, or error, when inattentive to the dictates of reason and of the Spirit.” — W. means, which I have preferred rendering error rather than ignorance; for Moses does not refer to those transgressions into which we are ensnared, when we are led astray by the appearance of rectitude, so as to think ourselves without blame; but to those of which we take no heed, and whereby our minds are not pricked; or to those sudden falls, wherein the infirmity of the flesh so stifles the reason and the judgment as to blind the sinner. It is of such that Paul speaks when he bids us

"restore in the spirit of meekness those who are overtaken in a fault,” (Galatians 6:1;)

for he does not mean those who are deceived by their good intentions (as they call it,) or rather by their foolish opinion, so as to be unconscious of their sin; but those who fall through the infirmity of their flesh, and whom Satan catches unawares in his snares; or who, at any rate, do not perceive the evil they have done, so as immediately to apply the remedy. This will be more clearly understood from Psalm 19:12, 13, where David, having asked pardon for his errors, seeks to be kept free from presumptuous sins. “A superbiis.” — Lat. “De ses fiertes, et rebellions.” — Fr. The antithesis between שגיאות, shegioth, Lexicographers make no distinction between the approximate roots שגג and שגה. Hence שגיאות, is regarded as meaning the same as the word used in Leviticus 4:2. By זדים, are understood sins committed with a high hand and rebellious spirit. — W. and זדים, zedim, shews that those transgressions are called errors, in which there is no criminal pride against God. “If a soul shall sin — from all the commandments,” A. V., “against any of the commandments.” Ainsworth’s version is, “A soule, when it shall sin through ignorance of all the commandments,” etc.; and his Gloss. “of all, understand, by doing any one of all the commandments. So Moses himself explaineth it in the words here following, and in ver. 13, 22, 27." is a harsh expression; and therefore some refer it to sins of omission, but I interpret it more simply, “If he sin by turning away from the commandments,” or “if he commit any thing opposed (alienum)to the commandments."

3. If the priest that is anointed. He now distinguishes between different persons, and begins with the high priest, who alone bore the high distinction of the holy unction, unless it be thought better to apply it to the whole supreme class. “Sur toute la maison d’Aaron.” — Fr. It is probable, however, that it only refers to one. The more illustrious was his dignity, the more diligently and zealously ought his life to be confirmed to the model of holiness; and therefore the infirmity which was more tolerable in others, was more exceedingly reprehensible in him. This is the reason why it was required that he should atone for himself with a greater victim. But this in some measure related to all the Levites, inasmuch as they were chosen to be of the sacred class; and it now extends to all the ministers and pastors of the Church, not that they should ransom themselves by the sacrifice of a calf, but that they should diligently beware of every sin, and be more intent in their endeavors after holiness. The clause “according to the sin of the people,” might be also rendered “unto the sin,” etc., as though Moses had said that the priest through sin corrupted the people by his bad example; for, since his life is the rule of holiness and righteousness, so his faults give occasion to the errors of others. The sense, however, that I have followed is simpler, i.e., that though the transgression of the priest may be an ordinary one, yet in consideration of his office it becomes more weighty, and deserving of greater punishment.

5. And the priest that is anointed shall take. It is well known that what is here prescribed as to the sprinkling of blood, and its pouring out, as well as to the burning of the fat and the kidneys, is the same as in the other sacrifices; and the comparison in the 10th verse sufficiently proves that, the ordinary forms were observed in other particulars. But inasmuch as it might seem absurd that the priest, who was himself guilty, should come before God to perform the office of reconciliation, it was necessary to prescribe the details more accurately, to obviate all doubt. Although, therefore, he was unworthy to approach God, yet, since the law of the priesthood was inviolable, he was admitted to the discharge of his duties; for it was not lawful that more mediators should be appointed. In order, then, that more reverence should be paid to the rites of the Law, and that men should seek after no other way of reconciliation, God extended His grace to the fault of the priest. The blood was sprinkled before the Lord, that the people might learn that through the sight of the sacrifice sins were hidden and buried, so as to come no more into remembrance before God; but the rest of the blood was poured before the altar, because it was holy, and therefore ought by no means to be cast elsewhere like anything profane.

13. And if the whole congregation. The very same sacrifice which was enjoined on the priest is required of the people; since he who went into the sanctuary in the name of all to present all the tribes before God, represented the whole body. It seems indeed that the kind of ignorance here spoken of is different from the former kind; since it was said “if the thing be hid;” yet I think that these infirmities are comprised, in which it often happens that men are blinded for a time. “D’estre comme estourdis pour un temps, et n’y voir goutte;” are, as it were, stupified for a time, and cannot see a wink. — Fr. For many do not search into themselves, and therefore slumber in their sins; whereas if they honestly examined their doings, their conscience would straightway smite them. It might, then, happen that the whole people should fail to be aware of their sin, whilst dealing with themselves too gently and indulgently. The meaning therefore is, that although no sense of sin should at first arouse them to repentance, yet, if afterwards they should be awakened so as to begin to acknowledge their crime, God must be propitiated by sacrifices; for otherwise the people might make a cloak for themselves of their error.

22. When a ruler hath sinned. A peculiar atonement is also appointed for the transgression of the rulers; and, although he speaks of the ruler in the singular number, yet inasmuch as the law was not yet enacted that one individual should bear rule, he undoubtedly designates the heads and governors generally, because they who bear rule do more injury by their bad example than private persons. If, then, any of the judges or governors had sinned through error, he might indeed be set free by a lesser victim than the priest or the whole people, yet there was individually this difference between them, that they were to offer she-goats or lambs, and the ruler a he-goat; and the object of this was that those in authority should more carefully keep themselves pure from every transgression, whereas otherwise they are wont to indulge themselves more freely, as if their rank and dignity allowed them greater license. Where we have given as our translation, “If (the sin) shall have become known,” (si innotuerit,) translators are not agreed. Instead of this and the following sentences, the Fr. says, “Les expositeurs font bien ici quelques difficultez literales, mais pource que la deduction ne serviroit rien a ceux, qui ne sont point lettrez, je les passe.” Commentators certainly make some literal difficulties here, but since the statement of them would be useless to the unlearned, I pass them by. The word used is properly a disjunctive particle Or; או, Or. Noldius, in his Concord. particularum, cites instances, such as 1 Samuel 20:10, in which this conjunction is equivalent to If. אשם is that last word of ver. 22 which S.M. has rendered deliquerit; but A. V. more happily, is guilty, הודע, says S.M., is here used for נודע, the niphal of ידע, but it is simpler to regard it as a not unusual variation of הורע, the hophal, strictly meaning, caused to become known. — W. but it is sometimes used for the conditional particle, as we shall see in the next chapter. Those who retain the primary and genuine meaning of the word do violence to the signification of the last word of the foregoing verse, and translate it, “shall have offended” instead of “shall have felt that he has offended;” but since it appears from many passages that או, o, is equivalent to אם, im, there is no need of wresting the words to an improper sense. The word הודע, hodang, which they render transitively “to make known,” may fitly bear my translation, unless this is preferred, “if he shall have known,” (si cognoverit) The words which Moses continually repeats, “the priest shall make an atonement for him, and his; iniquity shall be forgiven him,” some coldly restrict to external and civil cleansing, as if Moses only removed his condemnation before men; but God rather offers pardon to sinners, and assures them that He will be favorable to them, lest fear or doubt should prevent them from freely calling upon Him. And assuredly those who do not acknowledge that the legal rites were sacraments, are not acquainted with the very rudiments of the faith. Now to all sacraments, at any rate to the common sacraments of the Church, a spiritual promise is annexed: it follows, therefore, that pardon was truly promised to the fathers, who reconciled themselves to God by the offering of sacrifices, not because the slaying of beasts expiated sins, but because it was a certain and infallible symbol, in which pious minds might acquiesce, so as to dare to come before God with tranquil confidence. In sum, as now in baptism sins are sacramentally washed away, so under the Law also the sacrifices were means of expiation, though in a different way; since baptism sets Christ before us as if He were present, whilst under the Law He was only obscurely typified. Figuratively indeed what applies to Christ only is transferred to the signs, for in Him alone was manifested to us the fulfillment of all spiritual blessings, and He at length blotted out sins by His one and perpetual sacrifice; but since the question here is not as to the value of the legal ceremonies in themselves, let it suffice that they truly testified of the grace of God, of which they were the types; and so let not that profane imagination be listened to, that the sacrifices only politically and as far as regarded men absolved those by whom they were offered from guilt and condemnation.

Numbers 15

Numbers 15:22-29

22. And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses,

22. Quum erraveritis, et non feceritis onmia praecepta haec quae protulit Jehova ad Mosen.

23. Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;

23. Omnia quae praecepit Jehova vobis per manum Mosis a die qua praecepit Jehova et postea per generationes vestras.

24. Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.

24. Si inquam a congregatione procter scientiam allquid factum fluerit per errorera, immolabit universa congregatio juvencum unum filium bovis, in holocaustum in odorera quietis Jehovae, minha quoque ejus, et libamen ejus, secundum regulam, et hircum caprarum unum, in sacrificium pro peccato.

25. And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:

25. Expiabitque sacerdos universam congregationem filiorum Israel, et ignoscetur els, quia error est, et illic offerent oblationem suam, oblationem ignitam Jehovae, et oblationem pro peccato suo, coram Jehova, propter errorera ipsorum.

26. And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojurneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.

26. Et condonabitur universae congregationi filiorum Israel, et peregrino qui peregrinabitur in medio illorum: quia universi populi error est.

27. And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering.

27. Quod si anima una peccaverit per errorem, offeret capram anniculam sacrificium pro peccato.

28. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.

28. Expiabitque sacerdos animam quae peccaverit per errorem, quum peccaverit per errorera coram Jehova: expiabit eam, et remittetur ei.

29. Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

29. Indigence inter filios Israel, et peregrino qui peregrinatur inter illos, lex una erit vobis quoad eum qui fecerit per errorem.

CHAPTER 4

Le 4:1, 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."

Le 4:3-35. 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 [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 He 13:12, 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 [Le 4:22-26]. 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 [Le 4:6, 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 (He 9:13, 14); and they were figurative representations of the full and perfect sin offering which was to be made by Christ.

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. He who, when his iniquity comes to his knowledge, refuses to offer such a sacrifice, sins obstinately and wilfully, and to him there remains no other sacrifice for sin - no other mode by which he can be reconciled to God, but he has a certain fearful looking for of judgment - which shall devour such adversaries; and this seems the case to which the apostle alludes, Heb 10:26, etc., in the words above quoted. There have been a great number of subtle questions started on this subject, both by Jews and Christians, but the above I believe to be the sense and spirit of the law.

If the priest that is anointed - Meaning, most probably, the high priest. According to the sin of the people; for although he had greater advantages than the people could have, in being more conversant with the law of God, and his lips should understand and preserve knowledge, yet it was possible even for him, in that time in which the word of God had not been fully revealed, to transgress through ignorance; and his transgression might have the very worst tendency, because the people might be thereby led into sin. Hence several critics understand this passage in this way, and translate it thus: If the anointed priest shall lead the people to sin; or, literally, if the anointed priest shall sin to the sin of the people; that is, so as to cause the people to transgress, the shepherd going astray, and the sheep following after him.

Lay his hand upon the bullock's head - See Clarke's note on Lev 1:4.

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.

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. The apostle (Heb 13:11-13) applies this in the most pointed manner to Christ: "For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach."

If the whole congregation of Israel sin - This probably refers to some oversight in acts of religious worship, or to some transgression of the letter of the law, which arose out of the peculiar circumstances in which they were then found, such as the case mentioned 1Sam 14:32, etc., where the people, through their long and excessive fatigue in their combat with the Philistines, being faint, flew on the spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground, and did eat with the blood; and this was partly occasioned by the rash adjuration of Saul, mentioned 1Sam 14:24 : Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening.

The sacrifices and rites in this case were the same as those prescribed in the preceding, only here the elders of the congregation, i. e., three of the Sanhedrin, according to Maimonides, laid their hands on the head of the victim in the name of all the congregation.

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.

The common people - עם הארץ am haarets, the people of the land, that is, any individual who was not a priest, king, or ruler among the people; any of the poor or ordinary sort. Any of these, having transgressed through ignorance, was obliged to bring a lamb or a kid, the ceremonies being nearly the same as in the preceding cases. The original may denote the very lowest of the people, the laboring or agricultural classes.

The law relative to the general cases of sins committed through ignorance, and the sacrifices to be offered on such occasions, so amply detailed in this chapter, may be thus recapitulated. For all sins and transgressions of this kind committed by the people, the prince, and the priest, they must offer expiatory offerings. The person so sinning must bring the sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle, and lay his hands upon its head, as in a case already referred to, acknowledging the sacrifice to be his, that he needed it for his transgression; and thus he was considered as confessing his sin, and the sin was considered as transferred to the animal, whose blood was then spilt to make an atonement. See Clarke on Lev 1:4 (note). Such institutions as these could not be considered as terminating in themselves, they necessarily had reference to something of infinitely higher moment; in a word, they typified Him whose soul was made an offering for sin, Isa 53:10. And taken out of this reference they seem both absurd and irrational. It is obviously in reference to these innocent creatures being brought as sin-offerings to God for the guilty that St. Paul alludes 2Cor 5:21, where he says, He (God) made him to be sin (ἁμαρτιαν, a sin-offering) for us Who Knew No Sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God - holy and pure by the power and grace of God, in or through him. And it is worthy of remark, that the Greek word used by the apostle is the same by which the Septuagint, in more than fourscore places in the Pentateuch, translate the Hebrew word הטאה hattaah, sin, which in all those places our translation renders sin-offering. Even sins of ignorance cannot be unnoticed by a strict and holy law; these also need the great atonement: on which account we should often pray with David, Cleanse thou me from secret faults! Psa 19:12. How little attention is paid to this solemn subject! Sins of this kind - sins committed sometimes ignorantly, and more frequently heedlessly, are permitted to accumulate in their number, and consequently in their guilt; and from this very circumstance we may often account for those painful desertions, as they are called, under which many comparatively good people labor. They have committed sins of ignorance or heedlessness, and have not offered the sacrifice which can alone avail in their behalf. How necessary in ten thousand cases is the following excellent prayer! "That it may please thee to give us true repentance; to forgive us all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, to amend our lives according to thy Holy Word." - Litany.

The Lord spake unto Moses - The laws contained in the three first chapters, seem to have been delivered to Moses at one time. Here begin the laws of another day, which God delivered from between the Cherubim.

If a soul sin - This must necessarily be understood of more than common daily infirmities; for if every such sin had required an offering, it had not been possible either for most sinners to bear such a charge, or for the altar to receive so many sacrifices, or for the priests to manage so infinite a work. And for ordinary sins, they were ceremonially expiated by the daily offering, and by that on the great day of atonement, Lev 16:30. Through ignorance - Or, error, either not knowing his act to be sinful, as appears by comparing Lev 4:13,14, or not considering it, but falling into sin thro' the power of some sudden passion or temptation, as the Hebrew word signifies, Psa 119:67. Things which ought not to be done - The words may be rendered, in or about every, or any of the commandments of the Lord which should not be done; or, which concern things that should not be done, namely, in any negative commands. (And there is great reason why a sacrifice should be more necessary for these, than for other sins, because affirmative precepts do not so strictly and constantly bind men as the negative do.) Then he shall offer according to his quality, which is here to be understood out of the following verses.

If the priest - That is, the high - priest, who only was anointed after the first time. His anointing is mentioned, because he was not compleat high - priest 'till he was anointed. Do sin - Either in doctrine or practice, which it is here supposed he may do. And this is noted as a character of imperfection in the priesthood of the law, whereby the Israelites were directed to expect another and better high - priest, even one who is holy, harmless, and separate from sinners, Heb 7:26. According to the sin of the people - In the same manner as any of the people do; which implies that God expected more circumspection from him, than from the people. But the words may be rendered, to the sin or guilt of the people, which may be mentioned as an aggrevation of his sin, that by it he commonly brings sin, and guilt, and punishment upon the people, who are infected or scandalized by his example. A young bullock - The same sacrifice which was offered for all the people, to shew how much his sin was aggravated by his quality. Sin - offering - Heb. sin, which word is oft taken in that sense.

On the head - To testify both his acknowledgment of his sin, and faith in God's promise for the expiation of his sins through Christ, whom that sacrifice typified. Kill the bullock - By one of the priests, whom he should cause to do it.

To the tabernacle - Into the tabernacle; which was not required nor allowed in any other sacrifice, possibly to shew the greatness of the high - priest's sin, which needed more than ordinary diligence in him, and favour from God to expiate it.

Seven times - A number much used in scripture, as a number of perfection; and here prescribed, either to shew that his sins needed more then ordinary purgation, and more exercise of his faith and repentance, both which graces he was obliged to join with that ceremonial rite. Before the veil - The second veil dividing between the holy of holies, which is generally called the veil of the sanctuary.

All the blood - All the rest; for part was disposed elsewhere.

The whole bullock - So no part of this was to be eaten by the priests, as it was in other sin - offerings. The reason is plain, because the offerer might not eat of his own sin - offering, and the priest was the offerer in this case, as also in the sin - offering for the whole congregation below, of which the priest himself was a member. Shall be carried forth - Not himself, which would have defiled him, but by another whom he shall appoint for that work. Without the camp - To signify either, The abominable nature of sin, especially in high and holy persons, or when it overspreads a whole people. Or, The removing of the guilt or punishment of that sin from the people. Or, That Christ should suffer without the camp or gate. Where the ashes are - For the ashes, though at first they were thrown down near the altar, Lev 1:16, yet afterwards they, together with the filth of the sacrifices, were carried into a certain place without the camp.

The whole congregation - The body of the people, or the greater part of them, their rulers concurring with them.

A bullock - But if the sin of the congregation was only the omission of some ceremonial duty, a kid of the goats was to be offered, Num 15:24.

The elders - Who here acted in the name of all the people, who could not possibly perform this act in their own persons.

And sprinkle it - It was not to be poured out there, but sprinkled only; for the cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ was sufficiently represented by sprinkling. It was sprinkled seven times: seven is a number of perfection; because God made the world in six days, and rested the seventh. This signified the perfect satisfaction Christ made, and the compleat cleansing of our souls thereby.

The altar - Of incense: Which is before the Lord - That is, before the holy of holies, where the Lord was in a more special manner present.

For a sin - offering - That is, for the priest's sin - offering, called the first bullock, Lev 4:21.

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.

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.

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.

He shall slay it - Not by himself, but by the hands of the priest.

Burn them - The fat; but he useth the plural number, because the fat was of several kinds, as we saw Lev 4:8,9, Heb. upon the offerings, together with them, or after them; because the burnt - offerings were to have the first place.

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD (concerning things which ought not to be done) c and shall do against any of them :

This must necessarily be understood of more than common sins and daily infirmities, for if every such sin had required an offering, it had not been possible either for most sinners to bear such a charge, or for the altar to receive so many sacrifices, or for the Priests to manage so infinite a work. And for ordinary sins, they were ceremonially expiated by the daily offering, and by that on the great day of atonement, Levit. 16. 30.

Or, errour, either not knowing his fact to be sinful, as appears by comparing, ver. 13▪ 14. or not considering it, but rashly and unadvisedly falling into sin through the power of some sudden passion or temptation, as the Hebrew word signifies, Psal. 119. 67. Compare. Iob 19. 4. Psal. 19. 13. The words may be thus rendred, in or about every or any of the commandements of the Lord which should not be done, or, which concern things that should not be done, to wit, in any negative commands. And there is great reason why a sacrifice should be more necessary for these than for other sins, because affirmative precepts do not so strictly and constantly bind men as the negative do, and if a man through ignorance have neglected them, he may yet recover his errour, and fulfil them.

Then he shall offer according to his quality, which is here to be understood, out of the following verses.

Marginal references: Num. 15. 24▪; Heb. shall not be done.

3 If the Priest that is anointed , do sin according to the sin of the people , then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish, unto the LORD for a sin-offering .

(i. e.) The High-priest, who onely was anointed after the first time. See Exod. 29. 7. and 30. 30. and 40. 15. Lev. 10. 7. Numb. 3. 3. His anointing is mentioned, because he was not compleat High-priest till he was anointed.

Either in doctrine or practise, which it is here supposed he may do. And this is noted as a blot and character of imperfection in the Priesthood of the law, whereby the Israelites were directed to expect another and better High-priest, even one who is holy, harmless and separate from sinners, Heb. 7. 26.

In the same manner as any of the people do: which implies that God expected more circumspection and care from him than from the people. But the words may be rendred, to the sin or guilt of the people, which may be mentioned as a reason of the law, and an aggravation of his sin, that by it he commonly brings sin and guilt and punishment upon the people, who are infected or scandalized by his example.

The same sacrifice, which was offered for all the people, to shew how much his sin was aggravated by his quality.

Heb. sin, Which word is oft taken in that sence, as Exod. 29. 14.

Marginal references: chap. 9. 2.

4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation before the LORD, and shall lay his hand upon the bullocks head , and kill the bullock , before the LORD

To testify both his acknowledgment of his sin, and his faith in Gods promise for the expiation of his sins, through Christ, whom that sacrifice typified.

To wit, by one of the Priests, whom he shall cause to do it, for this Priest is distinguished from the anointed Priest, ver. 5.

5 And the Priest that is anointed shall take of the bullocks bloud, and bring it to the Tabernacle of the congregation n.

m Into the tabernacle: which was not required nor allowed in any other sacrifice, possibly to shew the greatness of the Fligh-priests sin, which needed more than ordinary diligence in him and favour from God to expiate it.

6 And the Priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times n before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary.

To wit, the second vail, dividing between the Holy of holies, which is generally called by the name here used, as Exod. 26. 31, &c. and 35. 12. and 40. 3, 21. Numb. 4. 5.

m A number much used in Scripture, as a number of perfection; and here prescribed, either to shew that his sins needed more than ordinary purgation, and more frequent and manifest exercises of his faith and repentance, both which graces he was obliged to joyn with that ceremonial rite.

7 And the Priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Which altar▪ for the altar of burnt-ofterings was without the Tabernacle.

So also below ver. 18, 30, 34. to wit, all the rest, as it is expressed Lev. 5. 9. for part was disposed elsewhere.

12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp , unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out , and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out, shall he be burnt.

So no part of this was to be eaten by the Priests, as it was in other sin-offerings, Levit. 6. 26. The reason is plain, because the offerer might not eat of his own sin-offering, and the Priest was the offerer in this case, as also in the sin-offering for the whole congregation below ver. 21. of which the priest himself was a member.

Not himself, which would have defiled him, but by another whom he shall appoint for that work, as may be gathered from Levit. 16. 27, 28.

To signifie, either 1. the horrible and abominable nature of sin, especially in high and holy persons, or when it overspreads a whole people. or 2. the removing of the guilt and punishment of that sin from the people, and their duty of keeping such wickedness out of the camp for time to come. or 3. that Christ should suffer without the camp or gate, as he did. See Heb. 13. 11, 12.

For the ashes, though at first they were thrown down near the Altar, Levit. 1. 16. yet afterwards they, together with the filth of the sacrifices, were carried into a certain place without the camp, See Lev. 6. 10, 11.

Marginal references: Heb. to without the camp.; Heb. at the pouring out of the ashes.

13 And if the whole Congregation of Israel t sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD, concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty:

* The body of the people, or the greater part of them, their rulers concurring with them.

Marginal references: chap. 5. 2, 3, 4.

14 When the sin which they have sinned against it is known, then the Congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

Against any one of the said commandments.

But if the sin of the congregation was onely the omission of some ceremonial duty, a kid of the goats was to be offered, Numb. 15. 24.

15 And the Elders of the Congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock, before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.

(i. e.) The Rulers of the people, of whom see Exod. 3. 16. and 24. 1. who here acted in the name of all the people, who could not possibly perform this act in their own persons.

18 And he shall put some of the bloud upon the horns of the altar, which is before the LORD , that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

That is, before the Holy of holies, where the Lord was in a more special manner present, namely, the altar of incense, as before ver. 7.

20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin-offering , so shall he do with this: and the Priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

To wit, for the Priests sin-offering, called the first bullock, ver. 21.

Marginal references: Ver. 3.

22 When a Ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God, concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty:

To wit, of the people, or a civil Magistrate.

Either not knowing it to be sin, or not observing and considering it, till it be done. See before on ver. 2.

23 Or if his sin wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish.

The disjunctive, or, is here put for the copulative, and, as it is, 1 Cor. 12. 13. and 13. 8. and 15. 11. For it is evident, that he speaks of the same person, and of the same sin.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word].

24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt-offering before the LORD: it is a sin-offering .

So called by way of eminency, to wit, the daily burnt-offering, of which Exod. 29. 38. of which place see Lev. 1. 11.

And therefore to be killed where the burnt-offering is killed, as is expressed, Lev. 6. 25. and 7. 2. Whereby it is distinguished from the peace-offerings, which were killed elsewhere, Lev. 3. 2.

26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peaceofferings: and the Priest shall make an atonement for him, as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him .

Both ceremonially and judicially, as to all ecclesiastical censures or civil punishments, and really, upon condition of their repentance and faith in the Messias to come.

Marginal references: chap. 3. 5.

27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doth somewhat against any one of the commandments of the LORD, concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty:

Whether Israelites, or strangers embodied with them and proselytes, for both were under one and the same law, Exod. 12. 49. Numb. 15. 16.

Marginal references: Num. 15. 27.; Heb. any soul.; Or, people of [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

28 Or if his sin which he hath sinned come to his knowledg: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.

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, ver. 21.

Marginal references: Or, And.

33 And he shall lay his hand upon [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of the sin-offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt-offering.

To wit, the offerer.

Not by himself but by the hands of the Priest.

35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace-offerings: and the Priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire m unto the LORD; and the Priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

(i. e.) The fat, but he useth the plural number, because the fat was of several kinds, as we saw ver. 8, 9. Heb. upon them, together with them, or after them, because the burnt-offerings were to have the first place. See on chap. 3. 5.

Lev 4:1

The Expiatory Sacrifices. - The sacrifices treated of in ch. 1-3 are introduced by their names, as though already known, for the purpose of giving them a legal sanction. But in ch. 4 and 5 sacrifices are appointed for different offences, which receive their names for the first time from the objects to which they apply, i.e., from the sin, or the trespass, or debt to be expiated by them: viz., חטּאת sin, i.e., sin-offering (Lev 4:3, Lev 4:8, Lev 4:14, Lev 4:19, etc.), and אשׁם debt, i.e., debt-offering (Lev 5:15-16, Lev 5:19); - a clear proof that the sin and debt-offerings were introduced at the same time as the Mosaic law. The laws which follow are distinguished from the preceding ones by the new introductory formula in Lev 4:1-2, which is repeated in Lev 5:14. This repetition proves that Lev 4:2-5:13 treats of the sin-offerings, and Lev 5:14-19 of the trespass-offerings; and this is confirmed by the substance of the two series of laws.

Lev 4:2-13

The Sin-Offerings. - The ritual prescribed for these differed, with regard to the animals sacrificed, the sprinkling of the blood, and the course adopted with the flesh, according to the position which the person presenting them happened to occupy in the kingdom of God. The classification of persons was as follows: (1) the anointed priest (Lev 4:2-12); (2) the whole congregation of Israel (Lev 5:13 -21); (3) the prince (vv. 22-26); (4) the common people (v. 27- Lev 5:13). In the case of the last, regard was also paid to their circumstances; so that the sin-offerings could be regulated according to the ability of the offerer, especially for the lighter forms of sin (Lev 5:1-13). Lev 4:2 “If a soul sin in wandering from any (מכּל in a partitive sense) of the commandments of Jehovah, which ought not to be done, and do any one of them” (מאחת with מן partitive, cf. Lev 4:13, Lev 4:22, Lev 4:27, lit., anything of one). This sentence, which stands at the head of the laws for the sin-offerings, shows that the sin-offerings did not relate to sin or sinfulness in general, but to particular manifestations of sin, to certain distinct actions performed by individuals, or by the whole congregation. The distinguishing characteristic of the sin is expressed by the term בּשׁגגה (in error). No sins but those committed בּשׁגגה could be expiated by sin-offerings; whilst those committed with a high hand were to be punished by the extermination of the sinner (Num 15:27-31). שׁגגה, from שׁגג = שׁגה to wander or go wrong, signifies mistake, error, oversight. But sinning “in error” is not merely sinning through ignorance (Lev 4:13, Lev 4:22, Lev 4:27, Lev 5:18), hurry, want of consideration, or carelessness (Lev 5:1, Lev 5:4, Lev 5:15), but also sinning unintentionally (Num 35:11, Num 35:15, Num 35:22-23); hence all such sins as spring from the weakness of flesh and blood, as distinguished from sins committed with a high (elevated) hand, or in haughty, defiant rebellion against God and His commandments. Lev 4:3-12 The sin of the high priest. - The high priest is here called the “anointed priest” (Lev 4:3, Lev 4:5, Lev 4:16, Lev 6:15) on account of the completeness of the anointing with which he was consecrated to his office (Lev 8:12); in other places he is called the great (or high) priest (Lev 21:10; Num 35:25, etc.), and by later writers הראשׁ כּהן, the priest the head, or head priest (2Ki 25:18; 2Ch 19:11). If he sinned העם לאשׁמת, “to the sinning of the nation,” i.e., in his official position as representative of the nation before the Lord, and not merely in his own personal relation to God, he was to offer for a sin-offering because of his sin an ox without blemish, the largest of all the sacrificial animals, because he filled the highest post in Israel.

Lev 4:4-7

The presentation, laying on of hands, and slaughtering, were the same as in the case of the other sacrifices (Lev 1:3-5). The first peculiarity occurs in connection with the blood (Lev 4:5-7). The anointed priest was to take (a part) of the blood and carry it into the tabernacle, and having dipped his finger in it, to sprinkle some of it seven times before Jehovah “in the face of the vail of the Holy” (Exo 26:31), i.e., in the direction towards the curtain; after that, he was to put (נתן) some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of incense, and then to pour out the great mass of the blood, of which only a small portion had been used for sprinkling and smearing upon the horns of the altar, at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering. A sevenfold sprinkling “in the face of the vail” also took place in connection with the sin-offering for the whole congregation, as well as with the ox and he-goat which the high priest offered as sin-offerings on the day of atonement for himself, the priesthood, and the congregation, when the blood was sprinkled seven times before (לפני) the capporeth (Lev 16:14), and seven times upon the horns of the altar (Lev 16:18-19). So too the blood of the red cow, that was slaughtered as a sin-offering outside the camp, was sprinkled seven times in the direction towards the tabernacle (Num 19:4). The sevenfold sprinkling at the feast of atonement had respect to the purification of the sanctuary from the blemishes caused by the sins of the people, with which they had been defiled in the course of the year (see at ch. 16), and did not take place till after the blood had been sprinkled once “against (? upon) the capporeth in front” for the expiation of the sin of the priesthood and people, and the horns of the altar had been smeared with the blood (Lev 16:14, Lev 16:18); whereas in the sin-offerings mentioned in this chapter, the sevenfold sprinkling preceded the application of the blood to the horns of the altar. This difference in the order of succession of the two manipulations with the blood leads to the conclusion, that in the case before us the sevenfold sprinkling had a different signification from that which it had on the day atonement, and served as a preliminary and introduction to the expiation. The blood also was not sprinkled upon the altar of the holy place, but only before Jehovah, against the curtain behind which Jehovah was enthroned, that is to say, only into the neighbourhood of the gracious presence of God; and this act was repeated seven times, that in the number seven, as the stamp of the covenant, the covenant relation, which sin had loosened, might be restored. It was not till after this had been done, that the expiatory blood of the sacrifice was put upon the horns of the altar, - not merely sprinkled or swung against the wall of the altar, but smeared upon the horns of the altar; not, however, that the blood might thereby be brought more prominently before the eyes of God, or lifted up into His more immediate presence, as Hoffmann and Knobel suppose, but because the significance of the altar, as the scene of the manifestation of the divine grace and salvation, culminated in the horns, as the symbols of power and might. In the case of the sin-offerings for the high priest and the congregation, the altar upon which this took place was not the altar of burnt-offering in the court, but the altar of incense in the holy place; because both the anointed priest, by virtue of his calling and consecration as the mediator between the nation and the Lord, and the whole congregation, by virtue of its election as a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:6), were to maintain communion with the covenant God in the holy place, the front division of the dwelling-place of Jehovah, and were thus received into a closer relation of fellowship with Jehovah than the individual members of the nation, for whom the court with its altar was the divinely appointed place of communion with the covenant God. The remainder of the blood, which had not been used in the act of expiation, was poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering, as the holy place to which all the sacrificial blood was to be brought, that it might be received into the earth.

Lev 4:8-10

The priest was to lift off “all the fat” from the sacrificial animal, i.e., the same fat portions as in the peace-offering (Lev 3:3-4, כּל־חלב is the subject to יוּרם in Lev 3:10), and burn it upon the altar of burnt-offering.

Lev 4:11-12

The skin of the bullock, and all the flesh, together with the head and the shank and the entrails (Lev 1:9) and the foeces, in fact the whole bullock, was to be carried out by him (the sacrificing priest) to a clean place before the camp, to which the ashes of the sacrifices were carried from the ash-heap (Lev 1:16), and there burnt on the wood with fire. (On the construction of Lev 4:11 and Lev 4:12 see Ges. §145, 2).

The different course, adopted with the blood and flesh of the sin-offerings, from that prescribed in the ritual of the other sacrifices, was founded upon the special signification of these offerings. As they were presented to effect the expiation of sins, the offerer transferred the consciousness of sin and the desire for forgiveness to the head of the animal that had been brought in his stead, by the laying on of his hand; and after this the animal was slaughtered, and suffered death for him as the wages of sin. But as sin is not wiped out by the death of the sinner, unless it be forgiven by the grace of God, so devoting to death an animal laden with sin rendered neither a real nor symbolical satisfaction or payment for sin, by which the guilt of it could be wiped away; but the death which it endured in the sinner’s stead represented merely the fruit and effect of sin. To cover the sinner from the holiness of God because of his sin, some of the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled seven times before Jehovah in the holy place; and the covenant fellowship, which had been endangered, was thereby restored. After this, however, the soul, which was covered in the sacrificial blood, was given up to the grace of God that prevailed in the altar, by means of the sprinkling of the blood upon the horns of the altar of incense, that it might receive the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God, and the full enjoyment of the blessings of the covenant be ensured to it once more. But the sin, that had been laid upon the animal of the sin-offering, lay upon it still. The next thing done, therefore, was to burn the fat portions of its inside upon the altar of burnt-offering. Now, if the flesh of the victim represented the body of the offerer as the organ of his soul, the fat portions inside the body, together with the kidneys, which were regarded as the seat of the tenderest and deepest emotions, can only have set forth the better part or inmost kernel of the man, the ἔσω ἄνθρωπος (Rom 7:22; Eph 3:16). By burning the fat portions upon the altar, the better part of human nature was given up in symbol to the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit of God, that it might be purified from the dross of sin, and ascend in its glorified essence to heaven, for a sweet savour unto the Lord (Lev 4:31). The flesh of the sin-offering, however, or “the whole bullock,” was then burned in a clean place outside the camp, though not merely that it might be thereby destroyed in a clean way, like the flesh provided for the sacrificial meals, which had not been consumed at the time fixed by the law (Lev 7:17; Lev 8:32; Lev 19:6; Exo 12:10; Exo 29:34), or the flesh of the sacrifices, which had been defiled by contact with unclean objects (Lev 7:19); for if the disposal of the flesh formed an integral part of the sacrificial ceremony in the case of all the other sacrifices, and if, in the case of the sin-offerings, the blood of which was not brought into the interior of the sanctuary, the priests were to eat the flesh in a holy place, and that not “as a portion assigned to them by God as an honourable payment,” but, according to the express declaration of Moses, “to bear and take away (לשׂאת) the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them” (Lev 10:17), the burning of the flesh of the sin-offerings, i.e., of the animal itself, the blood of which was not brought into the holy place, cannot have been without significance, or simply the means adopted to dispose of it in a fitting manner, but must also have formed one factor in the ceremony of expiation. The burning outside the camp was rendered necessary, because the sacrifice had respect to the expiation of the priesthood, and the flesh or body of the bullock, which had been made חטּאת by the laying on of the hand, could not be eaten by the priests as the body of sin, that by the holiness of their official character they might bear and expiate the sin imputed to the sacrifice (see at Lev 10:17). In this case it was necessary that it should be given up to the effect of sin, viz., to death or destruction by fire, and that outside the camp; in other words, outside the kingdom of God, from which everything dead was removed. But, inasmuch as it was sacrificial flesh, and therefore most holy by virtue of its destination; in order that it might not be made an abomination, it was not to be burned in an unclean place, where carrion and other abominations were thrown (Lev 14:40, Lev 14:45), but in the clean place, outside the camp, to which the ashes of the altar of burnt-offering were removed, as being the earthly sediment and remains of the sacrifices that had ascended to God in the purifying flames of the altar-fire.The most holy character of the flesh of the sin-offering (Lev 6:18.) furnishes no valid argument against the correctness of this explanation of the burning; for, in the first place, there is an essential difference between real or inherent sin, and sin imputed or merely transferred; and secondly, the flesh of the sin-offering was called most holy, not in a moral, but only in a liturgical or ritual sense, as subservient to the most holy purpose of wiping away sin; on which account it was to be entirely removed from all appropriation to earthly objects. Moreover, the idea that sin was imputed to the sin-offering, that it was made sin by the laying on of the hand, has a firm basis in the sacrifice of the red cow (Num 19), and also occurs among the Greeks (see Oehler in Herzog’s Cycl.).

Lev 4:13-19

Sin of the whole congregation. - This is still further defined, as consisting in the fact that the thing was hid (נעלּם)In the correct editions נעלּם has dagesh both here and in Lev 5:2, Lev 5:4, as Delitzsch informs me, according to an old rule in pointing, which required that every consonant which followed a syllable terminating with a guttural should be pointed with dagesh, if the guttural was to be read with a quiescent sheva and not with chateph. This is the case in ויּאסּר in Gen 46:29; Exo 14:6, תּעלּים in Psa 10:1, and other words in the critical edition of the Psalter which has been carefully revised by Bδr according to the Masora, and published with an introduction by Delitzsch. In other passages, such as בּכל־לּבּי Psa 9:2, על־לּשׁנו Psa 15:3, etc., the dagesh is introduced to prevent the second letter from being lost in the preceding one through the rapidity of reading. - Ewald's conjectures and remarks about this “dagesh, which is found in certain MSS,” is a proof that he was not acquainted with this rule which the Masora recognises. from the eyes of the congregation, i.e., that it was a sin which was not known to be such, an act which really violated a commandment of God, though it was not looked upon as sin. Every transgression of a divine command, whether it took place consciously or unconsciously, brought guilt, and demanded a sin-offering for its expiation; and this was to be presented as soon as the sin was known. The sin-offering, which the elders had to offer in the name of the congregation, was to consist of a young ox, and was to be treated like that of the high priest (Lev 4:14-23 compared with Lev 4:3-12), inasmuch as “the whole congregation” included the priesthood, or at any rate was on an equality with the priesthood by virtue of its calling in relation to the Lord. חטא with על signifies to incur guilt upon (on the foundation of) sin (Lev 5:5, etc.); it is usually construed with an accusative (Lev 4:3, Lev 4:28; Lev 5:6, Lev 5:10, etc.), or with בּ, to sin with a sin (Lev 4:23; Gen 42:22). The subject of ושׁחט (Lev 4:15) is one of the elders. “The bullock for a sin-offering:” sc., the one which the anointed priest offered for his sin, or as it is briefly and clearly designated in Lev 4:21, “the former bullock” (Lev 4:12).

Lev 4:20-21

“And let the priest make an atonement for them, that it may be forgiven them,” or, “so will they be forgiven.” This formula recurs with all the sin-offerings (with the exception of the one for the high priest), viz., Lev 4:26, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35, Lev 5:10, Lev 5:13; Num 15:25-26, Num 15:28; also with the trespass-offerings, Lev 5:16, Lev 5:18; Lev 19:22, - the only difference being, that in the sin-offerings presented for defilements cleansing is mentioned, instead of forgiveness, as the effect of the atoning sacrifice (Lev 12:7-8; Lev 13:20, Lev 13:53; Num 8:21).

The sin of a ruler. - Lev 4:22. אשׁר: ὅτε, when. נשׂיא is the head of a tribe, or of a division of a tribe (Num 3:24, Num 3:30, Num 3:35).

Lev 4:23-26

“If (או, see Ges. §155, 2) his sin is made known to him,” i.e., if any one called his attention to the fact that he had transgressed a commandment of God, he was to bring a he-goat without blemish, and, having laid his hand upon it, to slay it at the place of burnt-offering; after which the priest was to put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of burnt-offering, and pour out the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar, and then to burn the whole of the fat upon the altar, as in the case of the peaceoffering (see Lev 3:3-4), and thus to make atonement for the prince on account of his sin. עזים שׂעיר, or שׂעיר alone (lit., hairy, shaggy, Gen 27:11), is the buck-goat, which is frequently mentioned as the animal sacrificed as a sin-offering: e.g., that of the tribe-princes (Num 7:16., Lev 15:24), and that of the nation at the yearly festivals (Lev 16:9, Lev 16:15; Lev 23:19; Num 28:15, Num 28:22, Num 28:30; Num 29:5, Num 29:16.) and at the consecration of the tabernacle (Lev 9:3, Lev 9:15; Lev 10:16). It is distinguished in Num 7:16. from the attudim, which were offered as peace-offerings, and frequently occur in connection with oxen, rams, and lambs as burnt-offerings and thank-offerings (Psa 50:9, Psa 50:13; Psa 66:15; Isa 1:11; Isa 34:6; Eze 39:18). According to Knobel, עזים שׂעיר, or שׂעיר, was an old he-goat, the hair of which grew longer with age, particularly about the neck and back, and עזים שׂעירת (Lev 4:28; Lev 5:16) an old she-goat; whilst עתּוּד was the younger he-goat, which leaped upon the does (Gen 31:10, Gen 31:12), and served for slaughtering like lambs, sheep, and goats (Deu 32:14; Jer 51:40). But as the עזים שׂעיר was also slaughtered for food (Gen 37:31), and the skins of quite young he-goats are called שׂעירת (Gen 27:23), the difference between שׂעיר and עתּוּד is hardly to be sought in the age, but more probably, as Bochart supposes, in some variety of species, in which case seir and seirak might denote the rough-haired, shaggy kind of goat, and attud the buck-goat of stately appearance.

Lev 4:27-35

In the case of the sin of a common Israelite (“of the people of the land,” i.e., of the rural population, Gen 23:7), that is to say, of an Israelite belonging to the people, as distinguished from the chiefs who ruled over the people (2Ki 11:18-19; 2Ki 16:15), the sin-offering was to consist of a shaggy she-goat without blemish, or a ewe-sheep (Lev 4:32). The ceremonial in both cases was the same as with the he-goat (Lev 4:23.). - “According to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord” (Lev 4:35): see at Lev 3:5.

Law of the Sin-Offering. (b. c. 1490.)

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: 3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. 4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord ; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord . 5 And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: 6 And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord , before the vail of the sanctuary. 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord , which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8 And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 9 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away, 10 As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. 11 And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, 12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.

The laws contained in the first three chapters seem to have been delivered to Moses at one time. Here begin the statutes of another session, another day. From the throne of glory between the cherubim God delivered these orders. And he enters now upon a subject more strictly new than those before. Burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, and peace-offerings, it should seem, had been offered before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai; those sacrifices the patriarchs had not been altogether unacquainted with (Gen. viii. 20; Exod. xx. 24), and in them they had respect to sin, to make atonement for it, Job i. 5. But the law being now added because of transgressions (Gal. iii. 19), and having entered, that eventually the offence might abound (Rom. v. 20), they were put into a way of making atonement for sin more particularly by sacrifice, which was (more than any of the ceremonial institutions) a shadow of good things to come, but the substance is Christ, and that one offering of himself by which he put away sin and perfected for ever those who are sanctified.

I. The general case supposed we have, v. 2. Here observe, 1. Concerning sin in general, that it is described to be against any of the commandments of the Lord; for sin is the transgression of the law, the divine law. The wits or wills of men, their inventions or their injunctions, cannot make that to be sin which the law of God has not made to be so. It is said likewise, if a soul sin, for it is not sin if it be not some way or other the soul's act; hence it is called the sin of the soul (Mic. vi. 7), and it is the soul that is injured by it, Prov. viii. 36. 2. Concerning the sins for which those offerings were appointed. (1.) They are supposed to be overt acts; for, had they been required to bring a sacrifice for every sinful thought or word, the task had been endless. Atonement was made for those in the gross, on the day of expiation, once a year; but these are said to be done against the commandments. (2.) They are supposed to be sins of commission, things which ought not to be done. Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment; but what had been omitted at one time might be done at another, and so to obey was better than sacrifice: but a commission was past recall. (3.) They are supposed to be sins committed through ignorance. If they were done presumptuously, and with an avowed contempt of the law and the Law-maker, the offender was to be cut off, and there remained no sacrifice for the sin, Heb. x. 26, 27; Num. xv. 30. But if the offender were either ignorant of the law, as in divers instances we may suppose many were (so numerous and various were the prohibitions), or were surprised into the sin unawares, the circumstances being such as made it evident that his resolution against the sin was sincere, but that he was overtaken in it, as the expression is (Gal. vi. 1), in this case relief was provided by the remedial law of the sin-offering. And the Jews say, "Those crimes only were to be expiated by sacrifice, if committed ignorantly, for which the criminal was to have been cut off if they had been committed presumptuously."

II. The law begins with the case of the anointed priest, that is, the high priest, provided he should sin through ignorance; for the law made men priests who had infirmity. Though his ignorance was of all others least excusable, yet he was allowed to bring his offering. His office did not so far excuse his offence as that it should be forgiven him without a sacrifice; yet it did not so far aggravate it but that it should be forgiven him when he did bring his sacrifice. If he sin according to the sin of the people (so the case is put, v. 3), which supposes him in this matter to stand upon the level with other Israelites, and to have no benefit of his clergy at all. Now the law concerning the sin-offering for the high priest is, 1. That he must bring a bullock without blemish for a sin-offering (v. 3), as valuable an offering as that for the whole congregation (v. 14); whereas for any other ruler, or a common person, a kid of the goats should serve, v. 23, 28. This intimated the greatness of the guilt connected with the sin of a high priest. The eminency of his station, and his relation both to God and to the people, greatly aggravated his offences; see Rom. ii. 21. 2. The hand of the offerer must be laid upon the head of the offering (v. 4), with a solemn penitent confession of the sin he had committed, putting it upon the head of the sin-offering, ch. xvi. 21. No remission without confession, Ps. xxxii. 5; Prov. xxviii. 13. It signified also a confidence in this instituted way of expiating guilt, as a figure of something better yet to come, which they could not stedfastly discern. He that laid his hand on the head of the beast thereby owned that he deserved to die himself, and that it was God's great mercy that he would please to accept the offering of this beast to die for him. The Jewish writers themselves say that neither the sin-offering nor the trespass-offering made atonement, except for those that repented and believed in their atonement. 3. The bullock must be killed, and a great deal of solemnity there must be in disposing of the blood; for it was the blood that made atonement, and without shedding of blood there was no remission, v. 5-7. 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. It likewise serves to illustrate the influence which Christ's satisfaction has upon the prevalency of his intercession. The blood of his sacrifice is put upon the altar of his incense and sprinkled before the Lord. When this was done the remainder of the blood was poured at the foot of the brazen altar. By this rite, the sinner acknowledged that he deserved to have his blood thus poured out like water. It likewise signified the pouring out of the soul before God in true repentance, and typified our Saviour's pouring out his soul unto death. 4. The fat of the inwards was to be burnt upon the altar of burnt-offering, v. 8-10. 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. It likewise teaches us, in conformity to the death of Christ, to crucify the flesh. 5. The head and body of the beast, skin and all, were to be carried without the camp, to a certain place appointed for that purpose, and there burnt to ashes, v. 11, 12. This was very significant, (1.) Of the duty of repentance, which is the putting away of sin as a detestable thing, which our soul hates. True penitents say to their idols, "Get you hence; what have we to do any more with idols?" The sin-offering is called sin. What they did to that we must do to our sins; the body of sin must be destroyed, Rom. vi. 6. (2.) Of the privilege of remission. When God pardons sin he quite abolishes it, casts it behind his back. The iniquity of Judah shall be sought for and not found. The apostle takes particular notice of this ceremony, and applies it to Christ (Heb. xiii. 11-13), who suffered without the gate, in the place of a skull, where the ashes of dead men, as those of the altar, were poured out.

13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty; 14 When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord : and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord . 16 And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation: 17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord , even before the vail. 18 And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the Lord , that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 19 And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar. 20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. 21 And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.

This is the law for expiating the guilt of a national sin, by a sin offering. If the leaders of the people, through mistake concerning the law, caused them to err, when the mistake was discovered an offering must be brought, that wrath might not come upon the whole congregation. Observe, 1. It is possible that the church may err, and that her guides may mislead her. It is here supposed that the whole congregation may sin, and sin through ignorance. God will always have a church on earth; but he never said it should be infallible, or perfectly pure from corruption on this side heaven. 2. When a sacrifice was to be offered for the whole congregation, the elders were to lay their hands upon the head of it (three of them at least), as representatives of the people and agents for them. The sin we suppose to have been some common custom, taken up and used by the generality of the people, upon presumption of its being lawful, which afterwards, upon search, appeared to be otherwise. In this case the commonness of the usage received perhaps by tradition from their fathers, and the vulgar opinion of its being lawful, would not so far excuse them from sin but that they must bring a sacrifice to make atonement for it. There are many bad customs and forms of speech which are thought to have no harm in them, and yet may bring guilt and wrath upon a land, which therefore it concerns the elders both to reform and to intercede with God for the pardon of, Joel ii. 16. 3. The blood of this sin-offering, as of the former, was to be sprinkled seven times before the Lord, v. 17. It was not to be poured out there, but sprinkled only; for the cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ was then and still is sufficiently signified and represented by sprinkling, Isa. lii. 15. It was to be sprinkled seven times. Seven is a number of perfection, because when God had made the world in six days he rested the seventh; so this signified the perfect satisfaction Christ made, and the complete cleansing of the souls of the faithful by it; see Heb. x. 14. The blood was likewise to be put upon the horns of the incense-altar, to which there seems to be an allusion in Jer. xvii. 1, where the sin of Judah is said to be graven upon the horns of their altars. If they did not forsake their sins, the putting of the blood of their sin-offerings upon the horns of their altars, instead of taking away their guilt, did but bind it on the faster, perpetuated the remembrance of it, and remained a witness against them. It is likewise alluded to in Rev. ix. 13, where a voice is heard from the four horns of the golden altar; that is, an answer of peace is given to the prayers of the saints, which are acceptable and prevalent only by virtue of the blood of the sin-offering put upon the horns of that altar; compare Rev. viii. 3. 4. When the offering is completed, it is said, atonement is made, and the sin shall be forgiven, v. 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. Note, The saving of churches and kingdoms from ruin is owing to the satisfaction and mediation of Christ.

22 When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; 23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: 24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord : it is a sin offering. 25 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. 26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.

Observe here, 1. That God takes notice of and is displeased with the sins of rulers. Those who have power to call others to account are themselves accountable to the ruler of rulers; for, as high as they are, there is a higher than they. This is intimated in that the commandment transgressed is here said to be the commandment of the Lord his God, v. 22. He is a prince to others, but let him know the Lord is a God to him. 2. The sin of the ruler which he committed through ignorance is supposed afterwards to come to his knowledge (v. 23), which must be either by the check of his own conscience or by the reproof of his friends, both which we should all, even the best and greatest, not only submit to, but be thankful for. What we have done amiss we should be very desirous to come to the knowledge of. That which I see not, teach thou me, and show me wherein I have erred, are prayers we should put up to God every day, that though through ignorance we fall into sin we may not through ignorance lie still in it. 3. The sin-offering for a ruler was to be a kid of the goats, not a bullock, as for the priest and the whole congregation; nor was the blood of his sin-offering to be brought into the tabernacle, as of the other two, but it was all bestowed upon the brazen altar (v. 25); nor was the flesh of it to be burnt, as that of the other two, without the camp, which intimated that the sin of a ruler, though worse than that of a common person, yet was not so heinous, nor of such pernicious consequence, as the sin of the high priest, or of the whole congregation. A kid of the goats was sufficient to be offered for a ruler, but a bullock for a tribe, to intimate that the ruler, though major singulis—greater than each, was minor universis—less than the whole. It is bad when great men give bad examples, but worse when all men follow them. 4. It is promised that the atonement shall be accepted and the sin forgiven (v. 26), that is, if he repent and reform; for otherwise God swore concerning Eli, a judge in Israel, that the iniquity of his house should not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever, 1 Sam. iii. 14.

27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; 28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned. 29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar. 31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the Lord ; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. 32 And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish. 33 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar: 35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord : and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

I. Here is the law of the sin-offering for a common person, which differs from that for a ruler only in this, that a private person might bring either a kid or a lamb, a ruler only a kid; and that for a ruler must be a male, for the other a female: in all the circumstances of the management of the offering they agreed. Observe, 1. The case supposed: If any one of the common people sin through ignorance, v. 27. The prophet supposes that they were not so likely as the great men to know the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God (Jer. v. 4), and yet, if they sin through ignorance, they must bring a sin-offering. Note, Even sins of ignorance need to be atoned for by sacrifice. To be able to plead, when we are charged with sin, that we did it ignorantly, and through the surprise of temptation, will not bring us off if we be not interested in that great plea, Christ hath died, and entitled to the benefit of that. We have all need to pray with David (and he was a ruler) to be cleansed from secret faults, the errors which we ourselves do not understand or are not aware of, Ps. xix. 12. 2. That the sins of ignorance committed by a single person, a common obscure person, did require a sacrifice; for, as the greatest are not above the censure, so the meanest are not below the cognizance of the divine justice. None of the common people, if offenders, were overlooked in a crowd. 3. That a sin-offering was not only admitted, but accepted, even from one of the common people, and an atonement made by it, v. 31, 35. Here rich and poor, prince and peasant, meet together; they are both alike welcome to Christ, and to an interest in his sacrifice, upon the same terms. See Job xxxiv. 19.

II. From all these laws concerning the sin-offerings we may learn, 1. To hate sin, and to watch against it. That is certainly a very bad thing to make atonement for which so many innocent and useful creatures must be slain and mangled thus. 2. 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. 1, 2), not for Jews only, but for Gentiles. And perhaps there was some allusion to this law concerning sacrifices for sins of ignorance in that prayer of Christ's, just when he was offering up himself a sacrifice, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

CHAP. IIII.

AND Iehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speake unto the sonnes of Israel, saying: A soule, when it shall sinne through ignorance, of all the commandements of Iehovah, which should not be done: and shall doe, of any one of them. If the Priest that is anoynted, shall sinne to the guiltie-sin of the people: then he shall offer for his sinne which he hath sinned, a bullocke a yongling of the herd, perfect, unto Iehovah for a Sinoffring. And he shall bring the bullock, unto the doore of the Tent of the congregation, before Iehovah: and shall lay his hand, upon the head of the bullocke, and hee shall kill the bullocke, before Iehovah. And the Priest, that is anoynted, shall take of the bullockes blood: and shall bring it, into the Tent of the congregation. And the Priest shall dip his finger, in the blood: and shall sprinkle of the blood, seven times before Iehovah; before the veile of the Holy place. And the Priest shall put some of the blood, upon the hornes of the Altar, of the incense of sweet-spices, before Iehovah; which is in the Tent of the congregation: and all the blood of the bullocke, he shall poure at the bottome of the altar of the Burnt-offring, which is at the doore of the Tent of the congregation. And all the fat, of the bullock of the Sin-offring, he shall take off from it: the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat, which is upon the inwards. And the two kidneyes, and the fat which is upon them, which is vpon the flankes: and the caule, above the liver; with the kidneyes, hee shall take away it. As it was taken off, from the bullocke of the sacrifice of Peace-offrings: and the Priest shall burne them, upon the altar of the Burnt-offring. And the skinne of the bullocke, and all his flesh, with his head; and with his legs: and his inwards, and his doung. Even all the bullock shall hee cary-forth; to without the campe, unto a cleane place, at the pouring-out of the ashes; and shall burne him on wood, with fire: at the pouring-out of the ashes, shall he be burnt.

And if all the Congregation of Israel, sin ignorantly; and the thing be hid, from the eyes of the church: and they have done any one of all the commandements of Iehovah, which should not bee done, and are guilty. When the sinne is knowne, which they have sinned, against it: then the church shall offer a bullocke a yongling of the herd, for a Sinoffring; and shall bring him, before the Tent of the congregation. And the Elders of the congregation, shall lay their hands, upon the head of the bullocke, before Iehovah: and he shall kill the bullocke, before Iehovah. And the Priest that is anoynted, shall bring of the blood of the bullocke: into the Tent of the congregation. And the Priest shall dip his finger, in some of the blood: and shall sprinkle seven times, before Iehovah; before the veile. And he shall put some of the blood, upon the hornes of the Altar, which is before Iehovah, which is in the Tent of the congregation: and all the blood, hee shall poure at the bottome of the Altar of the Burnt-offring; which is at the doore of the Tent of the congregation. And all his fat, he shall take-off from him: and burne it, upon the Altar. And hee shall doe with the bullocke, as he did with the bullocke of the Sin-offring; so shall he doe with it: and the Priest, shall make-an-atonement for them, and it shall bee mercifully-forgiven them. And he shall cary-forth the bullocke, to without the campe; and shall burne him, as he burned the first bullocke: it is the Sin-offring of the church.

When the Ruler, hath sinned▪ and done any one of all the commandements of Iehovah his God, which should not bee done, through ignorance, and is guiltie. Or if his sinne, bee made-knowne unto him, that wherein he hath sinned: then he shall bring his oblation, a goat-bucke of the goats, a male perfect. And he shall lay his hand, upon the head of the goat-bucke, and he shall kill him, in the place, where he killeth the Burntoffring, before Iehovah: it is a Sin-offring. And the Priest shall take, of the blood of the Sin-offring, with his finger; and put it, upon the hornes of the altar of Burnt-offring: and shall poure his blood, at the bottome of the altar of Burnt-offring. And all his fat, he shall burne vpon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of Peace-offrings: and the Priest, shall make-an-atonement for him, concerning his sinne, and it shall bee mercifully-forgiven him.

And if one soule, sinne through ignorance, of the people of the land: while it doth any one of the commandements of Iehovah, which should not bee done, and bee guilty. Or if his sinne bee made knowne unto him, which he hath sinned: then hee shall bring his oblation, a she-goat of the goats, perfect, a female; for his sinne, which he hath sinned. And he shall lay his hand, upon the head of the Sin-offring: and he shall kill the Sin-offring, in the place of the Burnt-offring. And the Priest shall take of the blood thereof, with his finger; and put it, upon the hornes of the altar of Burnt-offring: and all the blood thereof, he shal poure, at the bottome of the altar. And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away, from off the sacrifice of Peace-offrings: and the Priest shall burne it upon the altar, for a favour of rest, unto Iehovah: and the Priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be mercifully forgiven him.

And if he bring a Lambe for his oblation, for a Sinne-offring: hee shall bring it, a female perfect. And he shall lay his hand, upthe head of the Sinne-offring; and hee shall kill it for a Sinne-offring, in the place where he killeth the Burnt-offering. And the priest shall take the blood of the Sin-offring, with his finger, and put it upon the hornes of the altar of Burnt-offring: and shall poure all the blood thereof, at the bottome of the altar. And he shall take away all the fa[illegible: 1 letter] therof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away, from the sacrifice of the Peace-offrings: and the Priest shall burne them upon the altar according to Iehovahs Fire-offrings: and the priest shall make-an-atonement for him, for his sin which he hath finned; and it shall be mercifully-forgiven him.

Annotations. A Soule] that is, a person or man, as the Chaldee translateth it. when it shall sin] or, if it sin. Whereas he had taught the justification and sanntification of the Church, by the former sacrifices, and how men ought to walke in newnesse of life: now, because there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not. Eccles. 7. 20. but in many things we offend all, Iam. 3. 2. the Lord appointed meanes for the cleansing of his Church and all the members thereof, from the infirmities, errors and ignorant sins which they fall into. But if wee sinne wilfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth; there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes, but a certaine fearfull looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devoure the adversaries, (or enemies of the Lord,) Heb 10. 26. 27. Esay 26. 10. 11. through ignorance] or, in errour, unawares, by unadvisednesse. Shegagah the word here used, signifieth errour or going astray out of the right way, through ignorance or forgetfulnes, or unadvisednesse, or by being deceived, or the like. The Greek somtime turneth it, Agnoia, Ignorance, but here and often translateth it, Acousios, unwillingly: which is contrary to that which the Apostle calleth Heconsios, willingly or wilfully, Heb. 10. 16. contrary also to that which the law calleth sinning with an high hand, or presumptuously, Num. 15. 27.—30. We may see the meaning openly by Moses in Numb. 35. 11. where he speaketh of killing a person, by errour, or unawares, which in Deut. 19. 4. is said to be ignorantly, or without knowledge; and both are joyned together in Ios. 20. 3. unawares, (or by errour) and without knowledge, (or unweetingly:) whereto is opposed a lying in wait, that is, a purpose and willingnesse to kill him, Deut. 19. 11. Exodus 21. 13. The Apostle likewise calleth such sinnes, Agnoemata, Errors-done-of-ignorance, in Heb. 9. 7. and more fully openeth it by two words, in Heb. 5. 3. shewing the Priests dutie to have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that erre. So that these ignorances or errours, were misdeeds arising from errour of the mind or of the affections; when men did either not know or understand the Law aright, or not remember or take heed thereto as they ought, when they knew not the nature of sinne, or considered not how loathsome it was unto God; but were overtaken and miscaried by their errours or lusts, such are to be restored in the spirit of meeknesse, Gal. 6. 1. for such God appointed sacrifices; but for presumptuous wilful & malicious sinnes, men were to be cut off: Numb. 15. 27. 30. These Errours or Ignorances are such and so many as no man can understand, Psal. 19. 13. and God both cleanseth us of them by the sacrifice of Christ, Hebr. 10. 10. 12. and restraineth us from them by afflictions, Psal. 119. 67. and warneth us to take heed of them, lest he be angry, and destroy the worke of our hands, Eccles. 5. 6. And whereas there followeth a law in Lev. 5. 17. for sinnes not knowne, the Hebrewes put this difference: Shegagah (an errour or sinne through ignorance) is when hee knoweth certainly: that hee hath done the thing, but he did it in errour (or unadvisedly:) but he that knoweth not, is hee that is uncertaine whether hee did the thing or no. Talmud Bab. in Cherethoth (and Maimonie in his explanations on the same.) ch. 1. of all] understand, by doing any one of all the commandements. So Moses himselfe explaineth it in the words here following, and in ver. 13. 22. 27▪ commandements] or, charges: meaning prohibitions, or forbodes. For God commandeth both to eschew evill, and to doe good: and most of the ten commandements (Exod. 20.) are forbiddings of sinne. And thus the holy Ghost useth the word, both wayes; as Take heed, &c. lest ye make you the likenes of any thing, which Iehovah thy God hath commanded (that is forbidden) thee: Deut. 4. 23. And contrariwise in Deut. 17. 3. hath served other Gods, &c. which I have not commanded; to wit, to be done. Hereupon the Hebrew Doctors (Maimony and others.) divide the lawes into Commandements to be done, and Commandements which should not bee done. The Commandements given by Moses, they have summed up in all to be six hundred and thirteene: of them, they make affirmative precepts of things to be done, two hundred fourty and eight, so many as (they say) there are bones in a mans body; & of negative precepts or prohibitions, three hundred sixty and five, so many as there are dayes in the yeere. should not] the Greeke translateth it, ought not. To these prohibitions, the Hebrew doctors doe restraine this law, saying, They bring no Sinneoffring, but for ignorance (in doing) that which should not be done, as it is written (Levit. 4. 13. 27.) any one of all the commandements which should not bee done. Maimony, treat. Shegagoth (or of Ignorance) c 1. s. 2. These which are counted the greater sinnes, the Lord appointed for them the greater sacrifices, according also to the estate of the persons that did them, differing one from another. For some sinnes also which the poorer sort should commit, there were lesser sacrifices prescribed, Lev. 5. 7. 11. Other sins in omitting things to be done, were expiated by Burnt-offrings, which were offered daily for the whole Church, or by particulars persons, as they would bring them, as is shewed on Levit. 1. Also by the sacrifices offered on Atonement day, whereof see Lev. 16. The Hebr. account some sins more heavy, and some more light. The heavy transgressions (they say) are those for which men deserve death (by the Magistrate) or cutting off (by the hand of God,) also vaine and false oathes. Other, for which cutting off is not threatned, they hold the lighter. Maimony, tom. 1. treat. of repentance, ch. 1. s. 2. shall doe] this also they restraine unto deeds or facts, saying: Every transgression, for the presumptuous doing whereof, men deserve cutting off, (as Numb. 15. 30.) they are bound for the ignorant doing thereof to bring a sinne-offring; except for three transgressions; 1. b[illegible: 2 letters]sphemie, 2, neglect of circumcision, 3, and of the Passeover. The passeover and circumcision, because they are commandements to be done; and they bring no Sin offring, but for ignorant doing of that which should not be done, Lev. 4. 2. And the blasphemer, because in him there is no deed: and it is sayd. FOR HIM THAT DOTH THROVGH IGNORANCE Numbers 15. 29. Therefore hee that receiveth an idolatrous opinion of God, although he deserve to be cut off if hee doe it presumptuously, hee is to be stoned, and if he receive it in ignorance, hee is not bound to bring the sacrifice, because hee hath not done any deed; and it is written, when hee doth any one, &c. Maimony in Shegagoth, c. 1. s. 2. Neither if a man were accused to have done any sinne, and hee denyed it, was he bound to bring a sacrifice: If witnesses say, we saw thee, that thou didst worke on the Sabbath, or eate fat; and he say, I know certainly that I did not this thing he is not bound (to bring) a Sinneoffring. Maimony, ibidem, c. 3. s. 1. V. 3. anointed] that is, the High Priest; (as both Greeke and Chaldee doe expound it:) for the high Priest onely, in the ages following was anointed; Lev. 21. 10. and 16. 32. Exod. 29. 29. And this law concerneth his sin committed after his anointing onely: that which he doth before, is counted but as of a private man. The anointed Priest or the King, which sin before they be put into office, although it be not knowne unto them, till after they are in office doe they are as a private man. Maimony in Shegagoth, c. 15. s. 10. Thus the Law (as the Apostle observeth) made men High Priests which had infirmitie, who needed daily to offer up sacrifices, first for their owne sinnes, and then for the peoples: but our High Priest, Christ Iesus, was holy, harmlesse, un defiled, separate from sinners, and made higher then the heavens, Heb. 5. 2. 3. and 7. 26. 27. 28. Therefore the legall priesthood could not be perpetuall; but was a figure for the time, till the comming of our Lord Iesus. to the guiltie-sin] here may bee understood, according to the sin of the people, that is, he sinning like them. It may also bee meant, that by his teaching, or practice, the people were caused to sinne; as David was a guilty sin, that is, a cause of sin, to Israel, 1 Chron. 21. 3. And this latter the Greeke version followeth, saying, so that the people sinne: and the old Latine expoundeth it, making the people to offend: and the Hebrewes, as Chazkuni, here openeth it, to make the people guiltie, in that hee hath taught, and permitted them to doe a thing forbidden. Of this the Hebrew canons say, If hee that ignorantly-erreth, in one of these &c. be a private man, he must bring a she goat, or an ewe lambe: and if it be the anointed Priest, he must bring a bullocke for a Sinne-offring. Whereby is meant, hee is to bring a bullocke for his unadvisednesse, when [illegible: 1 letter]e erreth by teaching himself, and doth a deed through unadvisednesse of his teaching onely; and is withall a very wise man, as is written, If the anointed Priest sin, to the guilty sinne of the people. Loe the Priest is as the Congregation. As the Congregation, that is, the Iudges, are not bound to bring a sacrifice, unlesse they be wise men, meet to teach, and do erre in teaching, and the doers doe it at their mouth, &c. so is the Priest, in all these things. If hee erre in fact onely, without teaching, whether it be in idolatry or other sinnes, hee bringeth not the oblation. If the anointed Priest teach with the Synedrion, and both he and they erre in teaching, although they doe according to this teaching wherein they goe astray: for as much as he relyed not in the time of the fact, upon his teaching onely, but upon the Synedrions also; hee is discharged, and needs not bring a bullocke for himselfe, but when the Synedrion bringeth an oblation, atonement is made for him, with the congregation in generall. If hee teach with the Synedrion, in errour, and they sinne of ignorance, they in (eating) blood, and he in (eating) fat: then atonement is not made for him with the congregation, but he must bring a Bullocke for himselfe. Maimony, treat of Ignorance, ch, 1. s. 4. and ch. 15. s. 1. 3. 4. 5. See after in the notes upon vers. 13. 14. a bullock] a greater sacrifice then the common persons, vers. 28. or then the Rulers, v. 22. and equall to the Congregations, v. 14. yongling] Hebr. son of the herd: see Lev. 1. 5. so after in v. 14. perfect] without blemish, as Lev. 1. 3. therein figuring the perfection of Christ. a Sinne-offring] Hebrew, a Sinne: so called because the sinne was confessed and laid on the head of this sacrifice, offred for the sinner. Figuring Christ whom God made sin for [illegible: 1 word], though he knew no sin, 2 Cor. 5 21. The Apostle in Greeke translateth it, For sin, (Heb. 10. 6. from Psal. 40.) that is, an offring for sinne. So after in this chapter and other where, Exodus 29. 14. Vers. 4. lay his hand] and confesse his sin which he hath sinned; (as is noted on Levit. 1. 4.) so putting it upon the head of the beast, Lev 16. 21. and this should also be with repentance, and forsaking of the sinne: Prov. 28. 13. and drawing neer with a true heart in assurance of faith in Christ, whom that sacrifice figured: Heb. 10. 4. 10. 22. Neither Reconciliation day, (Levit. 16.) nor Sinne-offring, nor Trespasse-offring, doe make atonement; saving for them repent and beleeve in their atonement: saith Maimony, treat. of Ignorances, Chapt. 3. s. 10. kill the bullocke] a figure of the death of Christ, Heb. 20. 5. 6. 8. 10. See the notes on Lev. 1. 5. Vers. 5. anoynted] in Greeke, Christ, in Hebrew Messias, so named as a type of our great high Priest Christ Iesus, who entred, not into the holy places made with hands, but into very heaven, not with the blood of goats or bullockes, but with his owne blood, and obtained eternall redemption: Heb. 9. 24. 11. 12. This anoynted Priest was the sinner himselfe, (for he offred up sacrifice for his owne sinnes, Heb. 7. 27.) The Anointed Priests bullocke brought for any of the commandements; the anointed priest himselfe tooke the blood, and sprinkled thereof, &c. Maimony, treat. of offring the sacrifices, chap. 5. sect. 15. Vers. 6. seven times] a mysticall number, signifying the full and perfect clensing of sinne, by the sprinkling of the blood of Iesus, Hebr. 9. 13. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 2. 1 Ioh. 1. 7. and, that our sinnes need much purgation, Psal. 51. 2. 3. Seven is a complete number, used for the perfect finishing of a worke; as was in the seven daies of the creation, Gen. 3. 2. 3. and is used for many, 1 Sam. 2. 5. Prov. 26. 25. and 24. 16. and in mysteries throughout the scriptures, as the like seven times sprinkling of blood on atonement day, Lev. 16. 14. seven times sprinkling of oile upon the altar, when it was consecrated, Lev. 8. 11. seven times sprinkling of the leper, and seven daies for his clensing, Lev. 14. 7. 9. seven daies for consecrating the Priests, Lev. 8. 35. and for purifying the uncleane, Lev. 12. 2. Num. 19. 19. seven times Naaman washed him in Iordan, 2 Kin. 5. 10. 14. Seven daies was Iericho besieged, and 7. priests with seven trumpets blew, and the walls fel downe, Iof. 6. seven priests blew trumpets before the arke, when David brought it home, 1 Chron. 15. 24. The lambe (Christ) hath seven hornes, and seven eyes, which are the 7 spirits of God, Rev. 5. 6. there also are seven seales on Gods booke, Rev. 5. 1. seven Angels with trumpets, Rev. 8. 2. and seven with vials, Rev. 15. 7. Every seventh day was a Sabbath, Exod. 20. 10. and the seventh yeere, a yeere of rest; and seven times seven yeers brought the Iubilee, Lev. 25. 3. 4 8. Seven bullocks & seven rams were sacrificed by David, 1 Chron. 15. 26. by Ezekias, 2 Chro. 29. 21. by Iob for his friends, Iob 42. 8. and by Balaam for K. Balak, upon seven altars Num. 23. 1. 14. with many the like, as may bee observed throughout the Bible, Ezek. 43, 25, and 39. 9. 12. Dan. 9. 24. And the mysterie of this number seven was observed also among other of the heathens. To purifie my selfe, I wash me in the sea, dipping my head seven times in the waves; for the divine Pythagoras hath taught that that number is most fit, especially in religion. L. Apulei[illegible: 1 letter] de Asin. aur. l. 11. the veile of the holy place] Hebr. of holinesse: which the Gr. translateth, the holy veil. It was that which parted the holy place and the most holy, called the second veile, Heb. 9. 3. This figured the preparation of the way for us into the holy heavens by the blood of Christ shed and sprinkled, to remission of sins: for by the blood of Iesus, we may be bold to enter into the holy place, by the new and living way, which he hath prepared for us, through the veile, that is, his flesh. Heb. 10. 19. 20. Moreover, these rites thus described in the law, were exactly to be observed, as the Hebrew Doctors say, All the bloods that were to be bestowed within the sanctuarie, if there wanted any one of them, there was no atonement made: but all of them were of the foundation of the atonement: for loe the scripture is carefull of the very number, saying seven times. Blood which is commanded to bee bestowed before the Lord, in the sanctuarie, and they bestow it on the altar that is without: or, that which should bee on the altar without, they bestow it before the Lord within the sanctuarie, &c. behold the flesh of the sacrifice is polluted. Maimony, treat. of holy things polluted, ch. 2. s. 3. 10. Vers. 7. of sweet-spices] the Greeke translateth of composition; it was the golden altar, on which the sweet confection was burned, Exod. 30. 1. 34. &c. The bullockes that were burnt, &c. the blood of every one of them, was sprinkled seven times, upon the v[illegible: 1 letter]tle that divided betweene the holy place and the most holy: and foure times, upon the foure hornes of the golden altar. And all the bloods that were put upon the golden altar, when (the Priest) entred in, he stood between the Altar and the Candlesticks. and the altar before him. And he put (the blood) on the hornes of the altar, o[illegible: 1 span] he outside: beginning at the northe[illegible: 1 letter]st hor[illegible: 1 letter]e, and so to the northwest, and to the southwest and to the southeast: Maimony, treat. of Offring the sacrifices, chap. 5. sect. 13. 14. This was done, to clense and sanctifie the altar, from the uncleannes of the sinner, Levit. 16. 19. And the altar of incense, figuring Christs mediation for us when we pray in his name, (as is shewed on Exodus. 30. 6.) this rite here signified how by faith in the blood of Christ, our prayers are acceptable unto God, and our infirmities forgiven and purged. It may also prefigure his bloody sweat, when hee prayed in the garden, Luke 22. 44. the bottome] or, foundation; in Greeke the base. And the Sinne-offrings that were burned, he brought in their blood before (the Lord) into the sanctuary, and sprinkled thereof, as is expressed in the Law: and the rest of the blood, he poured at the west bottome of the Altar that stood without: for that [west bottome] was the first that came to hand, after he came out of the Sanctuary, Mai▪ ibidem, chap. 5. sect. 11. It is recorded, that in the Temple at Ierusalem, there were at the south west horne of the Altar, two holes, like two nostrills, that the bloods which were poured there might passe away, into the brooke Kedron: Talmud Bab. in Middoth (or treat. of the measures of the Temple, chap. 3. Vers. 8. the fat] or, suet: see Levit. 3. 3. 4. After the killing and sprinkling of the blood, they cut open (the Sinne-offrings,) and tooke out the fat and inwards, and put them in a vessell, and salted them, and strowed them on the fire, upon the Altar, Maimony, treat. of Offring the Sacrifices, chap. 7. sect, 2. Hereby it became a sweet savour unto the Lord; as after is said, in verse 31. For the burning of these fats and intrails upon the altar (which sanctified the oblations, Matt. 23. 19.) figured the purifying of our affections by Christ, through the Spirit, & by our communion with his afflictions: Coloss. 2. 12. 13. and 3. 1. [illegible: 1 letter]5. Rom. 6. 4. 5. 6. 10. 11. 12. Psal. 16. 7. Vers. 11. the skin] to weet, cleaving to the flesh: for the sinne-offrings that were burned, were not flayed at all. But after they were caried out of the camp, they there cut them in peeces, like the peeces of the Burnt-offring, (Levit. 1. 6. with their skin; and burned them there, in the place of the ashes, Maimony, treat. of Offring the sacrifices, c. 5. s. 18. and c. 7. s. 2. Vers. 12. he shall cary] in Greeke, they shall earie forth: so after, and they shall burne. without the campe] and after that they were seated in Canaan, and the Temple was in Ierusalem, they caried them out of the citie: (Maim. ibid.) The like is after, for the sin-offring of the Church, v. 21. and upon expiation day, Lev. 16. 27. The mysterie hereof, both touching Christ the sacrifice, and us the sinners, Paul openeth thus: the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burnt without the campe, wherefore [illegible: 2 letters] sus also, that he might sanctifie the people with his owne blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therfore unto him, without the campe, bearing his reproach: for here have wee n[illegible: 1 letter] continuing citie, but wee seeke one to come, Heb. 13. 11. 14. See after in the notes upon Lev. 6. 30. at the pouring out] that is, as the Greek explaineth it, where the ashes are poured out. So Christ was sacrificed at the place of skulls, or dead mens ashes, Ioh. 19. 17. and that was part of his reproach, (Heb. 13. 13.) which he suffred to take away our sins. on wood] all that were burned without the court (of the sanctuary) any wood might serve for the burning of them: saith Maim. in treat. of Offring sacrif. 6. 7. s. 5. Compare herewith the notes on Lev. 1. 7. b[illegible: 2 letters]nt] Hereby Christs suffering without Ierusalem gates was signified, and so the abolishing of sin, and reconcilement of the sinner unto God. Hebrewes 13. 12. and 10. 10. Rom. [illegible: 1 word]. 10. Threfore in the sacrifices here following, vers. 20. 26. 3[illegible: 1 letter]. forgivenesse of sinnes is promised; which is also to be understood in this place. Howbeit the Hebrew Doctors observe the differences thus, that of this bullocke, and the goat for the Ruler, vers. 26. it is not said, for a sweet savour, &c. because of the bullockes, a part is without (the sanctaarie) for to remove away the uncleane spirit: and in the sinne-offering of the a[illegible: 2 letters]inted Priest, it is not mentioned that it shall be mercifully forgiven him; for hee hath not yet full pard[illegible: 1 letter]n, untill he make supplication unto his God, for he is the Angell of the Lord of ho[illegible: 3 letters] (Malac. 2. 7.) and he ought to bee innocent and pure of hands, R. M[illegible: 1 letter]nachem on Levit. 4. It is also here noted by Baal Hatt[illegible: 1 letter]rim, how the Law commandeth the Anointed Priests oblation to bee burnt openly without, at the pouring out of the ashes, that no man should be ashamed to confesse his sinne: for loe the high priest sinneth, and confesseth, and bringeth an oblation for his sinne. Vers. 13. all the congregation] This sheweth that the Church may erre. The Hebrew Doctors have here sundry observations, touching the Iudges or Magistrates, which taught errour, and the people that practised the same: saying; Every thing, for the ignorant sinne whereof men are bound to bring the sinne-offring appointed; if the great Session of Iudges ignorantly sinne in the teaching thereof, and teach that it is lawfull; and the people sinne of ignorance by their teaching, and the people doe the thing, and relye upon their teaching. And afterward it is knowne to the Iudges, that they have erred; loe the Iudges are bound to bring the sinne-offring, for their ignorance in teaching, although they themselves have not done the thing, &c. and the rest of the people are discharged of the sin-offring, although they were the doers of the thing, because they relyed on the Iudges. Provided, that they which teach, be the great Senate of 72. Iudges, and that the Chiefe of the Senate [illegible: 1 letter]ee with them when they teach it, and that they be all of them meet to teach, and that they all, or the most of them, erre in the thing which they teach; and that they teach it expresly, and say to the people, it is lawfull for you to doe it. Likewise if they which heare it from the mouth of the Iudg[illegible: 1 letter]s say unto others, it is lawfull for you to doe it, and all the Church, or most part thereof, doe it at their speech, and doe it ignorantly at their speech, thinking that the thing which they teach is according to law. And they teach to infringe some part, and to confirme some part, and not to abrogate the whole body (of the command[illegible: 1 letter] ment,) and when it is knowne unto them, they know the body (or substance) of the thing wherof they taught through ignorance. When all these concurre, the Iudges art bound to bring the sinne-offring and hee that doth the thing at their speech is discharged. But if there want any one of these thinges, then the Iudges are discharged of the offring; and whos[illegible: 1 letter]ever have sinned of ignorance, and do[illegible: 1 letter]e the deed, hee brings the sinne-offring appointed for his ignorance. As for example. If the Iudges say, this thing is lawfull: but teach it not to the people, nor say unto them, it is lawfull for you to doe it. And some man heareth, when they determine the thing to bee lawfull, and goeth and doth according as be hath heard: now who so doth it, is bound to bring the [illegible: 1 word] offring; and the Iudges are free, because they t[illegible: 1 letter]ught them not expresly to doe it. Likewise if they [illegible: 1 word] it, and the lesser part of the Church doe it at their word▪ and the errour be knowne: now the Iudges are discharged, and they that doe the thing are bound, and every one brings his sinne-offring, &c. If the Iudges teach an unlawfull thing to be lawfull, presumptuously; and the Church doeth it at their mouth ignorantly; the Iudges are discharged of the sacrifice, because they sinne presumptuously, & every one that did it at their mouth, is bound to bring a sacrifice for himselfe, because he sinned ignorantly. If the Iudges teach it ignorantly, and the Church know that they [illegible: 3 letters]e, and that it is not meet to receive it of them, and yet the Church doe it at their mouth: now both of them are discharged of the sacrifice; the Iudges are discharged, for the Church did it not because of their teaching which caused them to erre: and all the doers are discharged of the sacrifice, because they sinned presumptuously, for they knew that they erred, and that it was not meet so to doe. Maimony, treat▪ of Ignorances, chap. 12. & 13. sinne ignorantly] or, erre, of ignorance and unadvisednesse, not presumptuously; as vers. 2. So the Greeke here translateth it, be ignorant, or, doe-ignorantly. the thing] Hebrew, the word be hid. This the Hebrewes understand of some part of a commandement, not of the whole, which cannot be hidden from the eyes of the Church. The Iudges that sinne ignorantly, and teach to abrogate a substantiall-precept (or, body of a precept) of the substantiall-precepts of the law, and all the people doe it at their saying; the Iudges are discharged; and every one of them that doe it, is bound to bring the sinne-offring appointed: as it is written, AND THE THING BE HID, and not the whole body of-the-precept. The Iudges are never bound (to bring the sacrifice) till they teach to abolish a part, and to confirme a part of the things which are not expressed in the law, and explained. Afterwards, the Iudges are bound to bring the sacrifice; and they that doe it at their saying, are discharged. As, if they teach that it is lawfull to worship idols, &c. loe it is as if they should say there is no idolatry (forbidden) in the law; which abrogateth the whole body (of the commandement;) and this and the like is not ignorance in teaching, but forgetfulnesse. Therefore they are discharged of the sacrifice; and who so doth it at their saying, he is bound to bring the sacrifice for himselfe. But if they erre, and teach, saying, he that prostrateth himselfe to idols, &c. is guilty, for it is said thereof, thou shalt not prostrate thy selfe to another God; but he that bendeth towards the ground, and prostrateth not, that is lawfull; now they are bound (to bring the sacrifice) And so in all the like cases, if they teach, and the most part of the Church doe it at their saying, these are discharged, and the Iudges bring the sacrifice for their ignorance. Maimony in Shegagoth. c. 14. are guilty] or, doe offend, sinne, trespasse unto gu[illegible: 1 span]esse. See Levit. 5. 3. 6. Vers. 14. against it] or, as the Greeke translateth, in it. So the Hebrew word ghnal sometime signifieth, as in Exod. 29. 3. Esay 38. 20. the church] or, the assembly: in Hebrew, kahal; whence the Greeke word ekklesia, (a church) is derived. This the Hebrew Doctors understand, not onely for the twelve[illegible: 2 letters]ibes of Israel, but for every tribe, which is called (kahal) a church, as it is written, (in 2 Chron. 20. 5.) Iohosaphat stood in the church (or assembly) of Iudah. And from this law they say, Every Tribe was to bring a Bullo[illegible: 1 letter]ke for a sinne-offring; in all twelve Bullockes. And, whether all the Israelites in the land, did the thing, at the saying of the Iudges teaching them; or the most of Israel did it, though they were the least number of the tribes; or, the most of the tribes did it, though they were the least of all Israel; they brought according to the number of all the tribes, a Bullocke for every tribe. As, if the inhabitants of the land of Israel were 600000 and one; and they that did (the sin) by the teaching of the Iudges, were 300000 and one; and all of them of the Tribe of Iudah onely: Or, if they that did it, were all of them the children of seven tribes, though they were but 100000. the Iudges were bound (to bring the sacrifice) &c. And the tribe of Manasses and of Ephraim, were not counted as two tribes in this businesse, but both for one tribe. Maimony treat of Ignor. chap. 12. Sect. 1. and chap. 13. sect. 2. It is also observed by them, that All the sacrifices of the Church, were either Burnt-offrings, or Sinne-offrings: and among the sacrifices of the Congregation there were no Peace-offrings, save the two lambs that were brought with the waved loaves, at the solemne assembly, (Levit. 23. 19.) and they were called the Peace-offrings of the Congregation. And the Church never offred a trespasse offring, nor any Bird. Maimony treat of offring sacrifices, chap. 1. sect. 4. a bullocke] In Num. 15. 24. the law appointeth a bullocke for a burnt-offring, and an hee Goat for a sinne-offring, when the congregation ignorantly sinneth: and here, it commandeth a Bullocke for a sinne-offring onely. The Hebrewes reconcile these lawes thus: What is the offring they bring for this ignorance? If it bee concerning idolatry that they (the Iudges) ignorantly sinne and teach it; they bring a Bullocke for a Burnt-offring, and an hee goat for a sinne-offring, for every tribe; and this is the offring spoken of in Num. 15. 24. which by word of mouth hath beene taught, to bee spoken of ignorant-sinning by idolatry. But if it be concerning any other transgressions that they ignorantly-offend and teach, for the ignorant doing whereof they are bound to bring the appointed sacrifice; then every tribe bringeth a Bullocke for a sinne-offring; and this is that spoken of in Levit. 4. 13. 14. Maimony treat. of Ignorances, chapt. 12. Sect. 1. Others doe accord these lawes thus, that this here is meant of the sinne of all Israel jointly; and that in Num. 15. is meant of particular assemblies or synagogues, as they were distinct by their dwellings in Canaan. But I observe another difference, how this in Levit. 4. 13. speaketh of doing some one of all the commandements which should not be done: that, in Num. 15. 22. speaketh of not doing all the commandements, which the Lord had spoken by Moses. Vers. 15. lay their hands] There is no laying on of hands, upon the offrings of the Congregation, but upon two; viz. vpon the scape goat, (Lev. 16. 21.) and upon the Bullock for the thing hid from the eyes of the church, (Lev. 4. 13. 15.) Upon it three of the Synedrion, doe lay their hands. Maimony treat of offring sacrifices, chap. 3. sect. 10. See also the notes on Levit. 1. 4. It figured their faith in Christ, upon whom God would lay the iniquity of us all, Esay 5[illegible: 1 letter]. 6. and so would not impute their trespasses unto them, [illegible: 1 word] Cor. 5. 19. he] that is, the Priest or Levite shall kill: see Levit. 1. 5. Vers. 16. anointed] that is, as the Chaldee expoundeth it, the chiefe Priest: in Greeke, Christ, that is Anointed: a figure of our Lord Christ. Vers. 17. seven times] signifying a full purgation: see the notes on vers. 6. &c. For, the things done to the sacrifice of the high Priest, the same were done to the congregations. Vers. 20. the sinne-offring] in Greeke, the Sin: meaning the sacrifice which was for the high priests sinne, vers. 8. &c. the first Bullocke, as it is called in vers. 21. it shall] that is, as the Greek translateth, the sinne shall be forgiven them. Vers. 21. he shall cary] in Greeke, they shall cary out the whole Bullocke: as v. 12. Vers. 22. the Ruler] or, the Prince; in Hebrew, Nasi, that is, one Preferred, or Advanced above others; or, one that lifteth up and easeth the burdens of the people, by governing them; as Num. 11. 17. Exod. 18. 22. It is a common name, both to inferiour rulers, Num. 16. 2. Exod. 16. 22. and to the chiefe, as the King, Ezek. 34. 24. and 38. 2. and 45. 7. The Hebrew Doctors understand this law, of the later, saying, Who is the Ruler spoken of in the law? It is the King, over whom, no man of Israel hath power; neither [illegible: 1 word] any above him in his kingdome, but the Lord his God. Whether he be of Davids house, or of the other tribes of Israel. And if there bee many Kings, and one of them doe not serve another, every one of them brings an hee goat for his sinne of ignorance. Maimony, treat. of Ignorances, chap. 1 5. sect. 6 So in Ezek. 46. 2. 4. &c. the offrings of the Prince are distinct from those of the people of the Land. through ignorance] or, by errour: in Greeke, unwillingly: as in v. 2. Vers. 23. Or if] the Greeke translateth it, And his sinne be knowne, &c. so in vers. 28. But though Or, be sometimes used for And, or If: yet here it may be used properly, meaning, if his sinne bee knowne of himselfe, or be made knowne to him by others. So Chazkuni explaineth it, And is guilty, that he knoweth it of himselfe: or it be made knowne unto him, by the meanes of others. This is for his own particular sinne, which he doth when he is a ruler. For, the Ruler that doeth with the Congregation, by the teaching of the Iudges, atonement is made for him, as for the people generally. If the Iudges bee they that offer for their ignorance, all the people and the King are discharged from bringing the sacrifice, as is before shewed. And if they that doe it at the saying of the Iudges, be bound to bring the sacrifice, and the King be one of the doers, then he brings an hee goat: for the Rulers hee goat, is in place of the ewe lambe or she goat of the common person. Maimony treat. of Ignorances, chap. 15. sect. 8. his oblation] in Greeke, his gift. Vers. 24. killeth the Burnt-offring] that is, on the north side of the altar: see Levit. 1. 11. The Greek translateth, where they kill (that is, use to kill) the Burnt-offrings. Vers. 25. of burnt-offring] herein it differed from the former of the high Priest, and Church, whose blood was caried into the Sanctuary, and put on the homes of the altar of Incense, vers. 7. 18. The sinne offrings that were eaten (as they were whose blood was not caried into the Sanctuary, Levit. 6. 26. 30.) their blood was to be put on the foure bo[illegible: 1 span] of the altar that stood without, from the midst of the altar and upward. When the Priest tooke the blood in a bason, hee caried it to the altar, and dipped thefore finger of his right hand in the blood, and put it upon the horne: and so he did to every borne. And hee was bound to dip his finger at every horne. And when hee had made an end of putting it upon the horne, he wiped his finger on the edge of the bason; and after that, hee dipped the second time: for the blood that remained upon his finger, it was not lawfull to put thereof upon another horne. Of all the sacrifices, not any ones blood was to be sprinkled with the finger, but of the sinne-offring onely. And thus he beganne; hee went up on the foot-banke, and turned on his right hand and went round about; and put upon the south-east horne first: after that upon the next horne which was the north-east: then upon the north-west; and after that upon the south west. And at the bottome of that horne, where he made an end of striking on the blood, he poured out the residue of the blood; which was at the southerne bottom. Maimony treat. of offring the sacrifices, chap. 5. sect. 7. 8. 9. 10. poure his blood] in Greeke, poure all his blood: meaning all which remaineth after the sprinkling. So in vers. 30 Moses saith, all the blood, likewise in verse 34. which is to bee understood here. Vers. 27. one soule] in Chaldee, one man: meaning man or woman, as Numb. 5. 6. people of the land] that is, of the common people, except onely the high Priest, and Prince forementioned: any either Israelite, common Priest, or Levite: as Aben E[illegible: 1 span] explaineth it. one] The sacrifice here following, is for any one sinne: if many sinnes bee committed at once, there must, by proportion, so many sinne-offrings bee brought: as likewise the Hebrew Doctors explaine, in the foresaid treat. of Ignorances, chap. 4. where also they say, for example; He that killeth a beast of the holy things, out of the court yard of the sanctuary, on the Sabbath day, in the service of a false god; hee is bound to bring three sacrifices; because he killed the holy things out of the Court; and because he prosaned the Sabbath; and because he committed idolatry: for here three unlawfull things are [illegible: 1 word] in one. Vers. 28. a shee goat] This is the sacrifice appointed of God, which therefore the sinner might not alter, or bring any other in stead thereof: though for some other sinnes, if hee were poore and not able, he might bring a lesser sacrifice, Levit. 5. 7. 11. The Hebrewes have this rule; All sins that deser[illegible: 2 letters] cutting off by the Law, except those three before mentioned, [and shewed in the notes on vers. 2.] if a particular person transgresse in any of them through ignorance, he is to bring the sinne-offring appointed: except the uncleane person that eateth of the holy thing; and the uncleane person that commeth into the sanctuary both of them doe not bring the Sinne-offring appointed, but the oblation mentioned in Levit. 5. 7. 11. a sh[illegible: 1 span] beast if he be rich; and two Doves, or Floure, if he bee poore. Maimony treat. of Ignorances, chap. 1. s. 3. perfect] without blemish: see Levit. 1. 3. which he hath sinned] and not for any other of his sinnes: as, he that separateth a Sinne-offring for fat which he hath eaten, may not bring the same for the Sabbath which he hath polluted, or for blood which hee hath eaten, &c. for then it is unlawfull. Yea more then this (they say) he that separateth his sinne-offring for fat which he did eate yesterday, may not bring it for fat which he did eate this day: and if he bring it so, it makes no atonement for him. Maimony treat. of Ignorances, chap. 3. sect. 3. If he bring two sinne-offrings for two sinnes: the one is to be killed in the name of the first sinne; and the other, in the name of the second sinne. Ibid. s. 6. Vers. 29. his hand] with confession of his sinne: see Levit. 1. 4. the sinne-offring] in Greeke, the head of his sinne: that is, his sacrifice. he shall] that is, the Priest or Levite shall kill: Greeke, they shall kill the Goat of sinne, that is, the goat to be sacrificed for sin. See Levit. 1. 5. Vers. 30. the hornes] the foure hornes of the Altar, after the manner before described on v. 25. Verse 31. of rest] Greeke, of sweet smell: the Chaldee explaineth it, to be accepted with favour: see the notes on Lev. [illegible: 1 word]. 9. Vers. 32. a Lambe] or, sheepe. This sacrifice is spoken of, apart from the former of the goat, because of the difference in the fat which was burned; as is shewed in the annotations on Lev. 3. 12. Verse 33. he shall kill] in Greeke, they shall kill it for sinne, that is, for a sinne-offring: which Sol. Iarohi expoundeth, that the killing be by the name of a sinne-offring. All these perfect unblemished sacrifices, for the sinnes of the people, figured Christ the lambe without blemish and without spot, 1 Pet. 1. 19. the lambe of God, which taketh away the sinne of the world, Iohn 1. 29. who once suffred for sinnes, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, 1 Peter 3. 18. For he made him who knew no sinne, to be sinne for us, that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him, 2 Cor. 5. 21. Vers. 35. according to] or, upon, or with Iehovahs Fire-offrings: which the Greeke translateth, upon the Lords Burnt-offring. For the daily Burnt-offring was first offred to the Lord; and other sacrifices after, and as it were upon the same. But it may bee referred to the fat of the Peace-offrings, Levit. 3. according to which, the fat of the sinne-offring was to be burnt. As for the flesh or bodies of this and the former Sinne-offring of the Prince, they were not burnt without the host, (as the High Priests and Churches were) but eaten by the Priests; as is commanded in Lev. 6. 26.—30.