Leviticus 4:1

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Leviticus 4:1. The Lord spake unto Moses — The laws contained in the first three 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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-12 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 4

Le 4:1, 2. Sin Offering of Ignorance.Of sins of ignorance, and their sacrifice, Leviticus 4:1,2: committed by the priest according to the guilt of the people; he must offer a perfect young bullock, and sprinkle the blood seven times before the veil of the holy place, and upon the horns of the incense altar, Leviticus 4:3-12. Or by the whole congregation, when their sin is known, the elders of the congregation to lay their hands on the head of the offering, to be offered in the same manner with that of the priest, Leviticus 4:13-21. Or by a ruler, he, when his sin is made known to him, must offer a he-goat, Leviticus 4:22-26. Or by a private person, must offer a female goat, Leviticus 4:27-35: the sin is forgiven him.

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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

Geneva Study Bible

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Leviticus 4:1-2. A general introduction like that in Leviticus 1:1-2. From here to Leviticus 6:7 a new class of sacrifices are prescribed, the Sin-Offerings and Guilt-Offerings, and the occasions on which they are to be brought are specified, while in chs. 1–3 nothing is said about when the sacrifices are to be brought; their ceremonial only is regulated. The Sin-Offering is for sins committed unwittingly (through ignorance A.V.); for sins committed presumptuously (Heb. with an high hand, Numbers 15:30) the punishment is ‘that soul shall be cut off from among his people.’ The same distinction is drawn in Psalms 19 where ‘hidden (‘secret’ A.V.) faults’ (Leviticus 4:12) are contrasted with ‘presumptuous sins’ (Leviticus 4:13). After this general statement, the material and manner of the offering are prescribed for four different classes: (a) the anointed priest (Leviticus 4:3-12), (b) the congregation (Leviticus 4:13-21), (c) a ruler (Leviticus 4:22-26), (d) any one of the common people (Leviticus 4:27-35). Cp. Numbers 15:22-29.

We may observe that the directions for disposal of the Sin-Offering, though very similar in all four cases, are not absolutely identical. In (a) and (b) some of the blood is to be put upon the horns of the altar of incense inside the tent of meeting; all the rest of the blood is to be poured out at the foot of the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tent of meeting; the fat is to be burnt upon the altar of Burnt-Offering; the whole bullock is to be burnt without the camp: in (c) and (d) some of the blood is to be put upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering; all the rest is to be poured out at the foot of that altar; the fat is to be burnt upon the altar; there is no command given as to the remainder.

We notice that on no occasion is the whole burnt upon the altar, as in the case of the Burnt-Offering.

THE SIN OFFERING (Leviticus 4; Leviticus 5:1-13). At the time of the Mosaic legislation, burnt offerings and meat offerings were already in existence, and had existed from the time of the Fall. A beginning, therefore, is made with them, and the regulations of the peace offerings naturally follow, because these sacrifices succeed in order to the burnt and meat offerings, and because sacrifices in some respects of the same nature as peace offerings had previously existed under a different name (cf. Exodus 10:25 with Exodus 24:5, and see above notes on chapter 3). The sin and trespass offerings, therefore, are left to the last, though, owing to their meaning, they were always offered first of all, when sacrifices of all three kinds were made together. They are the means of ceremonially propitiating God when alienated from his people, or from any individual member of it, by sin, which they legally atone for. The need of expiation is implied and suggested by the offering of the blood, both in the burnt sacrifice and the peace offering (cf. Job 1:5). But this was not sufficient; there must be a special sacrifice to teach this great truth as its primary lesson. The sin offering typifies the sacrifice of our Lord JESUS CHRIST upon the cross, as the great Sin Offering for mankind, whereby the wrath of God was propitiated, and an expiation for the sins of man was wrought, bringing about reconciliation between God and man. Leviticus 4:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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 (Leviticus 4:3, Leviticus 4:8, Leviticus 4:14, Leviticus 4:19, etc.), and אשׁם debt, i.e., debt-offering (Leviticus 5:15-16, Leviticus 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 Leviticus 4:1-2, which is repeated in Leviticus 5:14. This repetition proves that Leviticus 4:2-5:13 treats of the sin-offerings, and Leviticus 5:14-19 of the trespass-offerings; and this is confirmed by the substance of the two series of laws.