Sin
Leviticus 4: 1-21
The Sin Offering
4 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands—3 "‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. 4 He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the Lord. 5 Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and carry it into the tent of meeting. 6 He is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord, in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. 7 The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the bull’s blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering—all the fat that is connected to the internal organs, 9 both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys— 10 just as the fat is removed from the ox sacrificed as a fellowship offering. Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines— 12 that is, all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.
13 “‘If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt 14 and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. 15 The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord. 16 Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. 17 He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the Lord seven times in front of the curtain. 18 He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the Lord in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, 20 and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. 21 Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.
Sin could be committed intentionally or unintentionally, and it could be hidden or revealed, but the effect of it seems so powerful, whether it is personal or public. Even the anointed priest, the chosen as the holiest man in the community could commit sins, and he also had to give the sin offering, so that he could be forgiven from the sin he had made.
I am sure that all men had to participate in this terrible and hard ceremonies in order to be forgiven, as no one is perfect and no one is good except God. Then, what is the intention of God who told them to do these kinds of work in the wilderness. The life in the field must have been tougher than the Canaan, the land of honey and milk. Before they moved in there, they had to perform these kinds of hard work. Why did God make them in trouble?
I guess that He wanted them to know that they must have been careful with sins that they could lead their lives corrupt and destructive, etc. God wanted to give cautions to them and all of us. But as you know, no one is perfect, then we all should do something like that, unless Jesus did once at all. That's the reason that I am so thankful for Him being my ransom for all my sins. Nevertheless, I will have to be careful with my mouth and my thought not to sin against the commandments of God, which is loving God and neighbors like myself as well.
Lastly, I pray that I might be a fragrant incense to Him, burning myself to all of my neighbors at the outside of the tent of God, in my society and my community, including in my house.
