(Leviticus 4:1 - 4:35)
Jehovah said this to Moses, "Tell the Israelites that whenever someone unintentionally commits an act that Jehovah has forbidden, it should be dealt with in this manner:
"If it is the high priest who has transgressed (therefore bringing guilt upon the whole community), he must make a sin offering to atone for his sinful act. This offering to Jehovah should be a bull from the herd, an animal that is without defect. He should bring the bull to the entrance of the Tabernacle, lay hold of its head and slaughter it in front of the Sanctum. The high priest should take some of the bull's blood and bring it into the Sanctum. He should dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the curtains of the Inner Sanctum. The priest should dab some of the bull's blood upon the horns of the Incense Altar that stands before the Inner Sanctum and pour out the rest of it at the base of the Sacrificial Altar, which is positioned before the entrance to the Sanctum. Next, the priest should remove the fat from the carcass of the sin offering, that is, all the fat surrounding the internal organs, as well as the two kidneys and the fat around them on the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. (This should be done in the same manner as with the bull of the peace offering.) The priest should then burn these upon the Sacrificial Altar. However, the rest of the bull, its hide, meat, legs, head, intestines, as well as the remainder of the internal organs, must be taken to a clean area outside the Tabernacle, to the place where ashes are dumped, there to be burned upon a wood fire.
"If the entire community has transgressed by unintentionally committing an act that Jehovah has forbidden and is unaware of the act, it should, when the transgression becomes known and the guilt realized, present before the Tabernacle a sin offering in the form of a young bull. The tribal elders should lay their hands upon the bull's head, and it should be slaughtered in front of the Sanctum. The high priest will take some of the blood of the slaughtered bull into the Sanctum. He should dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the curtains of the Inner Sanctum. The priest should then dab some of the bull's blood upon the horns of the Incense Altar that stands before the Inner Sanctum and pour out the rest of it at the base of the Sacrificial Altar, which is positioned before the entrance to the Sanctum. He should remove all the fat from the carcass and burn it on the Sacrificial Altar. All should be done with this bull as with the former sin offering. The priest will make atonement for the people, and they will be forgiven. The remains of the bull should be carried away from camp and disposed of by burning as was done with the aforementioned bull. This will be the communal sin offering.
"When it is a leader who is guilty of transgression, of unintentionally committing an act forbidden by his god Jehovah, he should, when the transgression becomes known and the guilt realized, present a male goat without defect as a sin offering. He should hold the goat by the head and slaughter it in front of the Sanctum where burnt offerings are customarily made. This will be a sin offering. The priest should dab some of the bull's blood upon the horns of the Sacrificial Altar and pour out the rest of it at the base of the Sacrificial Altar. He should burn the fat on this altar, as was done with the peace offering. In this manner the priest will make atonement for the leader, and the leader will thus be forgiven.
"When it is an ordinary member of the community who is guilty of transgression, of unintentionally committing an act forbidden by Jehovah, he should, when the transgression becomes known and the guilt realized, present a female goat without defect as a sin offering. He should hold the goat by the head and slaughter it in front of the Sanctum where burnt offerings are customarily made. The priest should dab some of the bull's blood upon the horns of the Sacrificial Altar and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. He should burn the fat on the Sacrificial Altar, as was done with the peace offering. This will produce an aroma very pleasing to Jehovah, and in this manner, the priest will achieve atonement for this person, who will thus be forgiven.
If the sin offering presented is a lamb, it should be a female without defect. The lamb should be held by the head and slaughtered in front of the Sanctum where burnt offerings are customarily made. The priest should dab some of the lamb’s blood upon the horns of the Sacrificial Altar and pour out the rest of it at the base of the altar. He should remove all the fat, as it was removed for the peace offering, and burn it on the Sacrificial Altar on top of the regular burnt offerings to Jehovah. In this way, the priest will achieve for this person atonement for his transgression so he will be forgiven.
Notes
1. The sin offerings discussed here are all for transgressions, violations of Jehovah's commandments and ordinances that are unintentional, or inadvertent. The Hebrews maintained a moral view that a sinful act was sufficient in itself to produce guilt in the actor. On the other hand, we believe that intent and state of mind is vital in accessing guilt; a person is generally not considered morally responsible for acts committed involuntarily, unknowingly or even accidentally, if no negligence is involved. In the Torah, intent, knowledge and aforethought seem to be beside the point in many, but not all instances. In Exodus, for example, the owner of an animal that damages a neighbor's property is not liable if he took precautions to pen his animal or was ignorant of the animal's untoward propensities. Here, however, a man seems to be totally responsible for his own actions, purposeful or not, with little ethical wiggle room.
2. Atonement for unintentional acts of moral transgression is not achieved by a resolution to be more aware, or careful, or fastidious or by a commitment to perform good deeds, or what we would call community service, but rather by merely killing an animal for Jehovah's benefit. This can only be inexplicable to the modern mindset, but not, apparently, to the ancient way of thinking. Imagine a contemporary scenario: in good faith an auto company manufacturers cars with faulty equipment that causes injuries and maybe deaths -- unintentional moral wrong. In lieu of lawsuits, the CEO of the offending company redeems himself by going into a church and slitting the throat of the family dog and sprinkling its blood upon the altar. He is then absolved of guilt. --- Obviously, we do not think along these lines.
3. Again we are reminded how God-awful bloody the holy places of Jehovan worship must have been with all these animals being slaughtered and blood being sprinkled and smeared about.
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