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Leviticus 4 Bible study: And he will be forgiven
Leviticus 4 is where the book first says sin: an offering for sin done "unintentionally" (4:2), from the anointed priest to one of the common people. Its promise, "they shall be forgiven" (4:20), is the first time the WEB says "forgiven". And the bull whose blood went into the tent was burned outside the camp (4:12), which Hebrews sets beside Jesus (Hebrews 13:11-12).
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“He shall do this with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so he shall do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Leviticus 4, the bull whose blood was brought into the Tent of Meeting was burned outside the camp.”
Is that in Leviticus 4, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Sin nobody meant
The word sin doesn't appear in the WEB of Leviticus 1-3. It arrives in the second verse of this chapter: "If anyone sins unintentionally, in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done" (4:2). The ruler and one of the common people sin "unwittingly" (4:22, 4:27), and for the whole congregation "the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly" (4:13). The offering is brought once the sin comes to light: "when the sin in which they have sinned is known" (4:14), "if his sin in which he has sinned is made known to him" (4:23; also 4:28).
Where it leads to Jesus
Burned outside the camp
Leviticus 4:12leads toHebrews 13:11-12
The bull for the anointed priest's sin is burned "outside of the camp" (4:12), and so is the bull for the congregation (4:21). The anointed priest had carried its blood into the Tent of Meeting and sprinkled it before the veil (4:5-6, 4:16-17). Leviticus later makes this the rule: "No sin offering, of which any of the blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be eaten. It shall be burned with fire" (Leviticus 6:30). Hebrews writes, "For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate" (Hebrews 13:11-12). What Hebrews sets side by side is the place: the bodies burned outside the camp, and Jesus suffering outside the gate. Hebrews doesn't name a chapter; the sin offerings of the Day of Atonement, whose blood was also brought in, are burned outside the camp too (Leviticus 16:27).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Leviticus 4
That was a taste
The rest of Leviticus 4 is waiting in Favor
- Who sinned decides the offering
- "They shall be forgiven"
- Two altars, and the veil
- Hidden errors and a high hand
- The priest's own offering
- 13 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Leviticus 4 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
חַטָּאתchatta'tsay khat-TAHT
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "sin, sin-offering". Strong's: "an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiation". One word serves for both the sin and the offering for it, and this chapter has both in one verse: the anointed priest is to "offer for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without defect to the LORD for a sin offering" (4:3). It comes 20 times in this chapter. Leviticus uses it 82 times, more than any other book of the Hebrew Bible. Its first appearance in the Hebrew Bible is "sin crouches at the door" (Genesis 4:7). The verb it comes from (Strong's: "from 2398"), chata', is "sins" in "If anyone sins unintentionally" (4:2); Brown-Driver-Briggs gives "miss (a goal or way), go wrong, sin".
For your group
Leviticus 4 Bible study questions
- 1Leviticus 4 makes a way back for wrongs people didn't know they had done until later (4:13-14). Is it easier for you to own a wrong you meant, or one you didn't mean? Why?
- 2The anointed priest's sin could "bring guilt on the people" (4:3), and he brought the same offering as the whole congregation (4:3, 4:14). How do the wrongs of people who lead affect the people around them, and what does that ask of you where you lead?
- 3Hebrews says Jesus "suffered outside of the gate", and then, "Let’s therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach" (Hebrews 13:12-13). What might going out to him look like for you this week?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Leviticus 4 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home