Introduction
Just another boring chapter in Leviticus? Is that what you’re thinking? Well, wait a minute. This chapter is big, very big. It teaches us more about absolution of sin than any single Sunday School class we have ever attended. We normally think of forgiveness based on a model which looks back to the Atonement of Christ. This chapter gives us the opportunity to look at forgiveness based on a completely different model—one that looks forward to the Atonement of Christ. Sure, it’s messy; it’s bloody; but there are great lessons about the relationship between sin and death, between repentance and blood, about justification by the Spirit, about the role of the priest in our repentance process, and about the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Leviticus 4:3 a young bullock without blemish . . . for a sin offering
Before you can bring your sacrifice, you have to realize that you have committed sin; recognition is the first step. Laying the sin on the head of the animal symbolically takes the weight of sin from your shoulders. Killing the animal at the door of the tabernacle is a sort of confession, saying, “I have committed sin and need to repent. I recognize my transgression before all Israel, before the priest, and before God.” The ordinance demonstrates the importance of recognition, confession, and remembrance, “in those sacrifices there is remembrance again made of sins.” (Heb. 10:3) As Paul said, “Be ye reconciled to God. For he (the Father) hath made him (the Son) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:20-21)
Leviticus 4:3 If the priest that is anointed do sin
The Law of Moses held an anointed priest to a higher standard than the common person (v. 27-35). This is according to the principle, “for unto whom much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48; D&C 82:3)
“The gravity of high-priestly sin is further underlined in vv. 4-7, by the valuable animal he has to bring and by the provision that he must sprinkle its blood on the veil and incense altar. A bull is the largest animal ever prescribed for the purification offering. The only other occasion it was required was when the whole nation sinned. Sprinkling the blood within the holy place indicates that the pollution caused by the priest’s sin was more serious than a layman’s sin., which only required the altar of burnt offering to be cleansed.” (Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, [Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1979], 97)
Leviticus 4:6 sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the vail of the sanctuary
Blood from the sin offering was taken by the priest from the door of the tabernacle, past the altar, into the holy place (the location of the altar of incense, the candelabra, and the table of shewbread) to the veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Here, the blood is sprinkled before the veil as if to remind the priest that his sins are the reason there is a veil in the first place. The veil, like sin, separates us from the Presence of God. The Blood of Christ becomes the only way through the veil. As the priest sprinkles the blood before the veil, you can imagine the following statement from the Redeemer, “Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.” (D&C: 45:4-5)
Leviticus 4:12 the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place. . . and burn him on the wood with fire
Symbolism #1—The priest is to cleanse the camp of sin, to get the sin out of the camp where it can’t influence or affect the righteous, to cleanse the inner vessel of the camp.
Symbolism #2—When Christ was made to suffer for sin, he was crucified outside the city walls and away from the Holy Temple, as if he wasn’t worthy. “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.” (Heb. 13:12-13)
Leviticus 4:15 the bullock shall be killed before the Lord
The mercy lovers inevitably have a hard time with the animal slaughter of the Law of Sacrifice. However, the brutality of the killing teaches a forgotten principle about sin. As Paul taught, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). To teach this principle, the Lord commanded that the punishment for various sins should be death.
- He that smiteth a man, so that he die . . . shall be surely put to death (Ex. 21:12).
- He that smiteth his father, or his mother . . . shall be surely put to death (Ex. 21:15)
- He that curseth his father, or his mother . . . shall be surely put to death (Ex. 21:17)
- He that stealeth a man, and selleth him . . . shall be surely put to death (Ex. 21:16)
- He that sacrificeth unto any God, save unto the Lord only . . . he shall be utterly destroyed (Ex. 22:20)
“To be carnally minded is death” (Rom. 8:6). Jacob taught what would happen if there were no atonement. Without the atonement, we all become subject to the consequences of sin, which are death and hell. Fortunately, God, through the atonement, “delivereth his saints from the awful monster the devil, and death, and hell” (2 Ne. 9:19). As sinners, we have no way to fix the problem created by our sins. We can never repay the debt to God. How could we repay our debt to God without an atonement? The closest we could do would be to present ourselves to God and say, “Take my life Father, for I have sinned. Let my stain be blotted out by the shedding of my blood before thee. What can I give in exchange for my sin? Nothing, but my own life. Even that isn’t enough, for thou hast given me all things, including life itself. God giveth, and God taketh away. In the first place, thou has granted me life, yet please take it back to pay my debt to justice.”
Instead of what we (or the children of Israel) deserve, which is the death penalty for serious sin, God was merciful to allow the children of Israel to place our sins on the head of the bullock. In this case, we are speaking of the sins of the entire congregation being placed on the head of a single animal to make atonement for the entire group. Killing the bullock sounds much better than the execution of every sinner in the camp of Israel.
Leviticus 4:20 the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.
The word atonement occurs only once in the entire New Testament (Rom 5:11), but it occurs three times in this chapter alone. In all three cases, it is the priest, who by the ordinance of the sin offering makes atonement for the sinner. Each time, the text says, “it shall be forgiven them” (v. 20, 26, 35). Atonement means to become one with God, to close the gap caused by sin, to repay the debt, to be cleansed of sin by vicariously placing the sin on the head of the animal. All this forgiveness pointing to the ultimate High Priest, Jesus Christ, who offered himself up as a sacrifice for sin. “Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). “Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many . . . for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins . . . [yet] we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, But this man (Jesus) [took away our sins], after he had offered one sacrifice” (Heb. 9:28 – 10:12).
Charles W. Penrose
Did not Jesus suffer for all on the principle of a vicarious atonement? On this principle of proxy rests the whole scheme of human redemption. Without that principle of proxy, every one must pay the penalty of blood and death, for the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6:23 and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” Rom. 3:23 and “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.” Heb. 9:22 Christ died for you and for me and for all mankind, on condition that they would receive His Gospel. He died, “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” 1 Pet. 3:18 He who knew no sin died for those that had sinned. 2 Cor. 5:21 Here, then, is the principle of proxy in the vicarious death of Jesus Christ, as was typified in the ordinances and sacrifices that were given in the law of carnal commandments. (Journal of Discourses, 22:155, p. 166, July 17, 1881)
Leviticus 4:27 if any one of the common people sin through ignorance
Here, the text speaks of the sin offering for an individual who has unintentionally committed sin. Perhaps it was a temporary lapse of judgment, an oversight. Perhaps they forgot the commandment until it was pointed out to them. None of the children of Israel had their own copy of the Law of Moses. There was plenty of opportunity to forget the Law. Such ignorance is quite a different thing than a pre-meditated, willful disobedience to the law of God. Hebrews 10:26 reads, “if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins . . . Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, and unholy thing?”
Leviticus 4:30 the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger
“Blood in the ancient and modern world is a symbol of life—both mortal life and spiritually redeemed life. It was a symbol of God’s saving power extended to people through covenant. ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul’ (Leviticus 17:11).” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2022/09/united-states-and-canada-section/sacrifice-in-similitude-of-the-savior?lang=eng)
What are we to think of the blood of the sacrifice? Animal sacrifice is not the only ordinance in which blood is symbolic. Remember the word of the Lord to Adam,
“inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and spirit . . . even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin.
“For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified.” (Moses 6:59-60)
And so Adam was carried away by the Spirit and baptized in water to fulfill the commandment of God. The ordinance of Baptism is just as relevant today as when Adam was baptized, but not so with animal sacrifice. Let’s consider the symbolism; the spirit of the animal departs at sacrifice and is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, the blood of the animal is spilled, symbolic of the blood of Christ. We could apply the same rule to the ordinance of animal sacrifice that the Lord applied to baptism, namely, “by the sacrifice ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified.”
We have quoted Paul who wisely understood, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). Of course not. It was symbolic. We could say the same thing today, “For it is not possible that the bread and water of the sacrament should take away sins.” It’s not the ordinance of sacrament that sanctifies but remembering and committing to Christ that sanctifies. It is not ordinance which saves but the Spirit which justifies. It is the same with the sacrament as it was with animal sacrifice. If the mind of the individual doesn’t turn to God, if the heart is not broken and the spirit not contrite, then how can the ordinance be of value to God. Without the attitude of worshipful gratitude, God has no pleasure “in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.” (Heb. 10:6)
Dale G. Renlund
Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for sin and salvation from spiritual death are available to all who have such a broken heart and contrite spirit. A broken heart and contrite spirit prompt us to joyfully repent and try to become more like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As we do so, we receive the Savior’s cleansing, healing, and strengthening power. We not only do justly and walk humbly with God; we also learn to love mercy the way that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do. (General Conference, Oct. 2020, “Do Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with God,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/10/55…)