Big Idea: There needs to be cleansing from sin before God.

Understanding the Text

The sin offering is the fourth in a series of five offerings found in Leviticus 1:1–6:7.

Why are the sin and guilt offerings not treated with the earlier atoning sacrifice, the burnt offering? Probably because unlike the burnt offering, the sin and guilt offerings are obligatory.1The burnt, grain, and fellowship offerings can be offered whenever one feels the need; sin and guilt offerings are mandatory whenever one commits certain offenses.

This passage is ordered from weightier to less weighty persons/groups: the more significant the person/group, the more expensive the sacrifice and the deeper into the holy place the blood was taken (see table 1).

Historical and Cultural Background

Leviticus 4 speaks of the “horn…