Leviticus. Day 18, Regulations For The Sin Offering

The Lord tells the priests how they are to handle the sin offerings that are brought to the tabernacle.

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to Aaron and his sons: These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the Lord in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy." (Leviticus 6:24-25) The sin offering and the burnt offering would be slaughtered on the north side of the altar.

"The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting." (Leviticus 6:26) Earlier in Leviticus we were told which parts of the sin offering were offered on the altar to the Lord. The remainder belongs to the priest. This is part of his "salary", if you will, for the work he performs at the tabernacle. We will see in today's passage that the priest can only retain sin offerings that are brought by the people; he can't eat any of an offering he brought for his own sin and he can't eat any of any offering that's being made for the sins of the nation as a whole.

"Whatever touches any of the flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in the sanctuary area. The clay pot the meat is cooked in must be broken; but if it is cooked in a bronze pot, the pot is to be scoured and rinsed with water." (Leviticus 6:27-28) The shedding of blood is what obtained remission for sins. (Hebrews 9:22) Only certain objects in the tabernacle were supposed to be splashed or anointed with blood. If any of the blood got on an object that could be washed, such as clothing, the object could be kept if the blood could be removed. If the blood could not be removed, the object had to be discarded. We see here that the priest must immediately wash his garment if blood gets on it. Quick washing helps to ensure that the blood doesn't become a set-in stain. If the meat is cooked in a clay pot then the pot can't be used again, presumably because clay is porous. But a bronze pot is not porous and can be washed and reused.

Why does the blood have to be removed in order to retain the object splattered by blood? Some scholars say this is because the blood is too holy to be applied to anything but the articles of the tabernacle which the Lord said it could be applied to. Others say it's because the blood represents the sin for which the blood was shed and that a stain from this blood represents being stained by sin. Both of these explanations have merit, in my opinion, and I don't know which is the correct explanation.

When a priest has slaughtered a sin offering brought to the tabernacle by a citizen of Israel, any of his male relatives may share in the meal cooked from the portion that belongs to him. "Any male in a priest's family may eat it; it is most holy." (Leviticus 6:29)

As we said earlier, there are some exceptions to this rule. No one may eat the meat of a sin offering that is made for the priest or for the nation. For example, on the Day of Atonement the priest would first have to make sacrifice for his own sins and then he made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole nation. Blood from those sacrifices were taken behind the veil to be sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. In that case nothing could be retained from the sin offering. "But any sin offering whose blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place must not be eaten; it must be burned up." (Leviticus 6:30) This sacrifice had to be wholly consumed by fire---surrendered to the Lord.

I am glad that in our times we don't have to bring sacrifices to a tabernacle or temple. But we can and we should live lives of surrender to the Lord who saves us. This is our proper sacrifice to the One who redeemed us, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:1, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God---this is your true and proper worship." Paul isn't asking us to die for our faith. He's encouraging us to be living sacrifices, to live our lives day by day in ways that honor the Lord. We are to profess Christ in word and deed, to "continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise---the fruit of lips that openly profess His name," (Hebrews 13:15), and, "do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:16) When we love God and love our fellow man, we are putting God and others ahead of ourselves. This is sacrificial living. This is the type of living that mirrors the kind of life Christ lived. And the more we look and walk and talk like Christ, the more likely we are to be able to lead others to Him.