This chapter contains more moral guidelines for guilt offerings, and specific directions on the various offerings and usage of holy places.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; it is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting. Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy, and when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place. And the earthenware vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, that shall be scoured and rinsed in water. Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most holy. But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it shall be burned up with fire.’ ” (v24-30)
The sin offerings received special treatment – not only was the blood to be respected as disposed of correctly, only certain portions of the offering were allowed to be eaten.
These guidelines expand upon ch4 where we discussed the different levels of responsibility and influence, how the priests and entire nation had extra steps for their sin offerings versus the average citizen. Both the sin offerings for priests and the entire nation, required blood to be sprinkled before the veil in the tabernacle – this means those sacrifices “shall be burned up with fire” and cannot be eaten. Offerings given by the average citizen, which did not require blood to be taken into the tent of meeting, could be partially eaten. The portions the priests were allowed to eat were anything except the portions listed in ch4:8-12.
In summary, only the “meat” (clean parts, no organs, fat or blood) of the animal from an individual’s (non-priest) sin offering was allowed to be eaten by the priests within the tabernacle courtyard.
The main takeaway for me is that the blood carries away the sin of the offender. The blood was treated very specifically, to be poured/smeared/sprinkled in specific places, and none of it was allowed to be consumed or even transferred to another object. If any priestly garb was splashed with blood, it had to be washed with boiling water and the vessel in which it was boiled was to be thoroughly cleaned or even destroyed. Clearly, the blood contains the sin of the individual/group that sacrificed the animal.
I think this passage really helps sum up the significance of the blood: “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hb 9:13-14,22) This rich text gives us a number of insights:
– sanctification / purification from sin comes through the shedding of blood
– we were “dead” in our sin, but the shedding of another’s blood took our place
– Jesus became the final blood sacrifice for our sin on the cross
– we are now alive, freed from sin and death, and able to serve our righteous living God
What does all of this mean for us today? I think we should be encouraged to live our lives to the fullest, loving God and loving our neighbors, and sharing with them the good news that those who the Son sets free are free indeed (Jn 8:36).
Father God, thank you for the shedding of blood and the cleansing of our sin. We acknowledge that we have sinned and fallen short of Your glory, yet You so loved us that You sent Your Son Jesus to dies on the cross so that we may have life through Him. Thank you that in this freedom we can be Christ’s ambassadors, Your mouthpiece in this world, so that others may also be reconciled to You. Please guide always, satisfying our needs and strengthening us against a rebellious culture. We are bearing the fruit of Your Spirit, and we trust You will not fail us. Amen. (Hb 4:22, Rm 3:23, Jn 3:16, 2 Cor 5:20, Isa 58:11 par)
~ Conqueror in Training