This chapter has the laws for sin offerings. There’s an interesting progression that happens here.
“if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. When a leader sins… he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish… Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. If anyone of the common people sins… he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.” (v3,5-7,22-23,25,27-28 abr)
There are too many verses to quote them all here, but I’ll review the basic progression (in reverse order from the scripture):
– if a common person sins, they bring a female goat or lamb and the priest only does a few steps in the sacrifice at the main altar
– if a leader sins, they bring a male goat (no mention of a sheep) and the priest has a comparable number of steps to perform the sacrifice
– if a whole congregation sins, they bring a bull and the priest has a couple of extra steps including sprinkling blood in front of the veil in the tent of meeting
– if a priest sins, they bring a bull and the priest (it’s unclear if it’s a different priest) has even more steps including sprinkling blood in the tent of meeting and spreading it on the altar of incense
My takeaway from this is that leaders, especially spiritual leaders, are held to a higher level of responsibility and accountability than the average citizens. They need to pay a higher price (a male cow vs. a female goat/lamb) and go through more steps in order to be forgiven and cleansed of their sin.
Is this still relevant to us today? Some of it is, yes.
Though are no longer necessary, the higher level of accountability for leaders is still true today: “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (1 Tim 3:1-5) This passage gives a long list of qualifications for a church leader, including the phrase “must be above reproach” (above disapproval).
1 Timothy contains guidelines for various other “leaders” as well, including deacons, teachers, spouses, parents, and even widows. Children also receive some guidelines, though we’ll consider them to be “common citizens”. Since leadership is defined as “influence”, we are all technically leaders fitting at least one of the descriptors in 1 Timothy. Therefore, we are all held accountable for our own actions and thoughts, and the accountability/responsibility scales up as the circle of influence scales up.
Father God, praise be to You for the gift of salvation from sin and death. Thank you for the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, who will guide us according to Your purpose as we allow Him. Would You please teach us to follow Your will, and repent of sins when we don’t. Please help those of us who have larger circles of influence to fully rely on You as much we are able, so we may not mislead those we influence. Father please guard our hearts and minds, and deliver us from the evil one. Please help us to help each other as well, loving our neighbors as You love us, strengthening and upholding them for Your glory. All honor and praise be to You Father. Amen.
~ Conqueror in Training