(c) The Sin- and Trespass-offerings were peculiar to the Mosaic Law, which was added on account of transgression (Gal. iii. 19), and deepened the knowledge and conviction of sin (Rom. vii. 7, &c.).
(a) The Sin-offering consisted of one animal only,and was not accompanied by a meat-offering. The victim if offered for the whole covenant people was a kid of the goats (Lev. xvi. 5, 9, 15; Num. xxviii. 15, 22, 30); for the priests and Levites at their consecration a young bullock (Ex. xxix. 11; Numb. viii. 8 ff.); for the High-priest on the great day of Atonement a young bullock (Lev. xvi. 3, 6, 11); for the purification of women after childbirth a young pigeon or turtle-dove (Lev. xii. 6, 8; comp. Lk. ii. 22, 24); for the cleansing of a leper or a leprous house a yearling ewe; or, in a case of poverty, a bird for the leper and two for the house (Lev. xiv. 13, 22–49); for an inadvertent transgression of some prohibition, (a) on the part of the whole congregation or the High-priest, a young bullock, (b) a prince, a he-goat, (c) a common man, a yearling ewe or kid (Lev. iv. 1–35).
The Ritual of the Sin-offering deserves attention. The offerer brought the victim to the great altar, laid his hand upon it with a confession of the sin and a prayer for its expiation, and then slew it. The priest then dipped his finger in the blood, and in the case of a prince or individual, sprinkled it seven times on the horns of the Brazen Altar (Lev. iv. 7, 18, 30, 34); in that of the High-priest and congregation seven times on the veil before the Ark, and seven times on the horns of the Golden Altar of Incense (Lev. iv. 6, 17, 25); on the great day of Atonement, the High-priest himself sprinkled it seven times on and before the Mercy-seat, and then seven times streaked with it the horns of the Altar of Incense (Lev. xvi. 14, 15, 19); the rest of the blood was poured on the ground before the Brazen Altar. After the sprinkling, the same portions were burnt on the altar, as in the case of the peace-offerings, and in ordinary cases the rest of the victim was eaten by the priest in the court of the Tabernacle with only the males of his family; but any vessels in which theflesh had been boiled were required, if earthenware, to be broken; if metal, to be carefully scoured (Lev. vi. 24–30). But in the case of the more important Sin-offerings, where the blood was sprinkled within the Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, the entire carcase, except the altar-pieces, with the hide, entrails, &c., was conveyed to a clean place without the camp, and there burnt with fire (Lev. iv. 11, 12, 21; xvi. 27).
Except when offered for the whole people, or the priests and Levites at their consecration, Sin-offerings were presented as an atonement for sins of culpable weakness and ignorance, negligence and frailty, repented of by the unpunished offender, who was thus restored to his place in the commonwealth. They could not be offered for presumptuous, or deliberate and unrepented sins, such as wilful murder or adultery, for which the punishment of death was appointed (Num. xv. 30, 31; Deut. xvii. 12; and comp. Heb. x. 26).
(b) The Trespass- or Debt-offering, on the other hand, though closely connected with the Sin-offering and sometimes offered with it, as in the case of the leper (Lev. xiv. 12), was always offered for some special act of sin, and was regarded in the light of reparation to the Lord for a wrong done to Him. Hence it was presented for sins “in which the offence given, or the debt incurred by the misdeed, admitted of some sort of recompence, which could be actually estimated[92].”
The following cases will illustrate the occasions on which a trespass-offering could be presented. A leper, on the occasion of his cleansing, owed a debt-offering to Jehovah, for the time of his exclusion from the camp; the Nazarite for a temporary suspension of his vow by touching a dead body (Num. vi. 12); a man, who had inadvertently appropriated or made awaywith anything consecrated to the Lord (Lev. v. 15, 16), or unwittingly violated a Divine prohibition (Lev. v. 17, 18), or denied a trust or any damage sustained by the thing entrusted, or denied having found some lost article of property, or sworn falsely in such a matter (Lev. vi. 2 ff.). In these cases, whether the wrong done was in a matter of property or to the Lord, the damage was made good with an overplus, generally a fifth of the value, while the trespass-offering itself was the substitute for the damages due to the Lord, and assessed by the priest. The victim was, as in the case of the sin-offering, one animal only, and always a ram.
CHAPTER IV.
HOLY TIMES AND SEASONS.
Exod. xx. Levit. xxiii. xxv. Deut. xv. xvi.
THE Holy Times and Seasons of the Israelites may be arranged under three heads.
I. Those that were connected with the Seventh Day of Rest, such as (a) the Weekly Sabbath, (b) the Month-Sabbath or New Moon, (c) the Year-Sabbath, (d) the Year of Jubilee.