Chapter Six
Rules Regarding Guilt Offerings for Specific Sins
6:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor 3 or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby— 4 if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found 5 or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. 6 And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. 7 And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.”
Unlike the other offerings involving unintentional sin, these instructions cover some forms of intentional sin, those that ultimately defraud one’s neighbor. With another transitional, “YHWH spoke to Moses,” God says that if anyone deceives his neighbor regarding something entrusted to them, stolen something from them, found something that belonged to them and then lied about it or cheated them in any way, they are sinning. Based on the fact that the perpetrator is described as someone who may not know they are guilty of sin, this may also be categorized as an unintentional sin. Once they recognize that they have sinned in any of these circumstances, they are to restore anything that may have been taken along with an additional twenty percent restitution.
Then the person is to bring to the priest, as compensation to YHWH, a ram without blemish, or its equivalent value in silver (possibly to purchase one). The priest is to make atonement for the person before YHWH and will then be forgiven.
Instructions to the Priests Regarding Offerings
6:8 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. 10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. 11 Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
This section, from here through to the end of chapter seven, often confuses readers due to much of it being redundant, repeating many of the instructions given in the first six chapters up to this point. Perhaps the best way to interpret these verses would be to consider them a supplement, aimed at providing additional information for the priests. In chapter six, these verses pertain to the burnt offering; verses 14-23 are about the grain offering; and verses 24-30 relate to the sin offering. In chapter seven, verses 1-6 are about the guilt offering, verses 7-10 describes the portions to be given to the priests, and verses 11-36 pertain to the peace offering. The final two verses of chapter seven will summarize and conclude this section.
There is a strong emphasis regarding the fire on the bronze altar. It is mentioned three times here in these verses that the fire must be kept burning (see verses 9, 12, and 13), further underscoring the fact that the Tabernacle is staffed and operated 24-hours a day.
The priests are instructed to wear their outer and undergarments (see Exodus chapter 28) when performing their duties (see Exodus 28:43) and when they take up the ashes from the bronze altar and place them on the side of the altar (probably the east side near the entrance to the courtyard, see Leviticus 1:16). Then, when it was time to dispose and move the ashes outside the camp, they were to put on other garments.
6:14 “And this is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD in front of the altar. 15 And one shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 16 And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. 17 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my food offerings. It is a thing most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. 18 Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, from the LORD’s food offerings. Whatever touches them shall become holy.”
Unlike the burnt offering, the grain offering was only partially burned, the remainder was to be consumed by the priests without any leaven. The grain offering is once again called, “a thing most holy,” (see Leviticus 2:3),[1] a reference shared with both the sin and guilt offerings (see Leviticus 6:25, 29; 7:1). From these most-holy offerings, God provided the priests with food, through this ongoing process.
6:19 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 20 “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall offer to the LORD on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. 21 It shall be made with oil on a griddle. You shall bring it well mixed, in baked pieces like a grain offering, and offer it for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 22 The priest from among Aaron’s sons, who is anointed to succeed him, shall offer it to the LORD as decreed forever. The whole of it shall be burned. 23 Every grain offering of a priest shall be wholly burned. It shall not be eaten.”
Briefly mentioned in Exodus 29:2, this grain offering was only performed during the High Priest’s consecration and installation. Some commentators interpret the reference to a “regular grain offering,” as being a daily grain offering. That phrase, combined with the procedure being “decreed forever,” were instructions for this procedure to be done on the day Aaron is anointed and on the days of each subsequent High Priest anointing.
Unlike a normal grain offering, this grain offering did not allow any uncooked grain and none of it was consumed, it was to be completely burned.
6:24 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 25 “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. 26 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. 27 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. 28 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. 29 Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most holy. 30 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.
God then told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons regarding some specific procedures for the sin offering. The location of where the animal was to be killed was the same location where the animal was to be killed for the burnt offering (see Leviticus 1:3, 5, 11). The priest who offers the sacrifice was allowed to eat the meat within the courtyard (other priests may partake as well, see verse 29). If any blood is inadvertently splashed onto any of the priest’s garments, the garment was to be washed there. If the meat was boiled in an earthenware pot, the pot was to be broken after cooking. It is assumed that the earthenware would allow particles of the flesh to accumulate, which might be considered “leftovers of the sacrifice,” which are forbidden to consume (see Leviticus 7:15-17). Since a bronze pot would not accumulate any flesh, if the meat was boiled in a bronze vessel, it could then be cleaned with water.
The sin offering could not be eaten if the offering required the blood brought into the structure for atonement. This meant that the meat from any sin offering given for the atonement of the high priest (see Leviticus 4:3-12); the whole congregation (see Leviticus 4:13-21); or on the Day of Atonement (see Leviticus 16:27), could not be eaten, but were fully burned in the fire. All other sin offerings could be eaten by the priests.
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[1] See also commentary under Leviticus 2:1-3.