Leviticus 4:13-21
When the community falls into unintentional sin, God provides a sin offering that restores the covenant people to purity before Him.
13 “ ‘If the whole congregation of Israel sins, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and are guilty;
14 when the sin in which they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bull for a sin offering, and bring it before the Tent of Meeting.
15 The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before Yahweh; and the bull shall be killed before Yahweh.
16 The anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull to the Tent of Meeting.
17 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil.
18 He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before Yahweh, that is in the Tent of Meeting; and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
19 All its fat he shall take from it, and burn it on the altar.
20 Thus shall he do with the bull; as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this; and the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
21 He shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
When the community falls into unintentional sin, God provides a sin offering that restores the covenant people to purity before Him.
This passage addresses the situation in which the whole congregation of Israel commits an unintentional sin against the LORD's commands. It prescribes a sin offering that removes communal guilt and restores covenant purity through sacrificial mediation performed by the priesthood.
Leviticus 4:13-21 is the second major case in the purification offering sequence. The first case, Leviticus 4:1-12, concerned the anointed priest whose sin brings guilt on the people. This unit now concerns the whole Israelite community. The procedures are very similar: a young bull, hand-laying, slaughter before the LORD, blood brought into the tent of meeting, sevenfold sprinkling before the curtain, blood applied to the altar horns, remaining blood poured at the bronze altar base, fat burned on the altar, and the carcass burned outside the camp.
Leviticus 4:13-21 belongs to Israel's tabernacle worship in the wilderness and addresses the case of unintentional sin by the whole community. Israel is already the LORD's redeemed covenant people. The passage shows how the covenant community is restored when the assembly has sinned unintentionally and become guilty before the holy God who dwells among them. The assembly brings a young bull before the tent of meeting. The elders lay hands on the bull's head before the LORD. The bull is slaughtered, the anointed priest brings its blood into the tent, sprinkles it before the curtain, applies blood to the altar horns, pours the remaining blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, burns the fat on the altar, and the bull is burned outside the camp. The instruction is given to Moses for Israel and concerns the whole Israelite community, represented by the elders of the community and mediated through the anointed priest. The elders function as representative leaders of the assembly. Their hand-laying shows that the community's sin is being acknowledged and represented before the LORD. This passage follows the anointed priest's purification offering and precedes the leader and individual purification offerings. It demonstrates a graded structure where the seriousness of the offender's covenant role shapes the blood rite.
The Sin Offering: Purification for Unintentional Sin
No one in the covenant community is beyond the reach of sin or beyond the mercy of God's appointed atonement.