This Torah portion is about the guilt or “asham”
offering.
This is offered for a sin committed by mistake – (Heb
shagag)
The dictionary defines guilt in the following way:
“The fact or state of having committed an offense,
crime, violation or wrong, especially against a moral or penal law – a feeling
of responsibility whether real or imagined.”
Lev 4:1 And יהוה spoke to
Mosheh, saying,
Lev 4:2 “Speak to
the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘When a being sins by mistake against any of
the commands of יהוה, which are not
to be done, and shall do any of them:
Lev 4:3 ‘If the
anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then he shall bring to יהוה for his sin which he has sinned a young
bull, a perfect one, as a sin offering,
Why is he anointed? Because he is engaged in active duty.
The mistakes of priests or Kohanim are first mentioned
because the consequences of their mistakes can have very serious consequences
for the people.
We can all have mistakes but there are often consequences
for our mistakes.
We know that if we confess our sins YHVH is merciful and
will forgive us our sins. When we keep on making the same mistakes, YHVH may
have to discipline us to correct wrong patterns of behavior and actions.
Heb 12:4 You have not yet resisted unto blood,
striving against sin.
Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten the appeal which
speaks to you as to sons, “My son, do not despise the discipline of יהוה, nor faint
when you are reproved by Him,
Heb 12:6 for whom יהוה loves, He disciplines, and flogs every son
whom He receives.”1 Footnote: 1Prov. 3:11-12.
Heb 12:7 If you
endure discipline, Elohim is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom a
father does not discipline?
Heb 12:8 But if
you are without discipline, of which all have become sharers, then you are
illegitimate and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Moreover,
we indeed had fathers of our flesh disciplining us, and we paid them respect.
Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10 For they
indeed disciplined us for a few days as seemed best to them, but He does it for
our profit, so that we might share His apartness.
Heb 12:11 And
indeed, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but grievous, but afterward
it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained
by it.1 Footnote: 1Dt. 8:2.
Heb 12:12 So,
strengthen the hands which hang down and the weak knees,
Heb 12:13 and make
straight paths for your feet, lest the lame be turned aside, but instead, to be
healed.
Heb 12:14 Pursue
peace with all, and pursue apartness without which no one shall see the Master.
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are
misleading ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is trustworthy and
righteous to forgive us the sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make
Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.
Any person who continues to intentionally sin may sin
away their time of favour.
1Ti 4:1 But the Spirit distinctly says that in latter
times some shall fall away from the belief, paying attention to misleading
spirits, and teachings of demons,
1Ti 4:2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having been
branded on their own conscience,
1Ti 4:3 forbidding to marry, saying to abstain
from foods which Elohim created to be received with thanksgiving by those who
believe and know the truth.
Gal 5:1 In the freedom with which Messiah has made us
free, stand firm, then, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery.
Rom 8:1 There is, then, now no condemnation to those
who are in Messiah יהושע, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the
Torah of the Spirit of the life in Messiah יהושע has set me
free from the law of sin and of death.
Rom 8:3 For the
Torah being powerless, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim, having
His own Son in the likeness of flesh of sin, and concerning sin, condemned sin
in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 so that
the righteousness of the Torah should be completed in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For those
who live according to the flesh set their minds on the matters of the
flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the matters of
the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For the
mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because
the mind of the flesh is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself1
to the Torah of Elohim2, neither indeed is it able, Footnotes: 1Or
does not obey. 2John 15:5, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 3:9, 1 John
5:18.
Rom 8:8 and those
who are in the flesh are unable to please Elohim.
Rom 8:9 But you
are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Elohim dwells
in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, this one is not His.
Rom 8:10 And if
Messiah is in you, the body is truly dead on account of sin, but the Spirit is
life on account of righteousness.
Lev 4:4 and he
shall bring the bull to the door of the Tent of Meeting before יהוה, and shall lay his hand on the bull’s
head, and slaughter the bull before יהוה.
Lev 4:5 ‘And the
anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the Tent of
Meeting,
Lev 4:6 and the
priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven
times before יהוה, in front of
the veil of the set-apart place.
Lev 4:7 ‘And the
priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense
before יהוה, which is in the Tent of Meeting, and pour
all the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which
is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
Lev 4:8 ‘Then he
takes all the fat of the bull as the sin offering, the fat that covers the
entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails,
Lev 4:9 and the
two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the loins, and the appendage on the
liver, which he removes with the kidneys,
Lev 4:10 as it was
taken from the bull of the peace offering. And the priest shall burn them on
the altar of the burnt offering.
Lev 4:11 ‘But the
skin of the bull, and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and
dung –
Lev 4:12 all of
the bull – he shall bring outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes
are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. Where the ashes are poured out
it is burned.
Lev 4:13 ‘And if
the entire congregation of Yisra’ĕl strays by mistake, and the matter has been
hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done against any of
the commands of יהוה, which are not
to be done, and shall be guilty,
Lev 4:14 when the
sin which they have sinned becomes known, then the assembly shall bring a young
bull for the sin, and bring it before the Tent of Meeting.
Lev 4:15 ‘And the
elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before
יהוה, and the bull shall be slaughtered before יהוה.
Lev 4:16 ‘And the
anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood to the Tent of Meeting,
Lev 4:17 and the
priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before יהוה, in front of the veil,
Lev 4:18 and put
some of the blood on the horns of the altar which is before יהוה, which is in the Tent of Meeting, and pour
all the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door
of the Tent of Meeting.
Lev 4:19 ‘Then he
takes all the fat from it and shall burn it on the altar.
Lev 4:20 ‘And he
shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering – so shall he
do it. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven
them.
Lev 4:21 ‘And he
shall bring the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull.
It is a sin offering for the assembly.
Lev 4:22 ‘When a
ruler sins, and by mistake has done against any of the commands of יהוה his Elohim which are not to be done, and
shall be guilty,
Lev 4:23 or if his
sin which he has sinned is made known to him, then he shall bring as his
offering a buck of the goats, a male, a perfect one.
Lev 4:24 ‘And he
shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, and slaughter it at the place where
they slaughter the burnt offering before יהוה. It is a sin
offering.
Lev 4:25 ‘And the
priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and
shall put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at
the base of the altar of burnt offering,
Lev 4:26 and burn
all its fat on the altar, like the fat of the slaughtering of the peace
offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and it shall
be forgiven him.
Lev 4:27 ‘And if
any being of the people of the land sins by mistake by doing against any
of the commands of יהוה which are not
to be done, and shall be guilty,
Lev 4:28 or if his
sin which he has sinned shall be made known to him, then he shall bring as his
offering a female goat, a perfect one, for his sin which he has sinned.
Lev 4:29 ‘And he
shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and slaughter the sin
offering at the place of the burnt offering.
Lev 4:30 ‘And the
priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and shall put it on the
horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the blood at the base of the
altar,
Lev 4:31 then
remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the slaughtering of the peace
offering. And the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet fragrance to יהוה. And the priest shall make atonement for
him, and it shall be forgiven him.
Lev 4:32 ‘And if
he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he brings a female, a perfect one.
Lev 4:33 ‘And he
shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and slaughter it as a sin
offering at the place where they slaughter the burnt offering.
Lev 4:34 ‘And the
priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and
shall put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the
blood at the base of the altar.
Lev 4:35 ‘Then he
removes all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the slaughtering of
the peace offering. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the
offerings made by fire to יהוה. So the priest
shall make atonement for his sin that he has sinned, and it shall be forgiven
him.
The ministry of the Ruach Ha Kodesh (the Set Apart
Spirit) is far more important than we realize.
Psa 66:18 If I have seen wickedness (Heb – “avon” –
lawlessness or Torahlesness) in my heart, יהוה would not
hear.
Psa 66:19 Truly,
Elohim has heard me; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer.
Psa 66:20 Blessed
be Elohim, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His kindness from me!
Psa 139:23 Search me, O Ěl, and know my heart; Try me,
and know my thoughts;
Psa 139:24 And see if an idolatrous (Heb – painful or
offensive way that causes sorrow) way is in me, And lead me in the way
everlasting.