Leviticus 7:1

Leviticus 7:1 says, Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy.  The law of the trespass offering was said to be most holy.  A trespass would be a deliberate sin against God I believe, and even if our actions are against a neighbor, they are ultimately against God if the are wrong.  Verse two adds, In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar.  The trespass offering was to be killed in the same place that the burnt offering was killed.  I believe that we can say that all offerings we make today as Christians are made at the same place, and that is at the foot of the cross of Jesus.  Verse three continues, And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards,  Verse four concludes, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul that is above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away:  These two verses give the specifics of what was to be offered.  As with all the sacrifices, God set the terms of what was to be sacrificed.  Today, it is simple.  We offer all that we are and all that we have to God through our faith in Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse five states, And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a trespass offering. The offering was to be burned like the trespass offerings had been on the altar, just as the peace offerings had been burned.  Verse six adds, Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy.  Evidently the fire was not to consume this offering, or this refers to the rest of the sacrifice that was not consumed by the fire.  The priest were to be allowed to eat of the sacrifice together in the holy place.  This would bring them both food and fellowship with each other in the presence of God.  We still need that sustenance and fellowship with God and our fellow believers today.  Verse seven continues, As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it.  The people were told then and we are told today that there was one law for all the offerings, and that was the law of God.  We know today that all sins are forgiven the same way, and that is by coming to Jesus Christ and confessing our sins, and all sin can only be forgiven this way.  Verse eight says, And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.  The priest who offered the offering was to have the skin of the burnt offering.  This would be of use to the priest, and it was not to be divided among the priests.  God does not give all of His followers the same things materially, but He does provide for all their needs if they put their faith in Him.  Verse nine adds, And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it.  If the offering was of flour then all that was left from preparing the offering was to belong to the priest offering it.  Then verse ten concludes, And every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another.  Matthew Henry says that this refers to those parts of the sacrifice that did not need to be consumed immediately.  We do know that some of the sacrifice was to be consumed in the holy place and by the priest on duty and some was to be shared with all the priests.  Today, some of what God blesses us with will be for our own use and some will be for sharing with others.  I believe that if we are listening to God that we will know how to use what He blesses us with.

Leviticus 6:19

Leviticus 6:19 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Then verse twenty adds, This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night.  God then specified a perpetual offering of fine meal that was to be offered, half in the morning and half in the evening.  I believe that we can say today that God expects us to offer ourselves to Him day and night as a living sacrifice, through our faith in Christ, Who is our high Priest.  Verse twenty-one continues, In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the LORD.  The flour was to be cooked with oil and burned as a sweet smelling offering to God.  Verse twenty-two concludes, And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt.  The priest who was anointed that day was to offer the sacrifice, and this offering was to not only be perpetual. but it was to be burned totally up.  Verse twenty-three declares, For every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten.  As just stated, this offering was to be burned up totally, since it was an offering for the sins of the priests.  We cannot hold back parts of ourselves when we come to Christ by faith, but we must give all that we are and have to Him to be used as He sees fit.  Verse twenty-four adds, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse twenty-five continues, Speak unto Aaron and to 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.  God through Moses continued to give instructions about the offerings.  The sin offering was to be killed in the place where the burnt offer had been killed, because it was a most holy place to God.  Then verse twenty-six concludes, The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.  This offering was not to be totally burned up but was to be eaten by the priest who was anointed.  This would signify the taking of the sins of the people on himself by the priest, just as Christ took all sins on Himself when He died on the cross.  Verse twenty-seven states, Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place.  Anything that the offering touched was to be considered holy, and if blood got on a garment, it was to be washed.  I believe that we today can say that when we touch Christ by putting our faith in Him as our Savior and Lord that we are made holy, or set apart for His service.  Of course, instead of washing off His blood, we are made pure by being washed in the blood of Christ.  Verse twenty-eight adds, But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. If the sin offering had been in an earthen pot, it was to be broken, and if it was in a brazen pot, the pot was to be scoured completely.  Verse twenty-nine continues, All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy.  All the male priests were to eat of this offering.

Then verse thirty concludes, And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in 

the fire.  Then, God said that no sin offering was to be eaten, but it was to be burned completely.  There was to be no profit materially from the sin offering.  

Leviticus 6:8

Leviticus 6:8 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse nine adds, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.  God spoke to Moses and told him to command Aaron and his sons, who were the priests, concerning the burnt offering.  Though the priest represented God to the people, they were still under God's command, just as preachers are today.  This offering was to be a daily offering, just as we are to offer ourselves as a daily living sacrifice to God.  Verse ten continues, And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. The priest was even to dress in a particular way, wearing the garments that he wore at any service at the altar, and then remove the ashes from the altar.  This was basically a housecleaning job.  We today do not have to dress in a particular way when we come into God's presence, but we do have some house cleaning to do everyday.  We need to remove all the things from our lives that get between God and us.  Verse eleven states, And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.  After the priest removed the ashes from the altar, then he was to change out of his priestly garments.  The priest was then to dispose of the ashes in a clean place.  Matthew Henry says that the ashes were still representative of the sacrifice to God and were to be treated as such.  Verse twelve adds, And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.  The fire on the altar was to never go out.  It was the responsibility of the priests to keep the fire going so that the daily sacrifices might be made.  It is our responsibility today as followers of Christ to make sure that the fire of the gospel never goes out.  We must feed the flame daily.  Verse thirteen continues, The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.  This was simply a reemphasis that the fire on the altar was to never go out.  The fire of the altar was to be ever ready at anytime for a sacrifice, just as we are to be ready at anytime to offer our lives as a sacrifice to God.  Today, being a Christian is a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week calling.  Verse fourteen declares, And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar.  God now goes into the specifics of the way the meat offering was to be presented.  Once more, we need to follow God's directions when we are serving Him.  We cannot just do what we want and then claim that we were doing it for God.  Verse fifteen adds, And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the LORD.  Only a portion of the meat offering was to be burned.  Verse sixteen continues, And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.  The rest was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons, the priests, with unleavened bread in the tabernacle of the congregation.  God was making provision for them, but that did not mean that they were to skimp on the amount burned because they knew the rest was going to be theirs,  We today need to realize that as followers of Christ that everything that we have belongs to God, and we should never skip on what we give to do His work.  Verse seventeen says, It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.  Then verse eighteen adds, All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.  Only the male descendants of Aaron were to eat of the leftovers from the offerings, because they were the priests.  Today, any Christian, whether male or female, is a part of the priesthood of God.  We can come freely to God at any time.

Leviticus 6:1

Leviticus 6:1 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Once more, we are told that this is God's word given to Moses.  If we are sharing the word of God today, we must first make sure that it is His word, and to do that, we must first know what His word says and recognize His voice when He talks to us.  Verse two adds, If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;  God now begins to deal with sin that involves a person's neighbor.  Though these are things done against a neighbor, the are called sins against God.  We, as followers of Christ, represent Him in the world today, and if our actions cause harm to our neighbor, they reflect on God.  Ultimately, all sin is against God, because it breaks our relationship with Him.  God speaks of breaking ones trust with a neighbor by attempting to misuse what the neighbor has entrusted him or her with.  Verse three continues, Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:  Then God, through Moses, speaks of finding something someone has lost and attempting to keep it for one's self, even lying to do so.  We can never justify the finders keepers, losers weepers attitude as Christians.  If we find something, we must attempt to return it to its rightful owner if at all possible, and we can certainly never justify lying to keep it.  Verse four declares, Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,  God deals with more than one way that a person could be guilty of taking something belonging to his or her neighbor.  It could be taken violently, deceitfully, found, or have been given in trust.  We might notice that God does not distinguish between these acts.  All are sins.  We might judge those more harshly that take things by force, but in the eyes of God, a person is just as guilty if he or she takes something by violating a trust.  Verse five adds, Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.  This verse adds lying to keep something that isn't yours, then specifies the penalty.  Not only was the thing attained illegally to be restored, but a twenty percent penalty was to be added to it.  This was to be done before a trespass offering was offered.  It is not enough to just say that we have asked God's forgiveness and not think that we therefore need to do nothing more.  God expects His people to deal honestly with other people, and when they don't, He expects them to do their best to make restitution.  Not only are we as followers of Christ not above the law, but we are to set the standard for others to follow in obeying the law, unless it somehow directly affects our relationship with God.  Verse six continues, And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:  After restoration was made, the man was to bring a ram to the priest as an offering.  We must attempt to make things right with those we have offended and then we are to offer our sacrifice to God, which is our true repentance and placing our lives once again in His hands, since Jesus Christ has already made atonement for all our sins.  Verse seven concludes, And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.  Jesus Christ is our Priest today, and He makes atonement for all our sins, but we cannot just ignore it when we sin, especially if we have hurt our neighbor by saying that God has already forgiven us.  We must take responsibility for our sins and do our best to make things right with our neighbor if we have harmed him or her.

Leviticus 5:11

Leviticus 5:11 says. But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.  Once more, there was a provision for those who couldn't even affordable turtle doves to bring an offering of fine flour.  God always makes provision for even the poorest to be forgiven of their sins, but of course, salvation is free for all.  Verse twelve adds, Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, even a memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: it is a sin offering.  The man was to bring the offering to the priest who was to offer a part of it for a sin offering.  Verse thirteen continues, And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest’s, as a meat offering.  The rest of the flour offering was to be the priest's to use.  The thing offered was not the key, but the willingness of the person to offer the best he had was, and this is still true today.  Verse fourteen states, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Before Moses could tell the people of Israel what God said he had to first listen to God.  Before we can tell people today what God has to say, we must first listen to what God tells us.  Verse fifteen adds, If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:  In this case, if a person sinned through ignorance against the holy things of God, he was to bring a ram and an offering of money as well.   Verses sixteen continues, And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.  The man was to make amends for the harm done to the holy thing and add another fifth to the cost and give it to the priest.  As always, the priest would present the offering to God.  We today come to Jesus for forgiveness, and He presents Himself to the heavenly Father as an atonement for our sins.  Verse seventeen says, And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.  We might say that ignorance of these was no excuse.  I believe that way down in our soul we are always going to be convicted of our sins, even when we may not know exactly what that sin is.  Verse eighteen adds, And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall be forgiven him.  When the man became aware of his sin, he was to bring a ram to the priest to be offered to God.  As soon as we realize that we have sinned we are to come to Christ for forgiveness, but we can only bring our self.  Verse nineteen concludes, It is a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against the LORD.   All sin is really a trespass against God and it must be confessed and forgiveness asked if we are to be in a right relationship with God. 

Leviticus 5:1

Leviticus 5:1 says, And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.  God, through Moses, now begins to deal with specific sins that people could be guilty of.  The first is knowing that someone else has sinned, whether by actually seeing it or hearing of it, and saying nothing about it when called on to testify, then according to Matthew Henry, that person is just as guilty as the one who committed the sin.  I believe that it may go a step farther and mean that if a person knows of someone sinning and says nothing, whether testifying or not, then they are guilty of abetting the person in the sin.  We today seem to look down on people who do report sins, or crimes at least.  I believe that as followers of Christ we have a responsibility to take action when we see something happening that is wrong.  Verse two adds, Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.  Moses said that if a person touched an unclean thing, even unknowingly and then became aware of it and did not take action to purify himself that he was unclean and guilty.  Though we don't have unclean things, we do have sin, and if we are guilty of sin, even if we did not realize at first that we were, then we have a responsibility to confess that sin and ask God's forgiveness.  As Matthew Henry says, even if we are not aware of the sin at the time, as Christians the Holy Spirit will convict us of the sin, then we must repent or bear the burden of the sin.  Verse three continues, Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty.  This would also apply to touching not just the unclean thing itself, but also to touching someone else who had touched the unclean thing, thereby becoming unclean themselves.  Today, we might say that we were guilty by association.  Verse four states, Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these.  Once a person swore to tell the truth, they were responsible to do so.  Matthew Henry says this applied whether what was sworn to was good or evil.  Of course, if it were evil, then the person would be guilty whether they kept their oath or failed to keep it.  I believe this is a warning that we are to be careful about what we swear to.  Verse five adds, And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:  When a person became aware that he was guilty of any of any of these sins, then he had to confess to be restored to a right relationship with God.  Though we know that this was stated as applying to men, we also know that it applies to women as well.  Verse six continues, And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.  Not only did the person have to confess, but he had to bring a trespass offering to God, and the priest would make atonement for the sin.  All we can do today is to come to Christ again in repentance if we sin as His followers, and he is the One Who can make atonement for us.  Verse seven says, And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering.  Once more, an allowance was made for those who may not have been financially well off enough to bring a lamb.  God makes the same sacrifice available for our sins today, no matter how rich or poor we may be, and that is that we accept the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins.  Verse eight adds, And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide it asunder:  Again, the sacrifice was to be brought to the priest, and the priest made the sacrifice.

Jesus Christ is our Priest today, and we must come to Him to find forgiveness for our sins.  Verse nine adds, And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it is a sin offering. The offering was to be carried out much the same as th other offerings, just as the offering of the blood of Christ for our sins is the same no matter the sin.  Verse ten concludes, And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.  After the priest made the offering for atonement, the sin was forgiven.  Today, we have the glorious news that once we come to Jesus by faith that our sins are atoned for and we are forgiven.  Still, even after we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, when we find ourselves to have committed a sin, and I believe that the Holy Spirit will convict us when we do, we must come to Christ and ask forgiveness for that sin.  We can never simply overlook sin.

Leviticus 4:27

Leviticus 4:27 says, And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty;  Common people would be those who were not rulers of the nation, and would be most of the people.  This again was referring to inadvertent sin that the person became aware that they had committed, I believe, otherwise if they didn't become aware that they had committed the sin inadvertently they would not know they needed to repent.  Verse twenty-eight adds, Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.  Once the person became aware of his sin, then he was to bring a sacrifice to God for it.  The common man could bring a female kid of a goat for his sacrifice.  If we become aware of some inadvertent sin, we cannot just ignore it because we were unaware that we were sinning at the time.  All sin must be atoned for.  Also, though this refers to the man, we need to realize that it applies to women as well.  Though Christ died for all sins for all time, we must still acknowledge them if we commit them, even inadvertently, and ask His forgiveness.  Verse twenty-nine continues, And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.  Verse thirty states, And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.  Then verse thirty-one adds, And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.  Once more, the person who brought the sacrifice was to place his hands on the head and kill it, then the priest was to spread the blood and deal with the details of the rest of the disposition of the sacrifice.  We today bring ourselves to Christ and put our lives in His hands by faith, and He becomes the sacrifice, based totally on God's plan.  Faith in Christ brings us total forgiveness.   Verse thirty-two continues, And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.  There was also a provision for a lamb to be brought, also a female.  Today, we know that these sacrifices were only symbolic of the time when Christ would come and become the sacrifice for all sin.  Verse thirty-three says,  And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.  Verse thirty-four adds, And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:  Then verse thirty-five concludes,  And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.  The sacrifice may have been different, but the details of the sacrifice were the same.  We are all different people when we come to Christ in faith, but the sacrifice is the same for all, and that is that Jesus Christ died for all our sins for all time.