And the skin of the bullock, and all its flesh, with its head, and with its legs, and its inwards, and its dung,
The priest had already sprinkled the sin offering's blood before the Lord and burned its fat on the altar. Now God deals with everything left over — the whole rest of the animal. Why is it carried away and destroyed instead of eaten or offered up? And what does that place outside the camp say about the cross?
The offerings differ most in what happened to the body of the animal.
In this act, we have the main feature of the sin offering. It is the thing that set it apart from both the burnt offering and the peace offering. The priest did not burn its flesh on the altar, as in the burnt offering. Neither the priest nor the worshipper ate it, as in the peace offering. It was wholly burned outside the camp.
Even the word for burning here is not the burnt offering's word.
The skin of the bullock, with the whole bullock, was burned outside the camp. The Hebrew word for "burned" is different from the one used for the burnt offering. The word used with the sin offering is "saraph"; it speaks of the burning of judgment.
Nothing of the animal was spared, and the parts named carry meaning.
The flesh of the sin offering was burned, showing what is general. The flesh is altogether bad. The dung too was burned. The dung, the waste of the animal, stands for what even people recognise as bad — the excesses of sin. These include drunkenness, dishonesty, blasphemy, uncleanness and the like. Everyone can understand the dung being burned.
The place where it could not be burned matters as much as the place where it was.
Taking it outside the camp was a sign: the victim, identified with the evil of the offerer, had to be put far away from God. The camp was the place where the people of God were, as the sanctuary was where He Himself dwelt. To express this holy hatred of evil, the sin offering could not be burned near the sanctuary in the court — not even in the camp. It had to be taken outside the camp and burned there solemnly in a clean place.
The burning happened away from the altar, and two things were true of the animal at once.
There too it differs from the burnt offering, which was burned inside the court on the bronze altar. The sin offering must be burned outside the camp. It was holy, most holy, yet completely identified with the sin confessed on it. How it was all more than verified — heightened on every side to the highest degree — in Him who suffered for our sins!
What did "outside the camp" mean, and what did it cost Christ to go there?
The camp was made up of a people in outward relationship with God. "Outside the camp" is a place where there is no recognised relationship with God or man. It is seen either as the place of judgment from God, or as the place of reproach from man. Seen in the light of judgment, it is the place of forsaking — a place without God... The body of the sin offering burned "outside the camp" is a fitting picture of God's holy judgment against sin. Into this place Jesus went. That He might sanctify His people with His own blood, He suffered outside the camp — or, as the Word says, "outside the gate", because when Christ died the city had taken the place of the camp. In order that we might have the place of blessing inside the veil, He had to take our place of judgment outside the camp.
The fire burned everything, and what it left behind still speaks.
When the whole bullock was burned outside the camp, we see a picture of holy judgment completely consuming what was so offensive to God. The ashes speak of judgment that is eternally exhausted.
The two directions shape two sides of Christian life.
Now compare what was done with the "blood" and what was done with the "flesh" or "body" of the sacrifice. Two great branches of truth come into view: worship and discipleship. The blood brought into the sanctuary is the foundation of the first. The body burned outside the camp is the foundation of the second.
- Burned, not offered. No one put the flesh on the altar and no one ate it. Burning it outside the camp is what makes a sin offering a sin offering.
- Judgment, by name. The Hebrew word here is not the burnt offering's word. It is saraph, the burning of judgment.
- Everything included. The list leaves nothing out. It runs from the excesses everyone calls evil to the flesh itself, which is altogether bad.
- Outside, because God is holy. Not in the court, not even in the camp. The victim carrying the offerer's sin had to be put far from God. That is where Jesus suffered, taking the place of judgment so we could have the place of blessing.
- Ashes remain. What the fire leaves behind shows the judgment is spent. From the two places, sanctuary and outside the camp, come worship and discipleship.
even the whole bullock shall he carry forth outside the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out shall it be burnt.
Leviticus 4 sets out what happens when the anointed priest sins. This verse gives the last step: the rest of the bull leaves the camp and burns to ashes. Why send it outside instead of accepting it on the altar? And what does that say about the death of Christ?
"All the rest of the bull" goes out of the camp. That one instruction marks this offering off from the others.
The witness is just as plain that it was a sin offering. Verses 11 and 12 show something quite different from the eating of the peace offering. It differs from the burnt offering too, which was burnt inside the court on the bronze altar. The sin offering had to be burnt outside the camp. It was holy, most holy, yet fully identified with the sin confessed on it. How all of this was more than fulfilled — raised to the highest degree on every side — in Him who suffered for our sins!
The camp was where God's people lived, close to the tent where He dwelt. Sending the body away from both places was a statement about where sin belongs.
Taking it outside the camp was a sign: the victim, now identified with the offerer's evil, had to go far away from God. The camp was the place where the people of God were, as the sanctuary was where He Himself dwelt. To show this holy hatred of evil, the priest could not burn the sin offering near the sanctuary in the court, or even in the camp. He had to take it outside the camp and burn it solemnly there in a clean place.
What does that outside place mean, and who went there?
"Outside the camp" is a place where there is no recognised relationship with God or man. It is seen either as the place of judgment from God, or as the place of reproach from man... The body of the sin offering burnt "outside the camp" is a fitting picture of God's holy judgment on sin. Into this place Jesus went. He suffered outside the camp, or, as the Word says, "outside the gate" — for when Christ died the city had taken the place of the camp. So that we might have the place of blessing inside the veil, He had to take our place of judgment outside the camp.
The verse calls the spot "a clean place." It is not a rubbish heap.
It was not burned on the altar, and not with the fire of acceptance. On the contrary, it was burned outside the camp. It counted as sin, and was in no sense a sweet aroma. Yet when what had been made sin was no more, its ashes were mingled with those of the burnt offering. In effect, the sacrifices were one.
Nothing of the animal survives the fire. That carried a message to the man who brought it.
How precise these directions, and how complete. Every part of the animal was to be burnt; nothing of it was to be preserved. Either to be burnt, or to be eaten; that was the command about it. Why was this? God was teaching here that the guilt was not charged to the sinner for the sin he had just brought the sacrifice for. The offerer laid his hand on the animal's head and confessed his sin over it. The victim was then charged with that sin, and once it was eaten or burnt the sin could no longer be found, for the victim carrying it was nowhere to be found.
Earlier in the chapter the priest carries the blood in toward the sanctuary. Here he carries the body out.
Now compare what was done with the "blood" with what was done with the "flesh" or "body" of the sacrifice. Two great branches of truth come into view: worship and discipleship. The blood brought into the sanctuary is the foundation of the first. The body burnt outside the camp is the foundation of the second.
The picture becomes a call to follow. But what the Christian carries outside is not what the victim carried.
We are not called to go outside under the judgment of God. We are called to go outside under the reproach of men, and that to the fullest... We cannot share His sufferings at the hand of God, but it is our privilege to share the insults He received from the hands of men. He went outside the camp to bear our judgment: we go outside the camp to bear His reproach.
- Outside — sin cannot stay near where God dwells; the victim carrying it had to be put far away from Him.
- Outside for us — Christ took that place of judgment, so we could have the place of blessing inside the veil.
- Outside but clean — the spot was a clean place. The ashes of the sin offering mingled with the ashes of the burnt offering: one Christ, one work.
- Outside means finished — nothing of the animal survived the fire, and God did not charge the guilt to the offerer.
- Outside with Him — the blood carried in gives us worship. The body carried out calls us to discipleship: we share His reproach from men, never His judgment from God.