And if the whole assembly of Israel sin inadvertently, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the congregation, and they do [somewhat against] any of all the commandments of Jehovah [in things] which should not be done, and are guilty;
Leviticus 4 lists grades of sin offering, and this verse takes the second: a wrong the whole nation fell into without noticing. How can people be guilty of what they never saw, and what does that do to their worship?
Commentators weigh what the people could see against what God sees. They also note whose service such a failure interrupts.
The sin of "the whole congregation" is a very serious matter. Like the sin of the anointed priest, it interferes with the service of God. The thing may be "hidden from the eyes of the assembly." But it is not hidden from the eyes of Him before whom everything is "naked and exposed."
So an act no one noticed is still sin. Our conscience does not set the standard.
Suppose we have gone wrong as worshippers, and have done any of the things God forbids without knowing it. Here is sin, though we did not know it. The holiness of God is not limited by our conscience.
The verse says they "realize their guilt." The guilt came first. What follows in the chapter shows what they must do once they see it, and who acts for the crowd.
It might be that the whole congregation of Israel became involved in a sin that they did not at the time realize was sin. Their ignorance did not excuse them, however. Once the sin came to their attention, they had to bring a sin offering. The link with the sin of the priest seems very clear, for the instructions for the sacrifice are just the same. The one difference is that the elders of the people were to lay their hands on the head of the bull before it was killed, for the elders represent the people.
One writer explains the parallel by what is at stake in each case, and by the three uses of the blood.
The result was the same, whether the representative of the assembly sinned or the assembly itself. Three things were at stake either way: God's dwelling place in the assembly, the worship of the assembly, and individual conscience. All three depended on the blood, so the priest did three things with it. He sprinkled it seven times before the veil, which secured God's dwelling among the people. He put some on the horns of the golden altar of incense, which secured the assembly's worship. He poured out the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering, the place where each person came near and where God met the sinner.
Read the two sections side by side. The priest's section never says he was forgiven. The congregation's section does.
But the assembly — ah, this is another matter. They indeed could sin, and sin as a whole. For this He made atonement, as we see here in the shadow, so that it might be forgiven them. Notice that the matching section about the great priest leaves this assurance out. Of course no one can doubt that his sin was forgiven him once atonement was made. But the omission points to the only One who had no sins to be forgiven, though He is the One who made atonement for all.
A whole company can go wrong together. One writer takes the principle down to a local gathering of God's people.
This time the whole congregation of Israel has sinned through ignorance. That is a far more serious matter. We may take it down to ourselves and apply it to a local company of God's people. If a whole company has sinned and come to a wrong judgment about something, they have to come to God. They must own to Him that their judgment was wrong, and that they have offended against one of God's claims.
A company's sin damages the way in to God. The remedy goes further than a cleared record.
But thank God for the offering. It was still there for them. The blood sprinkled before that veil would open up again the thought of access to God. This company was cleansed, re-established, and restored into communion with God. As God's people they could once more go on with His service in this world.
- Hidden. The failure was out of the assembly's sight, but not out of God's; His holiness, not our awareness, sets the standard.
- Guilty. Ignorance delayed the discovery. It did not excuse the deed. Guilt was real before anyone noticed it.
- Owned. Once the sin came to light, the congregation had to admit before God that they were wrong together. The elders laid hands on the offering for all.
- Atoned. The same offering that covered the priest covered them. Here the promise "they shall be forgiven" appears — words the priest's own section leaves out.
- Restored. The blood before the veil reopened the way in, so the company could return to communion and to God's service.
and the sin wherewith they have sinned against it have become known; then the congregation shall present a young bullock for the sin-offering, and shall bring it before the tent of meeting;
This verse picks up at one moment: the whole community has done wrong without realising it, and then the truth comes out. What does a people do with a sin they discover only afterwards? And why does God ask for the costliest animal on the list?
Everything here hangs on the sin becoming known. Until then the people carried real guilt while feeling none. Commentators are firm on one point: our lack of awareness does not lower God's standard.
The claims of God demand that sins of ignorance should be taken notice of. We might feel inclined to say, or at least to think, that such sins ought to be passed over. But God does not think so. His holiness must not be reduced to the standard of our intelligence. Grace has made provision for sins of ignorance. But holiness demands that such sins be judged and confessed. Every true heart will bless God for this.
This case is one of four in the chapter, and it belongs to the first pair. With those two, the harm did not stop at the one who sinned.
In this chapter four cases demanded a sin offering. The first two had no limit in the consequence they brought. Without the offering, everything was over for the entire people of God. In both cases the communion of the whole camp was broken. In the second, the whole assembly of Israel had sinned and were guilty. In the first, the high priest had sinned, and that had the same result for everyone as for himself. We shall see how grace provided against that which was in itself ruinous.
The size of the animal matters. The bull sits at the top of the scale, and only two parties bring it — the anointed priest and the whole assembly. Position raises the reckoning.
All classes in Israel might sin in this way, but some carried greater responsibility than others. The anointed priest represented the people before God. If he sinned, he sinned to the guilt of the people: the whole nation shared the consequences of his act. So for him, as for the whole congregation when they had sinned through error, the appointed offering was a bull. That was the largest offering anyone could bring in sacrifice.
The guilty party here is a whole nation. So who lays hands on the animal?
It might be that the whole congregation of Israel became involved in a sin that they did not at the time realise was sin. Their ignorance did not excuse them, however. When the sin was brought to their attention, then a sin offering was required. The connection between this and the sin of the priest seems very clear. The instructions for the sacrifice are just the same, with one exception: the elders of the people were to lay their hands on the head of the bull before it was killed. The elders represent the people.
Hands laid on a head appear in the burnt offering too, but commentators point out that the traffic runs the opposite way in each case.
The offerers had to identify themselves with the offering by laying their hands on the head of the bull. But notice this difference. In the burnt offering the believer is seen as identified with Christ and accepted in Christ. In the sin offering Christ became identified with us in our sin. Sin was transferred to Him as our substitute. "The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
The offering does more than clear guilt. It opens the way back into fellowship. Commentators see the same need in a church of the New Testament.
It is quite possible that the Corinthian assembly had been guilty of a collective sin. They all seemed to be going on in a very corrupt, loose way. But thank God for the offering — it was still there for them. The blood sprinkled before that veil would open up again the thought of access to God, with this company cleansed, re-established, and restored into communion with God. Then, as a company of God's people, they might once more go on with His service in this world.
- Hidden. A sin can be real while the people who commit it feel nothing. God's holiness, not our awareness, sets the standard.
- Known. When the wrong comes to light, the offering is due. Discovery is not a shame to bury but a call to act.
- Owned. The elders lay hands on the bull for everyone. Those who stand for the people own what the whole body has done.
- Offered. The largest sacrifice matches the widest damage. The transfer runs one way: sin moves to the substitute.
- Restored. The aim is not a settled account but a reopened door — a cleansed company back in fellowship and back in service.