When a prince sinneth and through inadvertence doeth [somewhat against] any of all the commandments of Jehovah his God [in things] which should not be done, and is guilty;
Israel's law did not exempt its leaders; it named them. Verse 22 opens the third case of the sin offering: a ruler breaks one of God's commands without meaning to, and he is still guilty.
The verse does not simply say "God." It calls Him the ruler's own God. One writer finds the reason in the man's public standing.
There is special care here to impress a ruler with his responsibility. Only in his case do we hear of the LORD "his God." His honourable and public position makes his offence more serious. For Israel had to acknowledge their God as the God who was with them in the world, and who made one people differ from another in a way the nations never imagined. In his measure he was to rule as well as walk in the fear of God.
The animal required carries the same weight. A ruler is not the high priest, but he is not just one of the crowd either.
A ruler was not a spiritual representative, as the priest was. Yet he was in authority over the common people. So his sin and the sin of one of the common people (v. 27) required the same treatment. The one difference was the animal: the ruler brought a male goat, the subject a female. For the priest and for the whole congregation there was a marked difference.
The verse covers sin done without realising it. That does not soften the verdict.
In Leviticus 4 the circumstances of the sin decided whether the offender could use the Lord's gracious provision. The Lord provided only for sins against the commandments of the Lord which ought not to be done. And He provided only when a man broke them by inadvertence, or by mistake — that is what sh'gagah means, rather than ignorance… A man tends to measure his sin by the circumstances. So the guilty one might have thought little of his offence. He could rightly plead that he never meant to do it. But God measures sin by a different standard. He must care for His own holiness, and He may also weigh how responsible the offender was, as we learn from Leviticus 4.
The next verse makes the ruler act once the sin he committed is made known to him. One writer notes that this clause is missing from the case of the high priest.
When the high priest had sinned (Leviticus 4), the text does not say that his sin "is made known to him," as it does in verses 14, 23 and 28. The nearer we are to God, the more the Holy Spirit works by the Word on our conscience. He makes us aware of even the smallest sin, and no one else needs to point it out to us.
A ruler's sin never reached the holy place where the priests served. One commentator draws a sharp lesson from that for how we handle failure.
The effect of individual sin could not extend beyond individual conscience. The sin of "a ruler," or of "one of the common people," could not reach "the altar of incense" — the place of priestly worship. Neither could it reach "the veil of the sanctuary" — the sacred boundary of God's dwelling place among His people. … We must never raise a question of personal sin or failure in the place of priestly worship, or in the assembly. We must settle it in private, where we come to God ourselves.
The ceremony was not empty ritual. One writer reads it as a shadow of something far greater.
It was for sin, and death alone could pay for sin. The victim died for the man. By laying his hand on its head, that man transferred his guilt to the slain animal, as God had provided. Whatever the difference in form, every one of the offerings agreed in this. They all pointed to Him who knew no sin, yet whom God made sin for us, so that we might become divine righteousness in Him.
The forgiveness the ruler received had a limit.
So his sin was forgiven. This does not speak of eternal forgiveness. It was governmental forgiveness — that is, forgiveness for the time being. Yet it pictures the value of the sacrifice of Christ, which obtains eternal forgiveness.
- Position raises responsibility. The ruler alone is told of "the LORD his God" — his public place makes the same act more serious.
- Ignorance is not innocence. The word means inadvertence, and God measures sin by His holiness, not by what the offender happened to know.
- Nearness sharpens sight. The high priest needed no one to tell him he had sinned; the closer the walk with God, the quicker the conscience.
- Personal sin, private dealing. A ruler's sin never reached the holy place — settle failure with God alone, and never carry it into worship.
- A shadow of the substitute. His hand on the goat's head transferred guilt to a victim, pointing to the One who knew no sin and was made sin for us.
if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge, he shall bring his offering, a buck of the goats, a male without blemish.
Leviticus 4 moves down a ladder of persons: the anointed priest, the whole congregation, then a leader. Here the case is a ruler who has broken one of God's commands without meaning to. Two things carry the verse: the moment the sin becomes known to him, and the animal God names for it.
The wording here is unusual. Only in this case is God called "the LORD his God." One commentator finds the weight of the ruler's public place in that small change.
God takes special care to impress a chief with his responsibility. Only in his case do we hear of "the LORD his God." His honourable and public position makes his offence the more serious. In his measure he was to rule as well as walk in the fear of God.
A visible man's failure does visible damage.
The failure of such a man is bound to do more damage to the testimony of God than the sin of one of the common people. But whether a man is a leader, or simply takes his place alongside all the people of God, sin has to be dealt with in the sight of God. The sin must be removed if God is to go on with that ruler and the ruler is to go on with his service for the Lord.
The offering does not start with the sin. It starts with the discovery. The ESV says the sin "is made known to him"; the older wording quoted below reads "comes to his knowledge." One commentator notices that this phrase never appears in the case of the anointed priest.
When the high priest had sinned (Leviticus 4), Scripture does not say, "If his sin … comes to his knowledge," as it does in verses 14, 23, 28. The nearer we are to God, the more the Holy Spirit, working by the Word on our conscience, makes us aware of the least sin. We need no human help to point it out to us.
That awakening is itself an act of grace, not an accusation left hanging.
"…or if his sin, which he has sinned, comes to his knowledge…" That is always the first work of Christ's advocacy: to convince us that we have sinned. The next step is to assure us that He is there to deal with it — "…he shall bring for his offering a kid of the goats."
The ruler brings less than the priest or the whole congregation. But the smaller victim is not a lower standard.
Still, it was not as serious a case as when the high priest sinned, or the whole congregation, which called for a young bull. For the ruler a male goat was enough, but it had to be without blemish. God allowed no more leeway here, in any respect or degree, than in the graver cases. Nothing stood in the way of his obeying, and his God would have the sin felt and judged as soon as he came to know it.
One of the people brought a female of the same animal (v. 28, 32). That small difference carries a large meaning.
When it is just an ordinary man moving here for God, the offering is a female kid, speaking of clearance on their side. But when it is a ruler, someone a little more prominent in the Christian testimony, it is a male. We must understand what Christ has done for us in dealing with that sin. We must also understand what He has done for God in dealing with it.
One writer sees the goat itself as fitting the sin confessed here: the sin of a man in a place of rule.
Here we have what is perhaps the most distinctive sin offering. It speaks of the highest form of what is most common: man's failure in government. Throughout Scripture the goat, by its energy and self-will, suggests the thought of independence. So the very creature that recalls man's independence and refusal to obey now appears in perfect lowliness, bearing the consequences of sin.
The demand for a victim without blemish returns at every level of the chapter. One writer sees a portrait of Christ in it.
Reviled, He did not revile in return. Suffering, He did not threaten. Rejected by Jerusalem, He wept over her. Crucified by His creatures, He prayed for them… Such was the Lord Jesus, perfect in everything. This proved He was without blemish, fitted to be the sinner's Substitute on the cross. And the sacrifice God could accept for the sin offering had to be without blemish (Lev. 4:3, 23, 28, 32) — a picture of the perfectness of the true sacrifice, the Lamb of God.
- Known — The offering begins when the sin is made known to him. Conviction is the first work of Christ's advocacy. The next word is His assurance that He is there to deal with it.
- Owned — Rank does not excuse a ruler; it measures him. Only in his case does God say "the LORD his God," because his public place makes his offence more serious.
- Priced — Less than a bull, but never less than perfect. The size of the victim varies with the case; "without blemish" never varies.
- Cleared — The male goat asks the leader to weigh not only what Christ has done for him, but what Christ has done for God in dealing with that sin.
- Christ — The self-willed goat bears sin in perfect lowliness. The victim at every level is without blemish. Both point to the one Substitute God could accept.