Bible Dictionary

Sin Offering

Law & Covenant • Old Testament

The sin offering was a prescribed sacrifice for atonement and cleansing under the Mosaic law. It was offered for individuals and the congregation, with special solemnity on the Day of Atonement, and pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

Definition

The sin offering was a prescribed sacrifice under the Mosaic law for atonement and cleansing from sin. It applied to individuals, the congregation, and the high priest, and was offered on several solemn occasions, especially the Day of Atonement.

Biblical Usage

The sin offering most clearly expressed propitiation and atonement. On the Day of Atonement its blood was carried into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy-seat. Its repeated requirement impressed upon every sinner the need for pardon and restoration through the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

Historical Background

The ceremonial instructions are given chiefly in Leviticus 4 and 6. Sin offerings were also presented at annual festivals, at priestly consecration, and for various personal ritual situations; they were distinct from, though closely connected with, trespass offerings.

Scripture References

Numbers 28:15-29 Numbers 38:1 Exodus 29:10-14 Exodus 29:36 Leviticus 16:2 Hebrews 9:7 Numbers 15:30 Hebrews 10:20

Related Figures

Historical Bible Dictionaries

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Heb. hattath), the law of, is given in detail in Lev. 4-6:13; 9:7-11, 22-24; 12:6-8; 15:2, 14, 25-30; 14:19, 31; Num. 6:10-14. On the day of Atonement it was made with special solemnity (Lev. 16:5, 11, 15). The blood was then carried into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy-seat. Sin-offerings were also presented at the five annual festivals (Num. 28, 29), and on the occasion of the consecration of the priests (Ex. 29:10-14, 36). As each individual, even the most private member of the congregation, as well as the congregation at large, and the high priest, was obliged, on being convicted by his conscience of any particular sin, to come with a sin-offering, we see thus impressively disclosed the need in which every sinner stands of the salvation of Christ, and the necessity of making application to it as often as the guilt of sin renews itself upon his conscience. This resort of faith to the perfect sacrifice of Christ is the one way that lies open for the sinner’s attainment of pardon and restoration to peace. And then in the sacrifice itself there is the reality of that incomparable worth and preciousness which were so significantly represented in the sin-offering by the sacredness of its blood and the hallowed destination of its flesh. With reference to this the blood of Christ is called emphatically “the precious blood,” and the blood that “cleanseth from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

The sin offering among the Jews was the sacrifice in which the ideas of propitiation and of atonement for sin were most distinctly marked. The ceremonial of the sin offering is described in Levi 4 and 6. The trespass offering is closely connected with the sin offering in Leviticus, but at the same time clearly distinguished from it, being in some cases offered with it as a distinct part of the same sacrifice; as, for example, in the cleansing of the leper. Levi 14. The distinction of ceremonial clearly indicates a difference in the idea of the two sacrifices. The nature of that difference is still a subject of great controversy. We find that the sin offerings were—

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)

<p>See SACRIFICE.</p>

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