Chapter Six

1–7. Guilt offering for fraud and misappropriation of another’s property. 8–30. Additional regulations, specifically for priests: concerning the burnt offering (8–13), the grain offering (14–23), and the sin offering (24–30).

Leviticus 6:2. If anyone sins and commits a transgression against the Lord, and deals falsely with his neighbor concerning a deposit, or concerning something handed over to him, or something robbed from him, or defrauds his neighbor, Leviticus 6:3. Or finds something lost and lies about it, and swears falsely about any of the things that people do in sinning through these – Leviticus 6:4. When he has sinned and realized his guilt, he shall restore what he took by robbery, or what was obtained by fraud, or the deposit that was handed over to him, or the lost item that he found; Leviticus 6:5. Or anything about which he has sworn falsely; he shall repay it in full, and shall add to it one-fifth more, and give it to whom it belongs, on the day of his guilt offering; (See Heb 5:1-14). A series of transgressions, chiefly against the property of a neighbor, is indicated: theft by force or cunning of what belongs to the neighbor and the like, transgressions which constitute a violation of the rights of the Lord – effecting a moral estrangement of the sinning human from God. In all these cases the guilty party was first required to confess his sin (Num 5:7). Then all illegally appropriated property he was required to restore in full, with the addition of one-fifth of its value, to the owner or, in case of his death and absence of heirs, to the sanctuary, that is, to the priest (Num 5:8). Only then, having satisfied the demands of justice, could the sinner obtain forgiveness and mercy from the Lord – through bringing a guilt offering, ascham, usually a ram, valued by the priest.

Leviticus 6:6. And he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the priest, a ram without blemish from the flock, valued according to your assessment; Leviticus 6:7. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any of all the things that he has done, all in which he has become guilty. To the repentance of the sinner for his transgression, divine forgiveness responds through the lawfully brought guilt offering. It is not out of place here to cite the observation of Philo, that of the two main classes of sins expiated by guilt offering, sins directly against the Lord could only be unintentional, committed bishgagah (see Lev 5:15), and only violations with respect to people could be intentional.

Leviticus 6:8. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Leviticus 6:9. Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall remain on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall burn on it and shall not go out; Transitioning to a new section of speech directed to the sacred ministers, the lawgiver first requires (see Exod 29:38-41) that the burnt offering – this most important sacrifice, in which the continuous service of the theocratic community to God found its expression, never cease on the altar of burnt offerings, being kindled morning and evening from the fire not from an outside source, but from the smoldering coals on the altar itself.

Leviticus 6:10. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and put linen breeches on his body, and he shall take up the ash from the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put it beside the altar; Leviticus 6:11. And he shall take off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry the ash outside the camp to a clean place; The performer of the sacrifice, the priest, approached the altar in the morning to take up the ash from it only in sacred white (linen) garments, and only after cleaning the altar did he again put on his ordinary garments.

Leviticus 6:12. And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning and shall not go out; and the priest shall kindle wood on it every morning, and arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat of the peace offering on it; Leviticus 6:13. Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continuously and shall not go out. Especially emphasized is the continuity of the burnt offering fire. Hence the name (Exod 29:39) for the burnt offering – tamid, perpetual. Many Jewish and Christian interpreters, on the basis of testimony Lev 9:24 about fire from the Lord falling on the sacrifice of Aaron, considered the continuous fire of burnt offering a miracle from heaven, which took place from the time of Moses until the Babylonian captivity (see 2 Macc 1:19). But the Bible confirms this assumption in no way, and simply with the representation of unextinguished fire connects the idea of constant remembrance of the Lord, constant total dedication to him of the theocratic people and its individual members.

Leviticus 6:14. This is the law of the grain offering: the sons of Aaron shall bring it before the Lord to the altar; Leviticus 6:15. And he shall take a handful from the grain offering, from its fine flour and its oil, and all the frankincense that is on the offering, and burn it on the altar: this is a pleasing aroma as a memorial before the Lord; Leviticus 6:16. And what remains from it shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons; it shall be eaten as unleavened bread in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting shall they eat it; Leviticus 6:17. It shall not be baked with leaven. I give it to them as their share from my offerings. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. Leviticus 6:18. Every male among the descendants of Aaron may eat it. This is a perpetual portion throughout your generations from the offerings of the Lord. Everything that touches them shall become holy. The regulation Lev 2:1-10 concerning the grain offering is repeated and supplemented. After the portion is burned, the remainder goes to the priests: from their families only the male members, and indeed only at the entrance of the tent, in other words – “as the greatest holiness” – eat it, necessarily in an unleavened form.

Leviticus 6:19. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Leviticus 6:20. This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a perpetual grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening; Leviticus 6:21. It shall be prepared on a griddle with oil; you shall bring it mixed and shall offer the baked pieces of the grain offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord; Leviticus 6:22. And the priest who is anointed from among his sons shall make it; a perpetual statute of the Lord. All of it shall be burned; Leviticus 6:23. And every grain offering of a priest shall be wholly burned; it shall not be eaten. In connection with the grain offerings of the people, the law speaks of the grain offering of the priests themselves, which they performed, beginning from the day of the ordination or anointing of Aaron (see Exod 12:15 and Josephus Antiquities 3:10, 7). At the same time the thought is especially emphasized that all of this offering must be burned, and not eaten, as with the offerings from the people; in the case in question the servants of the Lord themselves brought a gift to Him, and therefore could not take it back for themselves (so it was also with offerings for their own sins as priests). According to Blessed Theodoret (question 3 on Leviticus), the regulation about the complete burning of the priestly sacrifice “taught that the priest be perfect, and not partly but wholly to dedicate himself to God the Almighty.”

Leviticus 6:24. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Leviticus 6:25. Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the law of the sin offering: the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the Lord at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy; Leviticus 6:26. The priest who performs the sin offering shall eat it; it shall be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting; Leviticus 6:27. Everything that touches the flesh of it shall become holy; and if any of its blood is sprinkled on a garment, you shall wash the garment on which it was sprinkled in a holy place; Leviticus 6:28. The earthen vessel in which it is cooked shall be broken; but if it is cooked in a copper vessel, that vessel shall be scoured and rinsed with water; Leviticus 6:29. Every male among the priests may eat it; it is most holy to the Lord; Leviticus 6:30. But any sin offering from which some of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. According to Blessed Theodoret (question 4 on Leviticus), the sin offering was slaughtered at the place of slaughter of the burnt offering, “for the consolation of those making the offering, so that they would know that, having been healed through repentance, they are not estranged from the holy. Therefore these offerings are named: most holy” (Lev 6:29). The great holiness of the sin offering consists in its purifying power, which it drew from the Sacrifice of the Cross that it prefigured.

Leviticus 6:27. Everything that touches the flesh of it shall become holy; and if any of its blood is sprinkled on a garment, you shall wash the garment on which it was sprinkled in a holy place; Leviticus 6:28. The earthen vessel in which it is cooked shall be broken; but if it is cooked in a copper vessel, that vessel shall be scoured and rinsed with water; These verses, according to Blessed Theodoret (question 5 on Leviticus), “teach the Israelites reverence, command them to approach the divine with fear, prescribe them to stand afar from the sacred… Therefore he also commands that garments, which have taken on that blood, be washed, and vessels, if copper, be carefully scoured, but if earthen, be broken.” By all this, any possibility of profanation of the objects sanctified by the sacrifice was prevented.

Leviticus 6:29. Every male among the priests may eat it; it is most holy to the Lord; Leviticus 6:30. But any sin offering from which some of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. Concluding remarks on the use of sacrificial meat, unequal depending on whether the sacrifice was brought for the sins of private individuals, in which case the sprinkling of blood occurred only in the courtyard of the temple, on the burnt offering altar (Lev 4:22-35), or whether the sins of the high priest were being cleansed (Lev 4:5-7), or of all the people (a separate sin, Lev 4:16-18, or the sin of the whole year on the Day of Atonement, Lev 16:30), and therefore the priests themselves – the priests – when the sacrificial blood was brought into the holy place (in the first two cases) or even into the holy of holies (on the Day of Atonement): in the first case the meat of the sin offering, after the burning of the sacrificial fat, was eaten by all male members of the priestly family, in the second all the remaining meat is burned (tissareph from the verb saraph – not with the sacrificial fire).