Leviticus 4:27, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the law providing a sin offering for a ruler or for one of the common people. For this offering the blood was not taken into the holy place, but the flesh was to be eaten by the officiating priest in a holy place in the court of the tent of meeting. This differs from the sin offering for a priest or for the whole congregation, in which the blood was carried into the holy place and sprinkled before the veil and put on the horns of the golden altar, the fat was consumed on the altar of burnt offering in the court, and the body was burned outside the camp.

The verse illustrates the daily ministration in the holy place by which the sin of the repentant common sinner was put away in figure. The penitent brought his offering to the door of the tabernacle, laid his hand on the victim's head, and confessed his sins, thus transferring them to the innocent sacrifice. The animal was then slain because the broken law demanded the life of the transgressor, and without shedding of blood there is no remission, with its blood representing the forfeited life of the sinner whose guilt it bore. The priest carried the blood into the holy place and sprinkled it before the veil behind which was the ark containing the transgressed law, thereby transferring the sin in figure to the sanctuary, while when the blood was not taken into the holy place the flesh was to be eaten by the priest, which was given to bear the iniquity of the congregation; both ceremonies alike symbolized the transfer of sin from the penitent to the sanctuary.

The sin offering it belongs to was a religious obligation and part of the returns made to God. It was required in addition to the tithe of one's increase and other contributions.