Leviticus 4:30, commentary and pictures

Leviticus 4:30 gives the procedure for the daily sin offering for a common sinner, for a ruler or for one of the people. In this case the blood is not carried into the holy place to be sprinkled before the veil, as is done for a priest or for the whole congregation, but the priest takes it with his finger and puts it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering in the court and pours out all the rest at its base. The flesh of this offering is then to be eaten by the priest in a holy place in the court of the tent of meeting, by which he bears the iniquity of the congregation.

Day by day the repentant sinner brings his offering to the sanctuary, lays his hand upon its head and confesses his sins, thus transferring them in figure to the innocent victim. The victim is then slain, because the broken law demands the life of the transgressor, and its blood represents the forfeited life of the sinner whose guilt the victim bears. Whether by blood carried into the holy place or by blood put upon the outer altar with the flesh afterward eaten by the priest, both methods alike transfer the sin in figure from the penitent to the sanctuary.

The sin offerings of this chapter were imperative returns required by God, not free options, and were part of the sanctification of property that distinguished that dispensation by keeping divine claims paramount in almost every article. They were required besides the tithe, which alone was not the standard of contributions, and besides thank offerings and trespass offerings, ransom of the firstborn, firstfruits, provision for the poor, provision for the sabbath year, remission of debts, hospitalities, gifts, and assessments upon property. They were systematic and regular donations exacted from all and proportioned to what was possessed, so that larger capital called for a more valuable gift, and conscientious givers returned about one third of their income for religious interests and the poor. They were drafts made by God both for the good of the givers and to sustain His service.