Leviticus 4:4, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures a repentant sinner bringing his offering to the door of the tabernacle, laying his hand upon the victim's head while confessing his sin, and thus symbolically transferring his guilt from himself to the innocent sacrifice. The sinner himself then slays the animal before the Lord.

After the killing the priest carries the blood into the holy place and sprinkles it before the veil, so that through the blood the sin is symbolically transferred from the sinner to the sanctuary. Where the blood is not taken into the holy place the priest eats the flesh instead, and eating and sprinkling are two forms of the same transfer of sin. This procedure belongs to the sin offering for a priest or for the whole congregation, in which the blood is brought inside, sprinkled before the veil and put upon the horns of the golden altar, while the fat is burned upon the altar of burnt offering and the body of the victim is burned outside the camp.

The offering so described was a required return to God under the Mosaic and Levitical dispensation, distinct from and in addition to the tenth of all increase. Tithe with these further required returns sanctified property and kept God's paramount claim before the people in almost every article. The required return was proportioned to the amount possessed, so that the larger the capital entrusted the more valuable the gift required in return, and conscientious givers devoted about one-third of all their income to religious interests and to the poor. The same obligation rests upon Christians according to the amount bestowed upon them, who are not only to give proportionately under the tithing system but also to present sin offerings and thank offerings to God.