Leviticus 7:2, commentary and pictures

The verse requires the trespass offering to be slain in the same place as the burnt offering, with its blood sprinkled round about upon the altar. That place of slaughter was in the court on the north side of the altar of burnt offering, where the blood was caught in a vessel, part put on the horns of the altar and the rest poured out at its base. It belongs to the ceremonial law given because of sin, providing individual offerings through the year by which a guilty person could obtain forgiveness. The sinner bore his guilt until he brought and slew the appointed victim in faith, when the victim bore his sin and its blood carried it in figure into the sanctuary, and the priest's application of the blood atoned for him and set him free from guilt in trust of the coming Redeemer. By that sprinkling the forgiven sins were left in figure in the sanctuary until they were removed on the tenth day of the seventh month, and all these details find their substance and fuller meaning in the once-for-all sacrifice and ministry of Jesus Christ in the heavenly sanctuary.

Place and Ritual Procedure

The trespass offering was to be killed in the same place where the burnt offering was killed, and its blood was to be sprinkled round about upon the altar. That place of slaughter was in the court, on the north side of the altar of burnt offering. Its blood was caught in a vessel, with some put upon the horns of the altar and the remainder poured out at its base. The word for applying the blood means to scatter or sprinkle it around the altar, not to dip or immerse.

The instruction belongs to the book named for Levi that regulates the priesthood and its offerings, and specifically to the directions in chapters 1 to 7 describing the different kinds of sacrifices. It is one of the passages that call certain offerings most holy, a designation that does not prove them holier than the Sabbath because the two are not being compared. It places the trespass offering in the same sacrificial setting as the burnt offering and connects it with the sin offering, whose fat was burned as holy upon the altar.

Atonement and Christ Typology

The verse belongs to the ceremonial law instituted in consequence of sin, showing God's hatred of sin and that sin demanded its penalty. It is part of the special individual offerings brought during the year by people burdened with sin, as part of the priests' daily ministry in the yearly round of Levitical sanctuary services. Those sacrifices, when offered in faith, expressed faith in the coming Redeemer.

The sinner bore the guilt of sin until bringing and slaying the required offering. When offered in faith, the victim bore the offerer's sin and guilt, and its blood, or the person of the priest, carried them in figure into the sanctuary. The priest's application of the victim's blood in atonement forgave the person and freed him from that guilt, transferring the guilt through the blood to the sanctuary.

By the sprinkling of the blood upon the altar, the forgiven sins were left in figure in the sanctuary. There they remained through the year's daily ministry until they were taken out and put away on the tenth day of the seventh month. The sacrificial laws and their symbolic details, including the place of killing and the sprinkling of the blood round about the altar, find their fuller meaning in the sacrifice, life, and work of Jesus Christ. They are a shadow and type of the great substance found in Him, with each kind of sacrifice having a symbolic connection to His work, and the yearly round of services typifying His once-for-all ministry in the heavenly sanctuary.