“And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.”
My Notes
What Does Leviticus 4:20 Mean?
The procedure for congregational sin offering concludes with the most important phrase in Levitical worship: "the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them." Atonement (kippur — covering, propitiation, reconciliation) produces forgiveness (salach — release, pardon, being let go). The mechanism produces the result. The covering produces the release.
The passive voice — "it shall be forgiven them" — makes God the implicit subject. The priest performs the ritual; God grants the forgiveness. The human action enables the divine response. The priest doesn't forgive — God does. But God does it through the mechanism the priest administers.
The certainty of the outcome — "shall be" (not "may be" or "might be") — makes the forgiveness guaranteed rather than hopeful. If the atonement is properly made, the forgiveness follows. The system is reliable. The mechanism works. Every time.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does the guaranteed outcome ('it shall be forgiven') change your confidence in confessing sin?
- 2.What does the passive voice (God forgives; the priest facilitates) teach about the source of forgiveness?
- 3.How does the Levitical guarantee (atonement → forgiveness, every time) preview the gospel's assurance?
- 4.Where are you treating forgiveness as uncertain when the system says it's guaranteed?
Devotional
Atonement is made. And it is forgiven. Not might be forgiven. Not hopefully forgiven. Is forgiven. The mechanism works. Every time. Without exception.
The "shall be" is the most comforting word in Leviticus. The entire sacrificial system rests on this guarantee: if the priest makes atonement according to God's specifications, forgiveness follows as certainly as sunrise follows dawn. The outcome isn't uncertain. The sinner brings the offering. The priest performs the ritual. God forgives. Done.
The passive voice — "it shall be forgiven" — points to the forgiver without naming him directly. God is the one who forgives. The priest facilitates; God executes. The blood covers; God releases. The human and the divine work together, each performing their part, and the result is guaranteed by the character of the forgiver, not the perfection of the forgiver.
This is grace embedded in law. The sacrificial system isn't a burden designed to punish the sinner. It's a mechanism designed to guarantee the sinner's forgiveness. The offerings exist because God wanted a reliable, repeatable, accessible path to pardon. Bring the animal. Follow the procedure. And it is forgiven.
The forgiveness Leviticus guarantees through animal blood is the same forgiveness Christ provides through his own blood — but the Levitical version was temporary (the offerings had to be repeated) while Christ's is permanent (once for all). The mechanism improved. The guarantee didn't. Both systems say the same thing: atonement is made, and it is forgiven.
Do you believe that? That when atonement is made — when the blood of Christ covers your sin — it is forgiven? Not might be. Is. The guarantee hasn't changed since Leviticus. The mechanism has.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
This is the law for expiating the guilt of a national sin, by a sin offering. If the leaders of the people, through…
the bullock of the sin offering i.e. the bullock referred to in Lev 4:3-12; called -the first bullock" in Lev 4:4.
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Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture