Leviticus 3-5
20 Jul 2026 - Theology
Accidental Sins First
Leviticus 3
This chapter details the sacrifice of peace offering, which can also be translated as the sacrifice of well-being.
We read that this offering can be of the herd, (male or female), of the flock (male or female), a lamb, or a goat.
Leviticus 3:17 - “It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.”
The blood is to be sprinkled around the altar, and the fat is to be burnt upon the altar as a sweet smell to the Lord.
We will read more about this sacrifice later.
Leviticus 4
If people learned or feared that they had sinned by accident, they could bring an offering called the “sin offering” (also called the “guilt offering”). For the Israelites, the idea of sin was “missing the mark” or “not hitting the target.”
Leviticus 4:2 - “ Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:”
This offering was of no use to a person who had sinned on purpose.
This chapter contains specific offerings for the different types of people who sinned by accident:
- a priest (3-12)
- the whole congregation of Israel (13-21)
- a ruler (22-26)
- any common person (27-35)
Leviticus 5
This chapter goes into more detail about the sin offering. This sacrifice was also offered for other accidental sins:
- Refusing to testify (1)
- Touching animal uncleanness (2)
- Touching human uncleanness (3)
- Swearing an oath and then forgetting about it (4)
For these first four sins, the standard offering was a female lamb or goat. If you were poor, you could substitute the lamb or goat with other things, such as a pair of turtledoves or young pigeons, or a meal offering of flour.
Next is the trespass offering, which was required for two other accidental sins:
- Unintentionally sinning against the “holy things” of the Tabernacle (15)
- General commandment breaking without realizing it (17)
This offering required the sacrifice of a ram, and its value had to be estimated by a priest in shekels of silver, specifically measured according to the official “shekel of the sanctuary” to ensure a fair, standard weight.
If the person’s sin involved sanctuary property (verse 15), he or she had to return the property and give an additional “fifth” (%20) of its value to the priests in the form of shekels of silver.
All five of the types of sacrifices in Leviticus 1-5 are made when a person sins accidentally. Jacob Milgrom (1923-2010) says that putting the sacrifices for accidental sins first in the book of Leviticus shows how important they were to the community.
References
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)