Leviticus 4:8

And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) And he shall take off from it all the fat.—That is, the best or choicest part. (See Leviticus 3:3.) At the time of Christ the sin offering was cut open, the fat and inwards were taken out, put into a vessel, salted, stewed on the fire, and burnt upon the altar as a sweet savour unto the Lord.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-12 Burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, and peace-offerings, had been offered before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai; and in these the patriarchs had respect to sin, to make atonement for it. But the Jews were now put into a way of making atonement for sin, more particularly by sacrifice, as a shadow of good things to come; yet the substance is Christ, and that one offering of himself, by which he put away sin. The sins for which the sin-offerings were appointed are supposed to be open acts. They are supposed to be sins of commission, things which ought not to have been done. Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment: yet what had been omitted at one time, might be done at another; but a sin committed was past recall. They are supposed to be sins committed through ignorance. The law begins with the case of the anointed priest. It is evident that God never had any infallible priest in his church upon earth, when even the high priest was liable to fall into sins of ignorance. All pretensions to act without error are sure marks of Antichrist. The beast was to be carried without the camp, and there burned to ashes. This was a sign of the duty of repentance, which is the putting away sin as a detestable thing, which our soul hates. The sin-offering is called sin. What they did to that, we must do to our sins; the body of sin must be destroyed, Ro 6:6. The apostle applies the carrying this sacrifice without the camp to Christ, Heb 13:11-13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Pour - All the blood that was left after the sprinkling and the smearing should be disposed of in such a manner as to suit the decorum of divine service. It had no sacrificial significance.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Le 4:3-35. Sin Offering for the Priest.

3. If the priest that is anointed do sin—that is, the high priest, in whom, considering his character as typical mediator, and his exalted office, the people had the deepest interest; and whose transgression of any part of the divine law, therefore, whether done unconsciously or heedlessly, was a very serious offense, both as regarded himself individually, and the influence of his example. He is the person principally meant, though the common order of the priesthood was included.

according to the sin of the people—that is, bring guilt on the people. He was to take a young bullock (the age and sex being expressly mentioned), and having killed it according to the form prescribed for the burnt offerings, he was to take it into the holy place and sprinkle the atoning blood seven times before the veil, and tip with the crimson fluid the horns of the golden altar of incense, on his way to the court of the priests,—a solemn ceremonial appointed only for very grave and heinous offenses, and which betokened that his sin, though done in ignorance, had vitiated all his services; nor could any official duty he engaged in be beneficial either to himself or the people, unless it were atoned for by blood.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering,.... When the priest had killed the bullock, and sprinkled and poured the blood, as before commanded; he then cut up the bullock, and took out its inwards, and put them in a vessel, and salted them, and strowed them on the fires (z), and burnt them, and the fat of them, as he did with the sacrifice of the peace offerings; so that what is here said, and in the two next verses Leviticus 4:9, is the same with what is ordered concerning them in Leviticus 3:3; see Gill on Leviticus 3:3, Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:5. Jarchi and Gersom both observe that they agree, that as one brings peace into the world, so does the other.

(z) Maimon. ib. (Maasch Hakorbanot) c. 7. sect. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8–12. Cp. 19–21. The fat parts (the same as those reserved for the altar in the Peace-Offering) are then removed from the bullock, and burnt upon the altar of Burnt-Offering. All the remainder (even the whole bullock shall he carry forth in Leviticus 4:12 is traditionally interpreted as directing that the carcase should be carried out whole, and afterwards divided into pieces) shall be taken to a clean place (i.e. one free from ritual impurity) where the ashes (i.e. the ashes to which the Burnt-Offering, and other sacrifices burnt on the altar have been reduced by burning) are poured out (cp. Leviticus 1:16 and Leviticus 6:11) and there burnt on wood with fire (cp. Hebrews 13:11-12).

The traditional view of the sacrifice prescribed in Leviticus 4:3-12 is that it was necessary whenever the high priest had committed any offence in the discharge of his official duty as representative of the nation. In his ordinary life the high priest stands in the same relation to God’s law as any other member of the community, and may offer the same sacrifice as the ordinary Israelite. According to some commentators the ‘sin’ of Leviticus 4:3 refers to any offence whatever of the high priest committed in ignorance. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews points to the ideal high priest who is undefiled, separate from sinners (Leviticus 7:26), as distinguished from the high priest under the law, who, by reason of his infirmity, must offer sacrifice for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people (Leviticus 7:27, Leviticus 5:3).

Leviticus 4:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The priest was to lift off "all the fat" from the sacrificial animal, i.e., the same fat portions as in the peace-offering (Leviticus 3:3-4, כּל־חלב is the subject to יוּרם in Leviticus 3:10), and burn it upon the altar of burnt-offering.