Sin-offering
(Heb. hattath), the law of, is given in detail in Lev. 4-6:13;
9:7-11, 22-24; 12:6-8; 15:2, 14, 25-30; 14:19, 31; Num. 6:10-14.
On the day of Atonement it was made with special solemnity (Lev.
16:5, 11, 15). The blood was then carried into the holy of
holies and sprinkled on the mercy-seat. Sin-offerings were also
presented at the five annual festivals (Num. 28, 29), and on the
occasion of the consecration of the priests (Ex. 29:10-14, 36).
As each individual, even the most private member of the
congregation, as well as the congregation at large, and the high
priest, was obliged, on being convicted by his conscience of any
particular sin, to come with a sin-offering, we see thus
impressively disclosed the need in which every sinner stands of
the salvation of Christ, and the necessity of making application
to it as often as the guilt of sin renews itself upon his
conscience. This resort of faith to the perfect sacrifice of
Christ is the one way that lies open for the sinner's attainment
of pardon and restoration to peace. And then in the sacrifice
itself there is the reality of that incomparable worth and
preciousness which were so significantly represented in the
sin-offering by the sacredness of its blood and the hallowed
destination of its flesh. With reference to this the blood of
Christ is called emphatically "the precious blood," and the
blood that "cleanseth from all sin" (1 John 1:7).