Leviticus 4:1-2 — And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 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:

In our annual journey through the Bible, Myra and I have now reached Leviticus, and this morning we read through chapters 4 and 5. At first sight, these chapters seem to be bloody — perhaps even barbaric to modern eyes. Surely this business of slaughtering oxen, goats, rams and turtle doves has nothing to do with twenty-first century Christians? On a closer inspection of the passage though, it’s clear that it contains principles relating to guilt and restitution that are just as applicable today as they were in Moses’ day.
First, all sin must be paid for! No surprise there,I’m sure. God says of Himself, “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6). Sin has consequences — and often those consequences hurt those closest to us. Leviticus makes it clear that every sin, intended or unintended but realized – must be payed for; guilt must be wiped out.
Second, those in authority will pay more highly for their transgressions than those who are not so highly placed. When this realization finally sunk in, it was a surprise to me, but it’s true. When you read these chapters over you will see that restitution is different for the priest, the leader and the ordinary man. In a democratic society this might seem unfair, but it matches reality. For me, it also called to mind Jesus’s comments about blessings and responsibilities:

And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:47-48)

Finally, justice must be tempered with mercy. Penalties have to be adjusted to match the means of the guilty party. The going rate for the combined sin offering and guilt offering was a lamb or a goat but in Leviticus 5:7-10 we find that a poor man could bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons (one for the sin offering and one for the burnt offering.) In verses 11-13 we find that an extremely poor man could even bring an offering of flour.
These are beautiful principles gloriously embodied in Jesus sacrifice — which must surely occupy our mind with Lent starting tomorrow. All sin must be paid for. “Jesus paid it all”. Jesus, as the highest of us, paid with all He had. We, in our absolute poverty, have noting further to pay.
If you don’t love some of these long and seemingly dry books in the Bible, can I ask you to dig a little deeper. Every one is full of springs of refreshment!