In my last posting, Sin Offering, I maintained that there is a guilty verdict declared even for unintentional sin. Part of the basis for stating that was taken from Leviticus 4: 3. It says, “If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.”

That passage shouted an obvious question that wasn’t addressed; that being, if it is the priest who sins, why is his guilt also attributed to the people?

Some have posited that the people were deemed guilty because they were influenced by the priest’s leadership behavior to commit the same sin. Of course that’s possible, if the priest’s sin was public. However, all sin isn’t. I see the passage simply saying “if he sins.”

To me, the transferred and shared guilt is of a spiritual nature. I say that because the anointed earthly priest, being the high priest, is a foreshadowing of Christ (meaning anointed) Jesus, our heavenly High Priest.

Just as Jesus, the second and last Adam (1 Corinthians 15: 45),* represents humanity, and His character spiritually covers and is credited to mankind; so too, in this limited case, was the earthly priest a representative. As such, any sin he committed, public or private, was also spiritually credited to the people. That this would be done was part of the earthly sanctuary’s message.

The sanctuary, a display or picture of the salvation plan, pointed to God’s coming Messiah (Jesus). For instance, in it was the table of shewbread. It represented the Messiah as being the “bread of life” (John 6: 51). There was also a seven-branch candelestick that represented Him as the “light of the world” (John 1:9; 9:5).  And there was an altar of incense representing the prayers of the saints before and in the name of the Messiah (Revelation 5: 8).

Additionally, there were sanctuary activities that pointed to the Messiah too. For example, animals were sacrificially slain. It was to help the people understand that the Messiah’s blood would need to be shed as a sacrifice for sins to be forgiven.

The high priest’s duties, which included atonement for all, also pointed to the Messiah. As said, he was a foreshadow; a type of the Messiah. So it seems to me that God’s message, in the above Leviticus 4: 3 passage, was meant to convey to the people the interpersonal relationship that would exist between them and the Messiah. God wanted them to understand that they would be “one” with and “in” the Messiah, whose actions would affect them all.

_________________________

*For more on how Jesus’ corporate headship affects us all – believers and unbelievers – read my post In Jesus. Click here.