Leviticus 4:25, commentary and pictures

The instruction belongs to the law of the sin offering for a ruler or for one of the common people given in Leviticus 4:22-35. In this case the blood was not taken into the holy place, but was put with the finger upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering and poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. The flesh of the victim was to be eaten by the priest in a holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting.

The sin offering shows that required returns to God went beyond the tithe, as part of a system marked by the sanctification of property in which God's claims were kept paramount in almost every article. The tithe alone was not the standard of contributions, for sacrificial offerings, trespass offerings, sin offerings, thank offerings, ransoms for the firstborn, firstfruits of flocks and harvest, leavings for the poor, seventh-year provision for the needy, remission of debts every seventh year, hospitalities, gifts to the poor, assessments, and special freewill offerings for the tabernacle and temple were also required. These requirements rested on all and were proportioned to the amount possessed, so that the larger the entrusted capital the more valuable the gift required, with the conscientious returning about one-third of income for religious interests and the poor and being examined at stated periods as to faithfulness in vows.

The same obligation rests on Christians to give proportionately according to means through tithes with sin offerings and thank offerings, appointed for their own good as well as to sustain God's service.