Leviticus 6:30, commentary and pictures

No sin offering whose blood was carried into the tabernacle to make reconciliation in the holy place was to be eaten by the priests, but its flesh was to be burned with fire outside the camp. This marks the dividing line between sin offerings for a priest or for the whole congregation, whose blood was sprinkled before the veil and put upon the inner altar and therefore could not be eaten, and sin offerings for a ruler or a common person, whose blood was put only upon the altar of burnt offering and whose most holy flesh was eaten by the priests in the holy place to bear the iniquity of the congregation and make atonement. In the daily service through the year confessed sin was thus transferred in figure to the sanctuary either when the priest ate the flesh and voluntarily took the sins upon himself or when he brought the blood into the holy place and the flesh was not eaten. Those forgiven sins remained and accumulated in the sanctuary in figure until their yearly removal in its cleansing on the tenth day of the seventh month. As the blood of those offerings was brought into the sanctuary for sin and their bodies were burned outside the camp, so Jesus sanctified the people through His own blood by suffering outside the gate and entered the heavenly sanctuary by His own blood to minister it there after obtaining eternal redemption, bearing the sins of repentant sinners as the priest bore them in type.

The Sin Offering Law

Leviticus 6:30 belongs to the instruction on the five kinds of offerings — burnt, meal, peace, sin, and trespass — given in Leviticus 1-7, and it gives part of the manner of the sin offering whose purpose and manner are to be clearly defined. It is part of the ceremonial law, which was instituted because of sin. It belongs to the instructions for the particular offerings presented by individuals during the year, which formed part of the daily service in the holy place, the first tabernacle, of the earthly sanctuary with its two holy places, performed by the Levitical priesthood. It belongs to the instruction for the first general ministry of the earthly sanctuary, in which individuals burdened with sins brought their offerings showing faith in the Redeemer to come.

The verse lays down the rule that no sin offering of which any blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place shall be eaten, but its flesh shall be burned in the fire. That burning was outside the camp. The priests therefore received no meat from any such offering, because that flesh could not be eaten. To eat it would disregard the meaning of the ritual.

The verse marks the dividing line between two kinds of sin offering. When the offering is for a priest or for the whole congregation its blood is sprinkled before the veil and put on the altar inside the tabernacle to reconcile in the holy place, and then none of it may be eaten but it must be burned in the fire. When the offering is for a ruler or a common person, or one of the common people, its blood is put only on the altar of burnt offering outside and poured at the bottom of that altar, and its flesh, being most holy, is eaten by the priests in the holy place to bear the iniquity of the congregation and make atonement for them before the Lord. Where the priest himself was concerned in the sin he was not permitted to eat of the offering and take those sins upon himself, since a priest could not eat an offering that represented his own sin or the congregation's sin.

In the daily service in the first apartment through the year, after the sinner confessed his sin over the offering, laid a hand on its head, and killed it, confessed sin was transferred to the sanctuary in figure in one of two ways. Either the priest ate the flesh in the holy place, thereby voluntarily taking the sins upon himself, or he brought some of the blood into the holy place. Where the blood was brought into the holy place the flesh was not eaten but burnt in the fire, and in that case the sin was figuratively taken into the sanctuary through the blood and hidden from ordinary human sight. That eating when the blood was not taken inside represents the transfer of the sinner's guilt to the sanctuary, with the priest taking and bearing the sinner's sin.

By this daily ministration, through the blood of the sacrifice or through the person of the priest, the sinner offering in faith transferred his sins in figure to the sanctuary together with the daily offering. The forgiven sins of the people of God were left there in figure in the sanctuary, lodged there where they remained and accumulated through the year. This made necessary their yearly removal and cleansing in the cleansing of the sanctuary on the tenth day of the seventh month.

Since priests received no part of these sin offerings whose blood was brought inside and no part of the real burnt offerings, the amount of flesh-meat they could eat was very small. It was limited to lean meat of healthy young animals without blemish. This gives no license to eat swine's flesh swimming in grease or fat and diseased meat. The offerings for a ruler or a common person who sinned through ignorance were holy and eaten by the priest, who thereby bore the iniquity, and the priest who ate the offering to bear iniquity was responsible in a large degree for the people he taught.

Type and Fulfillment in Christ

The laws concerning sacrifices and offerings in Leviticus 1-7, including this restriction on the sin offering, had meaning fulfilled in the sacrifice, life, and work of Jesus Christ, with each different sacrifice teaching something in type about His work. That whole daily ministration in the holy place of the first tabernacle of the earthly sanctuary, performed by the Levitical priesthood with its sacrifices and priestly work, was the example and shadow and pattern and type of His more excellent ministry and priesthood in the true tabernacle of God in heaven. Studying it as an object-lesson enables understanding of the temple of God in heaven and Christ's priestly service therein as High Priest and Minister of the sanctuary on behalf of men.

These offerings show that sin demands its penalty, representing sin as breaking the covenant and teaching that sin deserved death, while God provided atonement through the appointed victim's death in the sinner's place. The sinner's confessed guilt was represented as laid on an innocent animal, which was slain, with its blood pointing to cleansing through Christ bearing sin. These sacrifices served only as symbols and did not themselves remove sin, and the offering was effective for pardon through faith rather than through any power inherent in the sacrifice. Christ the Lamb of God alone takes sin away, and His self-sacrifice fulfilled the sacrificial system so that those offerings were no longer required.

These offerings especially prefigured Christ, for as their blood was brought into the sanctuary for sin and their bodies were burned outside the camp, Jesus sanctified the people through His own blood by suffering outside the gate, and His blood is ministered in the heavenly sanctuary. The priest's presentation of the blood in the sanctuary symbolized Christ entering the heavenly sanctuary by His own blood after obtaining eternal redemption, and eating of such an offering would disregard the meaning of the ritual. Christians are privileged above those priests who served the tabernacle under this restriction, for they have an altar of which those priests have no right to eat.

Through Christ's blood sins are transferred to the heavenly temple, just as the people's sins were transferred to the earthly sanctuary through the offerings and hidden from ordinary human sight through the blood and flesh. Sins laid on Christ are covered by His blood so that, though recorded in heaven's books, they will not be revealed if the sinner remains faithful and forgiven, for God casts them behind His back and remembers them no more. They will finally be destroyed in the fires of the last day.

Not only the lamb is a type of Christ as the sin offering, but the priest also typifies Christ when, in cases where the blood was not carried into the sanctuary, he ate part of the flesh and thereby voluntarily took the sins of the people upon himself to make atonement. Through eating the sinful flesh he takes upon himself the infirmities of the people and enters into the presence of God in their behalf, representing how Christ bears the sins of repentant sinners.

Though this service in Leviticus 1 to 7 may seem unimportant and unprofitable, it was not written in vain or without purpose but reveals God's way, power, and glory and His dealings with men. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, and was written for learning to give patience and comfort and hope.