We have here so much of the law of the sin-offering as did peculiarly concern the priests that offered it. As, 1. That it must be killed in the place where the burnt-offering was killed (Lev 6:25), that is, on the north side of the altar (Lev 1:11), which, some think typified the crucifying of Christ on mount Calvary, which was on the north side of Jerusalem. 2. That the priest who offered it for the sinner was (with his sons, or other priests, Lev 6:29) to eat the flesh of it, after the blood and fat had been offered to God, in the court of the tabernacle, Lev 6:26. Hereby they were to bear the iniquity of the congregation, as it is explained, Lev 10:17. 3. The blood of the sin-offering was with great reverence to be washed out of the clothes on which it happened to light (Lev 6:27), which signified the awful regard we ought to have to the blood of Christ, not counting it a common thing; that blood must be sprinkled on the conscience, not on the raiment. 4. The vessel in which the flesh of the sin-offering was boiled must be broken if it were an earthen one, and, if a brazen one, well washed, Lev 6:28. This intimated that the defilement was not wholly taken away by the offering, but did rather cleave to it, such was the weakness and deficiency of those sacrifices; but the blood of Christ thoroughly cleanses from all sin, and after it there needs no cleansing. 5. That all this must be understood of the common sin-offerings, not of those for the priest, or the body of the congregation, either occasional, or stated upon the day of atonement; for it had been before ordained, and was now ratified, that if the blood of the offering was brought into the holy place, as it was in those extraordinary cases, the flesh was not to be eaten, but burnt without the camp, Lev 6:30. Hence the apostle infers the advantage we have under the gospel above what they had under the law; for though the blood of Christ was brought into the tabernacle, to reconcile within the holy place, yet we have a right by faith to eat of the altar (Heb 13:10-12), and so to take the comfort of the great propitiation.

Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy - The following note of Mr. Ainsworth is not less judicious than it is pious: -

"All this rite was peculiar to the sin-offering, (whether it were that which was to be eaten, or that which was to be burnt), above all the other most holy things. As the sin-offering in special sort figured Christ, who was made sin for us, (Co2 5:21), so this ordinance for all that touched the flesh of the sin-offering to be holy, the garments sprinkled with the blood to be washed, the vessels wherein the flesh was boiled to be broken, or scoured and rinsed - taught a holy use of this mystery of our redemption, whereof they that are made partakers ought to be washed, cleansed, and sanctified by the Spirit of God; that we possess our vessels in holiness and honor, and yield not our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin," Th1 4:4; Rom 6:13.

But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken,.... That being porous, the liquor in which the sin offering was boiled might soak into it, and the smell of it be retained, and therefore, as such vessels were not very costly, they were ordered to be broken; but where the broken pieces were carried and laid, the Jewish writers are at a loss about; for, that vessels, which had served for holy uses, should be laid in an open public place and exposed, they thought was indecent; and as there might be in a course of time great quantities broken, it would look very disagreeable and unseemly to have them lie in heaps in the sanctuary; they therefore have framed a miracle, and conceit that they were swallowed up in the ground where they were laid (x):

and if it be sodden in a brazen it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water; brass, being more valuable, must not be destroyed; and besides the liquor could not soak into that, and whatever scent it retained was easily and soon removed by scouring and rinsing; the former was with hot water, and the latter with cold, as Ben Gersom affirms.

(x) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 21. 1.

THE LAW OF THE SIN OFFERING. (Lev 6:21-30)

This is the law of the sin offering--It was slain, and the fat and inwards, after being washed and salted, were burnt upon the altar. But the rest of the carcass belonged to the officiating priest. He and his family might feast upon it--only, however, within the precincts of the tabernacle; and none else were allowed to partake of it but the members of a priestly family--and not even they, if under any ceremonial defilement. The flesh on all occasions was boiled or sodden, with the exception of the paschal lamb, which was roasted [Exo 12:8-9]; and if an earthen vessel had been used, it being porous and likely to imbibe some of the liquid particles, it was to be broken; if a metallic pan had been used it was to be scoured and washed with the greatest care, not because the vessels had been defiled, but the reverse--because the flesh of the sin offering having been boiled in them, those vessels were now too sacred for ordinary use. The design of all these minute ceremonies was to impress the minds, both of priests and people, with a sense of the evil nature of sin and the care they should take to prevent the least taint of its impurities clinging to them.

Next: Leviticus Chapter 7