Leviticus 4:13-21

The Sin Offering for the Whole Congregation. The offering is the same as for the priest, but the elders, as acting for the congregation or assembly, are to lay hands on the victim. These elders are not elsewhere mentioned in P. Some of the ritual directions are here omitted (Leviticus 4:8 f., Leviticus 4:11), but the significant clause is added that by the offering the people have atonement made for them, and they are forgiven. The formula for sin in Leviticus 4:13 is a quite general one, and the word used for forgive is not peculiarly ritual in its use; but it is difficult to see what sins could be committed by the congregation as a whole save ritual ones; and this is borne out by the words when (it) is known. Such a sin as that of Achan (Joshua 7), though it involved the whole nation in its consequences, was punished in a very different way. What if such a sin never became known? It was covered on the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus 5:3, however, the guilt is said to follow on the discovery of the unintentional wrong-doing. Contrast this ritual with that of Numbers 15:24 ff.