What is the meaning of Leviticus 5:12? He is to bring it to the priest When a worshiper realized he had sinned, God didn’t allow him to stay where he was—he had to move toward the tabernacle and personally hand his offering to the priest (Leviticus 5:5-6; 1:3). • The action underscored responsibility: sin can’t be managed from a distance. • It also highlighted mediation: only a priest could lay the offering on the altar, prefiguring our Lord Jesus, “since we have a great High Priest” (Hebrews 4:14-16). • Coming forward brought assurance that forgiveness was not guesswork; it was anchored in an ordained ritual (Leviticus 17:11). who shall take a handful from it as a memorial portion The priest lifted a single handful—no more, no less—as a “memorial” before God (Leviticus 2:2; Numbers 5:26). • A small measure represented the whole; God does not forget the offering or the sinner who brings it (Acts 10:4). • The remainder was eaten by the priests (Leviticus 6:16-18), picturing fellowship restored. • In Christ, the entire atonement is remembered at the Lord’s Table: “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). and burn it on the altar atop the food offerings to the LORD The memorial portion was laid on the same fire that consumed the daily burnt offering (Leviticus 6:12-13; 9:24). • Stacking the sin offering “atop” the ongoing sacrifices showed that all offerings shared one altar and one flame—pointing to one Savior (Ephesians 5:2). • The ascending smoke signaled acceptance: “It is a pleasing aroma to the LORD” (Leviticus 3:5). • The worshiper watched his sin symbolically rise and vanish, picturing Psalm 103:12—“as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” it is a sin offering God called this grain gift “a sin offering,” the same label used for animal sacrifices (Leviticus 4:3, 32). • Even the poorest Israelite, unable to afford a lamb or turtledoves (Leviticus 5:7, 11), could find full atonement through this simple measure of flour. • The category mattered more than the cost; forgiveness was accessible, yet still required shed blood at the altar that carried the burnt offerings (Hebrews 9:22). • Ultimately, God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21), the once-for-all sin offering that renders every other sacrifice unnecessary (Hebrews 10:10-12). summary Leviticus 5:12 paints a vivid picture of grace: the sinner steps forward, the priest mediates, a symbolic portion rises in smoke, and forgiveness is declared. Whether flour or flock, what mattered was obedience to God’s provision—a provision that anticipates and is fulfilled in the perfect, final sin offering of Jesus Christ. |
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