Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 28:1 (NA 2023)
Article: The Sin Offering And The Guilt Offering Of The Levitical Cult: Their Occasion, Nature, And Distinction
Author: Kyle C. Dunham

DBSJ 28 (2023) p. 3

The Sin Offering And The Guilt Offering Of The Levitical Cult: Their Occasion, Nature, And Distinction

Kyle C. Dunham1

Introduction

Interpreters of the Levitical cult have long speculated over the rationale for and difference between Israel’s sin offering and guilt offering. In spite of the attention given to these offerings, only in the last few decades has a consensus begun to materialize concerning their purpose and distinction.2 Efforts to develop a clear picture have been

DBSJ 28 (2023) p. 4

hindered by confusion surrounding several aspects of the offerings. First, Leviticus 5:5–10, in a section apparently dealing with the sin offering, uses the Hebrew term אָשָׁם (’āšām), the typical word for the guilt offering, to describe grounds for the sin offering.3 Second, the occasion for the two offerings seems at times to overlap: both are required for inadvertent sins against YHWH (Lev 4:2; 5:17).4 Third, confusion surrounds the blood manipulation for the offerings. In the sin offering the blood is never applied to a person, but the blood of the guilt offering is applied to the leper who is cleansed (Lev 14:25) and the priests at their installation (Exod 29:30; Lev 8:23). Furthermore, the penetration of blood into the sanctuary differs. With the sin offering, the priest carries blood inside the tabernacle and sprinkles or applies blood to certain areas or furniture. The blood of the guilt offering, however, is never carried inside the tabernacle. This distinction prompts questions related to the purpose of the blood application. Some, in turn, argue that the sin offering cleanses the tabernacle from sin contamination (Lev 8:15; 16:18–19), while the guilt offering ostensibly cleanses the sinner.5

This conclusion appears to lie in tension, however, with repeated statements within the sin offering regulations that the sinner is forgiven. How this would differ from the expiation of the guilt offering is unclear. Numerous proposals for their distinction have thus been offered historically: (1...