David Bahn – Reflections

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These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Leviticus 4-6; Psalm 58.

Leviticus 4:1-12

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, ³ if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. ⁴ He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the Lord. ⁵ And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, ⁶ and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷ And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails ⁹ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys ¹⁰ (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹ But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung— ¹² all the rest of the bull—he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.

Again, so many details and conditions. Unintentional sin, grain offerings, sin offerings, bull offerings, goat offerings. Who can possibly keep up with all that? No wonder there is mention of unintentional sin.

Jewish tradition counted 613 commandments in the Torah, and over time many teachers developed additional safeguards — a “fence around the Torah” — to keep people from drifting into transgression. That’s where detailed Sabbath applications came from, including restrictions on carrying and the well-known “Sabbath day’s journey” of about 2,000 cubits.

What are we to make of all this?

First, it reminds us that sin is no small matter. We are far too quick to minimize it. But sin always carries consequences. Sometimes those consequences are writ large: “The soul who sins shall die.” Sometimes they shatter hearts and homes — murder, adultery, theft, false witness. These actions wound others in the moment and the sinner in the long run.

Consider someone taking small steps toward embezzlement. It begins with padding an expense account. Then come fraudulent charges and reimbursements. Eventually it becomes a full-blown scheme. Now imagine Satan quietly restraining discovery, whispering, “Wait. Not yet. Let the damage grow.” When exposure finally comes, the destruction is catastrophic. Consequences can serve as warnings — but they often come too late.

In Leviticus, the consequences were real — but restrained. Losing a goat was no small thing. Offering a bull was costly. Yet those sacrifices provided a way back. They acknowledged guilt without ending a life. The system declared that sin deserves death — but also that mercy was available.

Today, we do not live under that sacrificial system. The atonement of Jesus covers all our sins. His blood speaks a better word than the blood of bulls and goats. We need not doubt His forgiveness.

But neither should we doubt the enemy’s desire to destroy, to steal joy, and to kill hope.

That is why we pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Amen.