Matthew Henry Commentary Leviticus 4:1-12

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any one shall sin unwittingly, in any of the things which Jehovah hath commanded not to be done, and shall do any one of them: if the anointed priest shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto Jehovah for a sin-offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah; and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the bullock, and kill the bullock before Jehovah. And the anointed priest shall take of the blood of the bullock, and bring it to the tent of meeting: and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before Jehovah, before the veil of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before Jehovah, which is in the tent of meeting; and all the blood of the bullock shall he pour out at the base of the altar of burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tent of meeting. And all the fat of the bullock of the sin-offering he shall take off from it; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the loins, and the caul upon the liver, with the kidneys, shall he take away, as it is taken off from the ox of the sacrifice of peace-offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of burnt-offering. And the skin of the bullock, and all its flesh, with its head, and with its legs, and its inwards, and its dung, even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall it be burnt." — Leviticus 4:1-12 (ASV)

Burnt offerings, meat offerings, and peace offerings had been offered before the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai; and in these, the patriarchs addressed sin, to make atonement for it. But the Jews were now provided with a method of making atonement for sin, more specifically through sacrifice, as a shadow of good things to come; yet the substance is Christ, and that one offering of Himself, by which He put away sin. The sins for which the sin offerings were appointed are understood to be open acts.

They are understood to be sins of commission, actions that should not have been done. Omissions are sins and must come into judgment; yet what was omitted at one time could be done at another, but a sin committed was past recall. They are also understood to be sins committed through ignorance. The Law begins with the case of the anointed priest. It is evident that God never had any infallible priest in His church on earth, as even the high priest was liable to fall into sins of ignorance.

All pretensions to act without error are sure marks of the Antichrist. The sacrificial animal was to be carried outside the camp and there burned to ashes. This was a sign of the duty of repentance, which is the putting away of sin as a detestable thing that our soul hates. The sin offering is called sin. What they did to that sacrifice, we must do to our sins; the body of sin must be destroyed (Romans 6:6). The apostle applies the carrying of this sacrifice outside the camp to Christ (Hebrews 13:11–13).