Leviticus 6

Introduction

Leviticus 6 marks a pivotal transition in the book. Chapters 1-5 addressed the worshiper, explaining when and why each offering was to be brought. Beginning at 6:8, the text shifts to address the priests directly, providing the תּוֹרָה ("instruction" or "law") for how each sacrifice is to be handled at the altar. These are the operational regulations for the tabernacle -- the priestly manual, so to speak. The chapter opens, however, with a final case from the previous section: the guilt offering required when someone sins against a neighbor through fraud or dishonesty (vv. 1-7), completing the guilt offering instructions begun in Leviticus 5.

The priestly instructions that follow cover the burnt offering (vv. 8-13), the grain offering (vv. 14-23), and the sin offering (vv. 24-30). A striking theme throughout is the careful management of holiness as a potent, almost physical force. Objects that touch holy things become holy themselves; garments splashed with sacrificial blood must be washed in a holy place; clay pots that absorb the holiness of a sin offering must be destroyed. The perpetual fire on the altar -- never to be extinguished -- stands as a visible symbol of God's unbroken presence among his people and his constant readiness to receive their worship.

The Guilt Offering for Sins Against a Neighbor (vv. 1-7)

Notes

The opening section (vv. 1-7) completes the guilt offering legislation that began in Leviticus 5:14. What is remarkable here is the explicit declaration that cheating a neighbor is described as מָעַל מַעַל -- "committing treachery" -- against the LORD himself. The doubling of the root intensifies the seriousness: this is not a minor oversight but a fundamental breach of covenant loyalty. The same root appears in contexts of marital unfaithfulness (Numbers 5:12) and sacrilege against holy things (Joshua 7:1), placing everyday fraud in the same moral category as violation of the sacred.

The specific sins listed -- deceiving about a פִּקָּדוֹן ("deposit"), a תְּשׂוּמֶת יָד ("pledge" or "security placed in the hand"), גָּזֵל ("robbery"), and עֹשֶׁק ("oppression/extortion") -- all involve the abuse of trust in economic relationships. The victim may not know the truth, but God does. The requirement of restitution בְּרֹאשׁוֹ (literally "in its head," meaning "in full, the principal amount") plus חֲמִשִׁתָיו ("a fifth part" -- i.e., 20%) demonstrates that forgiveness requires making the victim whole and then some. This is not merely a fine; it is restorative justice. Compare Numbers 5:5-8, which extends this principle and adds that if the wronged party has no kinsman, restitution goes to the priest. In the New Testament, Zacchaeus voluntarily goes far beyond the Torah's requirement, pledging fourfold restitution (Luke 19:8).

The sequence matters: first restitution, then sacrifice. The offering cannot substitute for making things right with the person who was wronged. This principle echoes through the prophets (see Isaiah 1:11-17, Micah 6:6-8) and into Jesus' teaching that one should be reconciled with a brother before bringing a gift to the altar (Matthew 5:23-24).

Interpretations

The statement that sinning against a neighbor is sinning against the LORD raises a theological question about the nature of sin. Reformed theology emphasizes that all sin is fundamentally vertical -- an offense against God's holiness -- even when it has horizontal consequences (cf. David's confession in Psalm 51:4: "Against you, you only, have I sinned"). Other traditions, while agreeing that sin offends God, stress the horizontal dimension equally, noting that this passage specifically requires restitution to the wronged party as a precondition for divine forgiveness. The text holds both dimensions together: sin against a neighbor is simultaneously treachery against the LORD, and forgiveness from God requires making things right with the person harmed.

The Law of the Burnt Offering (vv. 8-13)

Notes

This section begins the new unit of priestly instructions that runs from 6:8 through Leviticus 7:38. The key word is תּוֹרָה ("instruction" or "law"), used here not in the broad sense of "the Torah" but in its original, narrower sense of specific procedural teaching. Each offering type receives its own תּוֹרָה: the burnt offering here, the grain offering in v. 14, and the sin offering in v. 25.

The phrase מוֹקְדָה ("hearth" or "burning place") occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its root is יָקַד ("to burn"), and it likely refers to the bed of hot coals or the firewood arrangement on the altar top. The burnt offering was to smolder on this hearth through the entire night -- a continuous offering ascending to God even while the camp slept.

The דֶּשֶׁן ("ashes") is a specialized term referring not to ordinary wood ash but to the fatty residue left after sacrificial burning -- a mix of ash and rendered fat. The priest's morning duty began with removing this דֶּשֶׁן in full linen vestments (מִדּוֹ בַד, "his linen garment"), then changing into ordinary clothes to carry the ashes outside the camp. The change of clothing is significant: the linen garments were sacred, worn in the direct service of the altar, and were not to be contaminated by being worn outside the holy precinct. The same principle governs the high priest's garments on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:23-24) and is referenced in Ezekiel 44:19, where priests are told to change clothes before going out to the people, "lest they transmit holiness" to others through their garments.

The command אֵשׁ תָּמִיד ("perpetual fire") is stated three times in this short section (vv. 9, 12, 13), with the prohibition לֹא תִכְבֶּה ("it must not go out") repeated twice. This emphatic repetition underscores that the altar fire was never to be extinguished. It was not relit each morning; it was maintained continuously. The fire represented God's ongoing acceptance of Israel's worship and his perpetual availability to receive their offerings. When the fire first fell from heaven to ignite the altar (Leviticus 9:24), it was a sign of divine approval; maintaining that same fire was Israel's responsibility to sustain the relationship God had initiated.

The Law of the Grain Offering (vv. 14-18)

Notes

The priestly תּוֹרָה for the grain offering largely restates the procedures from Leviticus 2 but now emphasizes what the priests are to do with the remainder. The אַזְכָּרָה ("memorial portion") -- a handful of flour, oil, and all the frankincense -- is burned on the altar, and the rest becomes food for the priests. This is not leftovers; it is classified as קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים ("most holy"), the same designation given to the sin offering and guilt offering. It must be eaten unleavened and only within the sacred courtyard.

The statement in v. 18 that כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יִגַּע בָּהֶם יִקְדָּשׁ ("anything that touches them shall become holy") introduces the concept of contagious holiness. Holiness, in the Levitical system, is not merely a moral quality but a powerful, transmissible state. Anything that comes into contact with a most holy offering absorbs that holiness and must then be treated accordingly. This concept is explored further in vv. 27-28 with the sin offering, and the prophet Haggai references it when asking the priests whether holiness can be transmitted through contact (Haggai 2:12-13). In Haggai's case, the priests confirm that holiness does not transfer through a chain of contact (holy meat touching a garment that then touches bread does not make the bread holy), but impurity does -- a striking asymmetry that illustrates how contamination spreads more easily than consecration.

The High Priest's Daily Grain Offering (vv. 19-23)

Notes

This subsection introduces a special grain offering that the high priest was required to bring daily -- not just on the day of his anointing but as a מִנְחָה תָמִיד ("perpetual grain offering"). The phrase "on the day he is anointed" (v. 20) likely means "beginning from the day of his anointing" and continuing as a daily practice. Jewish tradition (the Talmud, Menachot 51b) understood this as a daily obligation for the high priest.

The offering was a tenth of an ephah -- approximately 2.2 liters or about two quarts of fine flour -- split between morning and evening. It was prepared מֻרְבֶּכֶת ("well-kneaded" or "well-mixed") on a מַחֲבַת ("griddle"), then broken into תֻּפִינֵי ("baked pieces") -- a word that occurs only here and in Leviticus 2:6, making its precise meaning uncertain, though the context clearly indicates pieces of baked or fried dough.

The critical distinction from the ordinary grain offering is found in v. 23: כָּלִיל תִּהְיֶה לֹא תֵאָכֵל ("it shall be entirely burned; it must not be eaten"). When a layperson brought a grain offering, the priests ate the remainder. But when a priest brought a grain offering, there was no remainder -- it was entirely consumed by fire. The principle is that a priest cannot serve as both the offerer and the beneficiary of the same sacrifice. This prevents any appearance of self-enrichment through the sacrificial system and reinforces the idea that the priest's own offering was wholly given to God.

The Law of the Sin Offering (vv. 24-30)

Notes

The sin offering, like the grain offering remainder, is classified as קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים ("most holy") and must be slaughtered in the same location as the burnt offering -- on the north side of the altar (Leviticus 1:11). The priest who performs the offering is the one who eats it, and he must eat it within the sacred courtyard. This eating is itself a ritual act, not merely a meal: by consuming the sin offering, the priest symbolically bears the sin of the offerer (cf. Leviticus 10:17, where Moses rebukes Eleazar and Ithamar for failing to eat the sin offering, saying it was given to them "to bear the guilt of the congregation").

The regulations about contagious holiness in vv. 27-28 are among the most distinctive in Leviticus. Blood spattered on a garment must be washed in a holy place -- not at home, not in a stream, but within the sacred precinct. The instructions for cooking vessels reveal the practical implications of holiness as a transmissible force. A כְּלִי חֶרֶשׂ ("clay vessel") is porous; it absorbs the sanctified juices and cannot be fully cleaned, so it must be shattered. A כְּלִי נְחֹשֶׁת ("bronze vessel") has a non-porous surface and can be scoured (מֹרַק, "scoured/polished") and rinsed, restoring it for ordinary use. The distinction is practical but also theological: holiness, once it penetrates something, cannot be casually removed. What has been permeated by the sacred must either be permanently dedicated to sacred use or destroyed.

Verse 30 provides a crucial exception: when the blood of a sin offering is brought inside the Tent of Meeting -- specifically into the Holy Place for atonement -- that offering cannot be eaten. It must be entirely burned. This rule applies to the sin offering for the anointed priest (Leviticus 4:3-12) and for the whole congregation (Leviticus 4:13-21), both of which require blood to be sprinkled before the inner curtain. The author of Hebrews draws on this very distinction, noting that "the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Most Holy Place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp," and then applying this typologically to Jesus, who "suffered outside the city gate" (Hebrews 13:11-12).

Interpretations

The priestly consumption of the sin offering has been understood differently across traditions. Many commentators see it as a type of substitutionary bearing of sin -- the priest takes the sin into himself through eating and, as a mediator, presents it before God. This is frequently connected to Christ's role as the ultimate priest who bears sin (Hebrews 9:28). Others view the eating as primarily an expression of priestly privilege and provision, noting that "most holy" portions were the priest's rightful share of God's food offerings. The two views are not mutually exclusive: the priest both receives sustenance and performs a mediatorial function in the eating.