Leviticus 4:3

King James Version (KJV)

If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

If the priest that is anointed - Meaning, most probably, the high priest. According to the sin of the people; for although he had greater advantages than the people could have, in being more conversant with the law of God, and his lips should understand and preserve knowledge, yet it was possible even for him, in that time in which the word of God had not been fully revealed, to transgress through ignorance; and his transgression might have the very worst tendency, because the people might be thereby led into sin. Hence several critics understand this passage in this way, and translate it thus: If the anointed priest shall lead the people to sin; or, literally, if the anointed priest shall sin to the sin of the people; that is, so as to cause the people to transgress, the shepherd going astray, and the sheep following after him.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

The priest that is anointed - i. e. the high priest. (Compare Leviticus 8:12; Leviticus 21:10; Exodus 29:7). On the anointing of the other priests see the note at Leviticus 8:13.

The graduation of the sin-offerings is remarkable. It might seem that the distinction addressed itself more pointedly to each individual according to his rank and consequent responsibility (see Leviticus 4:32).

According to the sin of the people - Rather, to bring guilt on the people. The whole nation is concerned in every transgression of its representative.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

Burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, and peace-offerings, had been offered before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai; and in these the patriarchs had respect to sin, to make atonement for it. But the Jews were now put into a way of making atonement for sin, more particularly by 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 supposed to be open acts. They are supposed to be sins of commission, things which ought not to have been done. Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment: yet what had been omitted at one time, might be done at another; but a sin committed was past recall. They are supposed 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 upon earth, when even the high priest was liable to fall into sins of ignorance. All pretensions to act without error are sure marks of Antichrist. The beast was to be carried without the camp, and there burned to ashes. This was a sign of the duty of repentance, which is the putting away sin as a detestable thing, which our soul hates. The sin-offering is called sin. What they did to that, we must do to our sins; the body of sin must be destroyed, Ro 6:6. The apostle applies the carrying this sacrifice without the camp to Christ, Heb 13:11-13.

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SDA Bible Commentary (limited)
Volume 1-7

3. The priest that is anointed. All priests were anointed, but the high priest only was anointed on the head; hence, by way of pre-eminence, he is here called “the priest that is anointed” (see Ex. 29:7-9; Lev. 8:12, 13). He is designated as “the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured” (Lev. 21:10). Ordinarily he is called simply “the priest.” Only four times in the books of Moses is he called “high priest,” and in each case a literal translation would be “great priest” or “chief priest” (see Lev. 21:10; Num. 35:25, 28).

According to the sin of the people. Rather, “thus bringing guilt on the people” (RSV). The high priest stood for and represented the people (see Lev. 16:15, 16; Zech. 3:1-4). In harmony with this principle the prophets always identified themselves with the sins of the people. Although as God’s messengers they rebuked the people for their transgressions, when they prayed to God they approached Him as if they were one with the people in the sins rebuked. So we find them repeatedly saying, “We have sinned,” not merely “they have sinned”; “we have sinned against the Lord”; “we have sinned against him”; “we have sinned, we have done wickedly” (Neh. 1:6; Isa. 64:5, 7; Jer. 3:25; 8:14; 14:7; Dan. 9:5, 8, 11, 15).

The representative character of the high priest needs to be stressed. He was the representative man, the one who acted for the people in all things pertaining to the sanctuary. And in the high priest the whole priesthood was summed up.

When Adam sinned, “death passed upon all men” (Rom. 5:12), for “by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19). Adam was the representative man. Christ was likewise the representative man. Adam, the “first man,” was the head of humanity; Christ, the “second man,” the “last Adam,” “the Lord from heaven,” is the head of the new humanity (1 Cor. 15:45-47). “As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” and “by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18, 19). “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

The high priest, being in a special sense a figure of Christ, was the representative man. He stood for all Israel. He carried their burdens and sins. He bore the iniquity of the holy things. He bore the judgment of Israel. When he sinned, Israel sinned. When he entered the sanctuary, he went in on behalf of the people. And when he appeared before God, they appeared. He represented the people; he was the people. When he sinned, the people sinned, and he was required to bring the same sacrifice for his sin as when the whole nation sinned.

A young bullock without blemish. Both male and female animals could be used in sin offerings; but they must be “without blemish.” It was a young bullock the high priest offered for his sin, as for the sin of all the people (Lev. 4:14).

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Cross References

the priest

a young bullock