The Sin Offering

The Chatat-Offering

A Chatat-Offering (the popular one) is the kind put aside by accepting Messiah, the sacrifice to atone for sin. They follow the same rules as an Obligatory offering, although they are not the same. An Obligatory Offering are those offerings in connection with a positive or negative commandment; such as an offering in conjunction with a swearing or a jealousy case, or an offering for conclusion of Niddah. They are not Chatat-Offerings.

חַטָּאָה — H2403. chatta'ah, hat-taw-au'; or chatta'th, hat-tooth'; from H2398; an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness), and its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, or expiation; also (concur.) an offender:--punishment (of sin), purifying (-fiction for sin), sin (-near, offering).

חָטָא — H2398. chat', haw-taw'; a prim. root; prop. to miss; hence (fig. and gen.) to sin; by infer. to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causal.) lead astray, condemn:--bear the blame, cleanse, commit [sin], by fault, harm he hat done, loss, miss, (make) offend (-ER), offer for sin, purge, purify (self), make reconciliation, (cause, make) sin (-full, -ness), trespass.

חטוי — Chit — Purification, disaffection

חטא — Chitey — To purify, make a Chatat-Offering, to cleanse from sin

H2421 חָיָה châyâh khaw-yaw' A prim root (compare H2331, H2424); to live, whether literally or figuratively; causatively to revive:—keep (leave, make) alive, X certainly, give (promise) life, (let, suffer to) live, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair, restore (to life), revive, (X God) save (alive, life, lives), X surely, be whole.

What do these five words have to do with one another? It's pretty simple. The first four are all derivatives of חטא, the root word (to miss the mark, to sin). Any examination of the 613 commandments will show that although many sacrifices are commanded, only a few of them are sin sacrifices. However, when examined in the Torah, large portions seem to be concerned with the importance of the Chatat-Offering. The first reference to a Chatat-Offerings concerns the anointing of the Kohen'im:

Sh’mot 29:14
¹⁴The flesh of the bull, its hide, and its waste you shall burn in fire outside the camp — it is a Chatat-Offering.

This of course is because (as you'll see) the Kohen must atone for the sins of the people, according to the Torah.

Sh’mot 29:35-36
³⁵You shall do thus for Aaron and his sons, like everything that I have commanded you; for a seven-day period shall you inaugurate them.³⁶A bull Chatat-Offering shall you make for each day for the atonements; you shall purify the Altar by bringing atonement for it and you shall anoint it to sanctify it.
Sh’mot 30:10
¹⁰Aaron shall bring atonement upon its horns once a year, from the blood of the Chatat-Offering of the atonements, once a year, shall he bring atonement upon it for your generations; it is the holy of holies to HASHEM .

Vayikra 4:1-3
¹HASHEM spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘When a person will sin unintentionally from among all the commandments of HASHEM that may not be done, and he commits one of them. ³If the anointed Kohen HASHEM as a Chatat-Offering.

Now we come to the Chatat-Offerings for the people:

Vayikra 5:5-6
⁵When one shall become guilty regarding one of these matters, he shall confess what he had sinned. ⁶He shall bring as his Asham-Offering to HASHEM , for his sin that he committed, a female from the flock — a sheep or a goat — for a Chatat-Offering; and the Kohen shall provide him atonement for his sin.
Vayikra 6:11(18)
¹¹⁽¹⁸⁾every male of the children of Aaron shall eat it, an eternal (emphasis mine) portion for your generations, from the Eshayah-Offering of HASHEM ; whatever touches them shall become holy.

The Chapters of Vayikra 5,6, & 7 are all concerned with Chatat-Offerings. Vayikra 16 is concerned with Yom Kippur, which is entirely concerned with Chatat-Offerings. One may bring a lamb or a kid for a Chatat-Offerings. For those who are poor, they may bring a turtledove or pigeon. For the extremely poor, they may make a flour offering. Does this mean there is atonement without shedding of blood? No. Because the flour offering is placed on somebody else's Chatat-Offering, and the Kohen will make atonement for him.

Yoma 5a. Does not atonement come through the blood, as it is said: For it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life!
Zevachim 6a Come and hear: And he shall lay [his hand upon the head of the Olah-Offering]; and it shall be accepted [for him to make atonement for him]; does then the laying [of hands] make atonement? Surely atonement can be made only with the blood, as it says, For it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life!

Menachoth 93b The same was also taught with regard to the rite of waving. To be waved, to make atonement for him. Does the waving make the atonement? Does not the atonement come through the blood, as it is said, For it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life?

What exactly is sin? The definition of sin comes from the B'rit Chadashah:

Yochanan Rishon 3:4
⁴Whoever commits sin also transgresses the law [Torah]: for sin is transgression of the law [Torah].

Any violation of the Torah causes one to need to make a Chatat-Offering. Certain sins are specified for specific costs. One must also salt all sacrifices, but that's another commandment altogether, and we'll deal with this later. Some sins are by omission, such as forgetting to leave the corners of a fields during the harvest, or when you hear witnesses being called and you do not step forward and are a witness. So now we have two sins, deliberate and those that are unintentional (Or as the Mahzor says in Yom Kippur, "Sins of intention and sins of omission.")

According to the some, there is no longer any need for a sin sacrifice. Indeed, many Jewish writings speculate that when Messiah comes, he will put away the sacrifice for sin once and for all, but are silent on just how. The Responsa agrees that the Messiah will himself atone for sin once and for all by blood sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:3-18
³But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.⁴For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.⁵Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

“Neither feast-offering nor Minchah-Offering did You desire, but You opened Your ears for me.
⁶Olah-offering and Chatat-Offering You did not request. ⁷Then I said, ‘Behold I have come!’
with the Scroll of the Book that is written for me. To fulfill Your will, my God,—
To do Your will, God.”^{Mizmor 40:7-9(6-8)}

8Previously saying,“Feast-offering and Minchah-Offering, Olah-Offering, and Chatat-Offering in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹then He said,“Behold, I have come to fulfill Your will, God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.¹⁰By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshua Ha'Mashiach. once for all. ¹¹And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.¹²But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,¹³from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.¹⁴For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ¹⁶“For this is the covenant that I shall seal with the House of Israel after those days — the Word of HASHEM — I will place My Torah within them and I will write it onto their heart;”^{^Yirme’yahu ^{Yirme’yahu 31:32(33)}17}then He adds, “I will forgive their iniquity and will no longer recall their sin.” ^{^{Yirmi'yahu 31:34b}} ¹⁸Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Does this mean that there will be no more sacrifices in the coming kingdom? No, because there are many other sacrifices their than Chatat-Offerings. According to Yechezk’el however:

Yechezk’el 40:1-6
¹In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the City was conquered — on that very day the hand of HASHEM came upon me and He brought me there. ²In a Divine vision He brought me to the Land of Israel; He set me down on a very high mountain, near which there was something like the structure of a city to the south^{. 3}He brought me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was that of copper, with a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand; he was standing by the gate.
⁴the man said to me,“Son of man, see with your eyes and hear with you ears and set your heart to all that I am showing you, for it was in order to show you that you have been brought here. Relate all that you see to the House of Israel.”

⁵Behold, there was a wall outside the Temple, surrounding it. In the man's hand was a measuring rod of six cubits, each [cubit] being a cubit and a handbreadth. He measured the thickness of the [wall's] structure as one [measuring] rod; and it height one rod.⁶Then he went to a gate that faced eastward and went up its steps; he measured the doorpost of the gate as one rod in width and the other doorpost as one rod in width.

This brings us to the third Temple, the Beit Ha'Miqdash. It is different from all other Temples. But what about the Chatat-Offering?

Yechezk’el 40:38-39
³⁸There was a chamber there with its entrance facing the side walls of the gates; there they would rinse the Olah-Offering. ³⁹In the hall of this gate were two tables on the one side and two tables on the other, near which to slaughter the Olah-Offering, the Chatat-Offering and the Asham-Offering.

If Hebrews tells us there is no more need for a Chatat-Offering, and Yechezk’el tells us there will still be one, how do we reconcile things?

The explanation that seems to make the most sense is that those in the millennium who have not yet accepted ישוע will still require the Chatat-Offering — those who lived in the Olam Chatah (time of Sin) when ישוע had not yet returned (Oy!) and accepted ישוע will not need it. The Olam Haba (World to come, Messianic Age) is still to come, at this time. The Sacrifices indeed teach us something, and point to a time and a lesson. Indeed, in the shed blood of every sacrifice, we have a tavnit picture of יהושע. It may well be that by the living example of every sacrifice in the Millenium, many will come to accept יהושע at the very sight of the blood.

However, I must make the point that when anyone sins, they are required by the Torah to offer the sacrifice for sins. Agreed? Agreed. If you don't agree, penalty! Start re-reading your Bible, starting with B’reshit. If you, a believer sin in the coming kingdom at all, you must offer the Chatat-Offering, or you have compounded sin upon sin.

Conclusion:

Commandment 75
B’midbar 5:7
⁵HASHEM spoke to Moses, saying:⁶Speak to the Children of Israel: A man or woman who commits any of man’s sins, by committing treachery toward HASHEM , and that person shall become guilty —⁷they shall confess their sin that they committed; he shall make restitution for his guilt in its principal amount and add its fifth to it, and give it to the on to whom he is indebted.

This commandment must be obeyed in order to take advantage (if such a term is appropriate) of ישוע's sacrifice. Once you have repented before God, then your sins are sacrificed along with ישוע, and you are resurrected along with him. What offering can be better than this?

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