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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Leviticus 4:13 - 4:13
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Sin of the whole congregation. - This is still further defined, as consisting in the fact that the thing was hid (נֶעְלַּם)
(Note: In the correct editions נֶעְלַּם has dagesh both here and in Lev 5:2, Lev 5:4, as Delitzsch informs me, according to an old rule in pointing, which required that every consonant which followed a syllable terminating with a guttural should be pointed with dagesh, if the guttural was to be read with a quiescent sheva and not with chateph. This is the case in וַיֶּאְסֹּר in Gen 46:29; Exo 14:6, תַּעְלִּים in Psa 10:1, and other words in the critical edition of the Psalter which has been carefully revised by Bδr according to the Masora, and published with an introduction by Delitzsch. In other passages, such as בְּכָל־לִּבִּי Psa 9:2, עַל־לְּשֹׁנֹו Psa 15:3, etc., the dagesh is introduced to prevent the second letter from being lost in the preceding one through the rapidity of reading. - Ewald's conjectures and remarks about this “dagesh, which is found in certain MSS,” is a proof that he was not acquainted with this rule which the Masora recognises.)
from the eyes of the congregation, i.e., that it was a sin which was not known to be such, an act which really violated a commandment of God, though it was not looked upon as sin. Every transgression of a divine command, whether it took place consciously or unconsciously, brought guilt, and demanded a sin-offering for its expiation; and this was to be presented as soon as the sin was known. The sin-offering, which the elders had to offer in the name of the congregation, was to consist of a young ox, and was to be treated like that of the high priest (Lev 4:14-23 compared with Lev 4:3-12), inasmuch as “the whole congregation” included the priesthood, or at any rate was on an equality with the priesthood by virtue of its calling in relation to the Lord. חָטָא with עַל signifies to incur guilt upon (on the foundation of) sin (Lev 5:5, etc.); it is usually construed with an accusative (Lev 4:3, Lev 4:28; Lev 5:6, Lev 5:10, etc.), or with בְּ, to sin with a sin (Lev 4:23; Gen 42:22). The subject of וְשָׁחַט (Lev 4:15) is one of the elders. “The bullock for a sin-offering:” sc., the one which the anointed priest offered for his sin, or as it is briefly and clearly designated in Lev 4:21, “the former bullock” (Lev 4:12).