A sin offering (, korban ḥatat, , lit: "purification offering") is a sacrificial offering described and commanded in the Torah (Lev. 4.1-35); it could be fine flour or a proper animal. A sin offering also occurs in 2 Chronicles 29:21 where seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats were sacrificed on the command of King Hezekiah for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah.
Like all types of sacrifices offered on the altar, the flour had to be unscented and the animal had to be completely unblemished. This offered sacrifice accompanied the important required core means of atonement for the committing of an unintentional transgression of a prohibition, that either has brought guilt upon the 'community of Israel' or the individual. This offering is brought during or after atonement for those transgressions that had been committed inadvertently, or in ignorance: intentional transgressions could only be absolved by other forms of atonement, or in severe cases kareth. It was distinct from the biblical guilt offering.
Etymology
The Hebrew noun ḥatat ("sin") comes from the verb ḥata (חָטָא) basically meaning "to miss the mark, to err". The first use is in the sentence "(..) Sin couches at the door; Its urge is toward you, Yet you can be its master" to Cain in Genesis 4:7. The noun ḥatat can mean "sin," or also by metonymy in phrases such as "the bullock ... it is sin," or "a bullock for a sin, for atonement": it can also stand for purification offering. The high priest was instructed to "...lay his hand upon the head of the purification offering [rosh ha-ḥatat רֹאשׁ הַֽחַטָּאת], and the purification offering shall be slaughtered at the place of the burnt offering" (Leviticus 4:29). To avoid confusion, the more explanatory term korban ḥatat ("a sacrifice of sin"; Hebrew: קרבן חטאת) is found in rabbinical commentaries.
In the Jewish Bible
Chapters 4.1-5.13 of the Book of Leviticus presents the first of three speeches of God to Moses that outlines laws concerning the "ḥata't" or purification offering. Besides other types of offerings, it appears in the 24th (weekly) parsha Vayikra, a section of the Torah in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) A sin offering also occurs in 2 Chronicles 29:21 where seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven he-goats were sacrificed on the command of King Hezekiah for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah.
The end of the 37th weekly Torah portion Shlach Lecha (Num. 15.22-31) again, deals with sacrifices for inadvertent violations: they are applicable for all laws, apply to both Israelites and alien residents, but exclude expiation of defiant, willful violations of ritual law (cf. Kareth).
In the Greek Old Testament
In the Greek Old Testament, the Hebrew term for "sin" (ḥatat) is sometimes directly translated as "sin" - either by the Greek feminine noun hamartia ("sin" ἁμαρτία), or less commonly by the neuter noun hamartemata ("result of sin," "sinful thing" ἁμάρτημα) thereby duplicating the metonymy in the Hebrew text. More often the Greek paraphrases the Hebrew with expressions such as "that which is for sin" (peri hamartias περὶ ἁμαρτίας) or "for sins" (hyper hamartion ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν) - since the Greek noun hamartia does not have the double meaning of the noun ḥatat in Hebrew.
Chapter 4 of the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament of Christian biblical canons provides Moses' instructions from God regarding the purification offering and chapter 15 of the Book of Numbers partially repeats them.
Choice of sacrifice
The sacrificial animal required for a sin offering depended on the status of the sinner offering the sacrifice;
- for a high priest or for the entire community, a young bullock;
- for a king or nasi, a young male goat;
- for other individuals, a female kid or lamb;
- for poor individuals unable to afford these, two turtle doves or young pigeons could be substituted, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering;
- for the very poorest individuals, a tenth of an ephah of unscented fine flour could be offered instead of an animal. Leviticus 6:26 stipulates that "the priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of meeting", a point repeated at Leviticus 7:7, whereas Leviticus 6:29 allows that "all the males among the priests may eat it", suggesting that the proceeds of sin offerings could be shared within the kohanic community. The sharing of grain offerings within the kohanic community was more clearly endorsed by Leviticus 7:10 - "Every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, shall belong to all the sons of Aaron, to one as much as the other". The earlier source is thought to be the one referring to the flesh being consumed by the priests, the latter part of Leviticus 6 falls into this source, while the later source, which Leviticus 4 falls within, reflects a development where the flesh from sin offerings was seen as insufficiently holy and thus needing to be disposed of elsewhere. In the Book of Hosea, a reference to the earlier form (Hosea 4:7-8) suggests a possible reason for the change - the priests were accused of rejoicing in the people's wickedness as they were living off the sin offerings. Although known as sin offerings, it is more likely that such offerings began as offerings made for unintentionally breaking a taboo (here meaning something which is seen as sacred but simultaneously prohibited).
- The offerings for recovery from discharges and childbirth being for the breaking of a taboo about contact with blood - pus potentially containing blood, menstruation obviously containing it, and in the case of childbirth blood comes with the placenta. Textual scholars believe that the biblical regulation specifying the offering for childbirth in Leviticus 12 originally fell among those concerning bodily discharges in Leviticus 15 (due to various textual features), and hence that childbirth was treated as a form of abnormal discharge, for which a period of recovery was required. and hence people becoming inflicted with Tzaraas themselves being seen as taboo (thus being temporarily expelled from society as a result); the sin offering for recovery from Tzaaras, for which the same sacrificial animal as the Nazarite's sin offering is proscribed, being due to the breaking of this taboo state by the act of recovering.
See also
- Votive offering