Leviticus 1:4

4 " 'He^[a] must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering and it will be accepted^[b] for him [in order] to make atonement for him.

Leviticus 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 1:4

And he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt
offering
According to the Targum of Jonathan, it was his right hand; but it is generally thought by the Jewish writers that both hands were laid on; so Ben Gersom and Aben Ezra, with whom Maimonides

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 agrees, who says, he that lays on hands ought to lay on with all his strength, with both his hands upon the head of the beast, as it is said, "upon the head of the burnt offering": not upon the neck, nor upon the sides; and there should be nothing between his hands and the beast: and as the same writer says ^F6, it must be his own hand, and not the hand of his wife, nor the hand of his servant, nor his messenger; and who also observes ^F7, that at the same time he made confession over the burnt offering both of his sins committed against affirmative and negative precepts: and indeed by this action he owned that he had sinned, and deserved to die as that creature he brought was about to do, and that he expected pardon of his sin through the death of the great sacrifice that was a type of. Moreover, this action signified the transferring of his sins from himself to this sacrifice, which was to be offered up to make atonement for them; so Gersom observes; see ( Leviticus 16:21 Leviticus 16:22 ) . This denotes the translation of our sins from us, and the imputation of them to Christ, who was offered up in our room and stead, to make atonement for them, as follows:

and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him:
that is, the burnt offering should be accepted in his room and stead, and hereby an atonement of his sins should be made for him, typical of that true, real, and full atonement made by the sacrifice of Christ, which this led his faith unto.

F5 Hilchot Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 3. sect. 13.
F6 Hilchot Maaseh Hakorbanot, c. 3. sect. 8. Vid. T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 93. 2.
F7 Ib. sect. 14.

Leviticus 1:4 In-Context

2 "Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When a person from you presents an offering to Yahweh, you shall present your offering from domestic animals, from the cattle or from the flock.

3 If his offering [is] a burnt offering from the cattle, [then] he must present an unblemished male; he must present it at the door of the tent of assembly for his acceptance {before} Yahweh.

4 " 'He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering and it will be accepted for him [in order] to make atonement for him.

5 He must slaughter {the young bull} {before} Yahweh, then Aaron's sons, the priests, will present the blood and sprinkle the blood all around the altar that [is] [at] the door of the tent of assembly.

6 Then he must remove [the] skin [of] the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "And he"
• [b]. Same root word as "acceptance" in v. 3