Missing the Mark:

The Hebrew word for “sin” has the basic meaning of “missing the mark.” God’s objective for his people was to uphold their end of the covenant. The Israelite people were to live in perfect obedience to the command to be holy as God is holy. A violation of any solemn covenant, even between two men, was punishable by death. Anybody who “missed the mark” with God was held accountable. God is a just God. Since all of God’s people broke the covenant and deserved the just punishment of death, Heavenly Father displayed his mercy by providing a means for atonement. The word “atonement” means to cover. God designed a way to “cover” the errors of His people and thereby used the sin offering to symbolize the terrible price that needs to be paid.

There were two types of sin offerings. One was offered for the whole community by the priest. This sin offering was very important for it atoned for all sins that were committed unintentionally. These mistakes, errors of judgment, and infractions were not done in defiance of God, but were a result of weakness. However, a mistake is a mistake. It needed either to be absolved or to suffer the consequences of going to outer darkness. The other sin offering was offered for the leader of a nation or a private individual.