The Garden of Eden & Two Types of Sin

    It is no coincidence that under the Law of Moses, the sacrifice for unintentional sin is a female goat [Lev 4]. 
   This harks back to Genesis and the two types of sin involved in the fall of 'âdâm (pronounced "audawm," Hebrew for the "human race" --Genesis 5:2).  

   The very first animal sacrifice was made by God himself when he gave the first couple "coverings" in the Garden. These coverings, covered both intentional and unintentional sin and no doubt mirrored the instructions in Leviticus where we see a female animal being the covering for unintentional sin, whereas, Jesus the Lamb of God, the second Adam, being male, covered both types of sin, including the intentional sin committed by Iysh, the first Adam.
   God covered the intentional sin of Iysh [the first man], who was not deceived, but deliberately chose to rebel against his creator, understanding exactly what he was doing, and God also covered the unintentional sin of Ishshâw (the first woman) who was tricked by Satan and did not set out to sin but ended up doing just that.

   We see the concept of both types of sin in the New Testament as well. In 1 John, we read that if we confess our known sins [most of which are intentional], God will forgive us from the sins we confess to him and then go on to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [as yet unknown, likely unintentional sins].

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The Blessing is not in Perfection

    David wrote about how to be blessed through obedience to the Law of the Lord, and then grievously violated that same Law. Yet he was still called a man after God's own heart.

   How could that be?

   One lesson to take from the life of David, is that he was human like the rest of us. And at times, his flesh won out against his spirit in some of the worst ways imaginable. But whenever YAHWEH ELOHIYM [the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob] was able to get his full attention, David was quick to confess his sins [the wrongness of his actions] and turn [repent] from them.
   We read first-hand testimonies of this in his songs, many of which were inspired and preserved by God in the Holy Scriptures.

   Sometimes, David failed to recognize his sin without some nudging from from God's people. Sometimes, he needed to be confronted before he would repent, but when he was confronted, his heart would break from the knowledge of  his own wickedness. 

   When that happened, God always forgave him and welcomed him back into his arms. 

  Although David lived under the law and participated in Temple worship, he understood that religious ceremony did not impress God, unless it was coupled with genuine faith. He wrote that a broken and contrite heart was what counted with God--not sacrifice and ceremony. It was for this, that God called David a man after his own heart.

   David was an in-person example [for both bad and good] to his son, Solomon, who later wrote of his own experiences with sin. Solomon credited his father’s example in his own return to the Lord when he wrote, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” 

   Along with most everyone else, Solomon was aware of his father's sins, which often became public knowledge. He was also witness to his father’s willingness to turn from those sins when confronted with them, and that too, became public knowledge through David's own actions when he would publicly proclaim, “I was wrong!”

   Solomon witnessed the consequences of his father’s sins. He was also witness to the great blessings and deliverance of God when David would bring his thoughts, his heart, and his life back into line with God’s ways and God’s Word. 

   Following the influence of his father, to the bad, Solomon found his own life mired-down in the muck of sin. He then demonstrated the powerful influence of his father’s example of public confession and repentance, when he wrote “He who hides his sin shall not prosper….” 

   David's life was not an example of perfection. Many of the facts of his life were not recorded because they were meant to be emulated--but rather, to be avoided. But his life [with all the ups and downs] is an awesome  example of  what happens when a believer welcomes the correction of a loving God--even the humiliating circumstance of  public correction, if that is what it takes. 

   David embraced correction and was grateful for it. We read about that, when he  wrote,"Blessed is the man whom you chasten O LORD and teach him out of your law That you may give him rest from the days of adversity..."