The Offerings Of The Poor

Sin has a cost.  Even the poor must "pay" for their sin as with everyone else, the ultimate penalty not being a financial one (Ezekiel 18:4, Romans 6:23), though the poor are not exempt from the obligation to make monetary restitution or from any other just punishment because of their economic misfortune (Exodus 22:3, 23:3, Leviticus 19:15, Deuteronomy 16:20).  As far as restitution goes, Exodus 22 says the thief must sell their labor as a servant with a maximum term of six years (Exodus 21:2, Deuteronomy 15:12).  While the demands of justice itself could not be nullified by geography or one's cultural setting, during the active priesthood in ancient Israel, the thief was also required to bring a sacrifice to the priest (Leviticus 6:1-5, Numbers 5:5-10).  The book of Leviticus introduces a host of details about what mandatory and voluntary offerings must be like, including for poor men and women.

Sometimes, it might initially seem puzzling as to why sacrifices/offerings are prescribed for a given situation.  It is no sin to give birth (Leviticus 12) or menstruate from month to month (Leviticus 15), or to happen to develop a skin disease that renders one unclean, but some chapters of the Bible do prescibe making offerings for ceremonial purification.  Crucially, "sin offering" can sometimes be an alternate translation for "purification offering," in reference to purification to become ceremonially clean, such as for a person suffering from a skin disease that makes them unclean (Leviticus 13, Numbers 5:1-4).  No one sins just by having an involuntary disease, though it is possible that God allows or causes the disease as a personal punishment for an individual's sin.

But it is also for unintentional sins as well as stubborn sins (given they do not merit capital punishment) and ceremonial purification that God tells the Israelites to bring sacrifices, as in Leviticus 4.  Accidental as they truly may be, sins are still sins.  During the active priesthood, Yahweh's followers in Israel were to bring animals before the priests to express contriteness and seek divine pardon.  Continuing to address unintentional sins like making a thoughtless oath in the next chapter (5:1-5), Leviticus provides a clear allowance for a less expensive option as far as what is brought to the priest.  Not just once, but throughout the book, Yahweh expressly permits less costly substitutes.  The reason provided is to accommodate the limitations of poverty.

Logically, it is impossible for something to be morally required if one lacks the capacity to actually do it (a core reason why Calvinism is necessarily, independent of the Bible, total bullshit), and thus it would be asinine if the Bible had brought up those too poor to bring the standard lamb in the passages to be examined only to demand the same material resources of them.  This would also be inconsistent with the plain, recurring Biblical emphasis in the Torah and beyond on alleviating the suffering and plight of the poor.  Let us look at the multiple instances where Leviticus allows for the poor to seek atonement/purification and be included fully in religious obligations.  In Leviticus 5, the instructions go two layers down, specifying to bring two doves or pigeons as an offering in place of a lamb or goat and to substitute flour for the birds if this is still beyond their reach:

Leviticus 5:6-7, 11--"'"As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.  Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin--one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering . . . If, however, they cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, they are to bring as an offering for their sin a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour for a sin offering."'"

Two of the very same kinds of birds are permitted as a replacement for bringing a lamb alongside a single bird in Leviticus 12 on the part of a woman purifying herself after giving birth.  Specifically, the passage says this is an option if she cannot afford a lamb.  As a vital aside, the chapter subtly but distinctively affirms that women are of course morally allowed to have their own belongings.  The animals are not said to belong to her husband or any other male companion or family member, and it is not as if women are not clearly allowed to work outside the home and obtain their own income and property (such as in Deuteronomy 15:12-18) as long as they do not engage in immoral professions that are equally sinful for men (like prostitution; see Deuteronomy 23:17-18), and not just because anything not condemned directly or indirectly is not sinful on Judeo-Christianity anyway (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32).  Whether she can afford the lamb is what the text focuses on:

Leviticus 12:6-8--"'"When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.  He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.  These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl.  But if she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.  In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean."'"

Lastly, Leviticus touches on more attainable offerings from the poor in chapter 14 while detailing cleansing from the unclean skin conditions of Leviticus 13.  Ordinarily, the person to be cleansed was to bring two male lambs, an ewe lamb, and three-tenths of an ephah of flour (14:10), but verses 21-22 address the offerings of the poor yet again: this time one male lamb, two doves or pigeons, a tenth of an ephah of flour, and a log of oil.  It is untrue that the single layer of substitution mentioned in these verses or in chapter 12 excludes any additional layer.  Leviticus 5, after all, already explains what can be brought instead of the two doves or pigeons that are themselves brought instead of a female lamb or goat.  The emphasis in chapter 14 is on flexibility in accommodating the poor, and various levels of flexibility have already been put forth:

Leviticus 14:21-22--"'If, however, they are poor and cannot afford these, they must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waived to make atonement for them, together with a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of oil, and two doves or two young pigeons, such as they can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.'"

There is no exemption for the poor from bringing an offering, but the Torah prescribes nothing beyond their reach.  Atonement and cleansing are still available for them (Leviticus 5:6, 10, 13, 12:7-8, 14:19-20, 30-32).  All throughout Mosaic Law, prescriptions are made on behalf of the poor, many of which are plainly universal, unlike the atonement and purification rituals of Leviticus (no one can be obligated to make animal sacrifices or other offerings when there is no active priesthood).  The poor never receive treatment as if they fall short of human worth or as if they must destroy what little stability they might have or be on the cusp of securing to seek divine forgiveness, or to reintegrate with the congregation after ceremonial uncleanness.