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Text Excerpt
ואחר כך חטא מביא פר, חטא ואחר כך עבר ממשיחותו צריכא למימר? משום דקתני גבי נשיא, דכי עבר מנשיאותו ואחר כך חטא – כהדיוט מייתי, אהכי תני גבי משיח [חטא ואחר כך עבר] מביא פר.
and after that sinned brings a bull. Does the case of one who sinned and after that moved on from his anointment need to be said? It is obvious that he is liable to bring a bull. The Talmud answers: Due to the fact that the tanna teaches the halakha with regard to a king, that when he moved on from his sovereignty and after that sinned he brings an offering like that of a commoner; therefore, he teaches the corresponding halakha with regard to an anointed priest: If he sinned and after that moved on from his priesthood, he brings a bull.
§ With regard to the statement in the Mishnah concerning an anointed priest who sinned after he was removed from his position, the Talmud asks: From where are these matters derived? The Talmud answers: It is as A baraita states: It is written with regard to the High Priest: “And he should sacrifice for his sin [ḥattato] that he sinned” (Leviticus 4:3); this teaches that he brings his sin-offering [ḥattato] even after he has moved on from his priesthood.
שיכול, והלא דין הוא: ומה נשיא שמביא בשגגת מעשה – אין מביא חטאתו משעבר, משיח שאין מביא בשגגת מעשה אלא על העלם דבר עם שגגת מעשה – [לא] כל שכן! תלמוד לומר: ״והקריב על חטאתו״, מלמד שמביא על חטאתו משעבר.
This derivation is necessary, as one might have thought: Could this not be derived through an a fortiori inference? And if a king, who brings a goat as his sin-offering for the unwitting performance of an action, does not bring a goat as his sin-offering from the moment that he has moved on from his sovereignty, an anointed priest, who does not bring a sin-offering for the unwitting performance of an action alone; rather, he is liable only for absence of awareness of the matter by the court together with unwitting performance of an action, is it not all the more so that he will not bring a bull for his sin-offering once he has moved on from the High Priesthood? Therefore, the verse states: “And he should sacrifice for his sin [ḥattato] that he sinned”; this teaches that he brings his sin-offering [ḥattato] even after he has moved on from his priesthood.