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According to the Mishna (47a), the remnants of the blood of a korban ḥatat – a sin-offering – that was brought in the inner sanctum of the Temple, was poured out on the foundation of the altar that stood outside of the Temple, in the Temple courtyard.
Of the various sin-offerings, those that were brought by the High Priest (see Vayikra 4:3-12) and those that were brought by the Sanhedrin on behalf of the entire community (see Vayikra 4:13-21), as well as those brought on Yom Kippur (see Vayikra 16:3, 15) were brought on the inner altar; the others were brought on the altar that was outside in the Temple courtyard (see, for example, the sin-offering of the king, Vayikra 4:22-26 or an individual sinner, Vayikra 4:27-35). In the case of the korbanot that were brought on the inner altar, sprinkling the blood – which, as we have learned, was an essential part of the sacrificial service – took place within the confines of the Temple. Nevertheless, what was left over after the blood was sprinkled was poured out on the altar that stood outside of the Temple, in the courtyard.
We examine a fundamental tension between biblical and rabbinic approaches to sacrificial efficacy. The biblical text of Leviticus 4 presents sacrifice as an integrated ritual whole that 'makes atonement,' without atomizing the process into efficacious and non-efficacious components. The Talmudic tradition, by contrast, engages in precise analytical atomization, identifying specific moments and actions that 'effect atonement' (mekaper) while designating others as ritually necessary but soteriologically inert.