Scapegoat

[JonC]

A lot has been said of the scapegoat.

In the Old Testament after atonement had been made for the sins of the people the priest would symbolically put all wickedness and rebellion on this goat and it would be driven from Israel.

The word for "scapegoat" is "for Azazel" (in the 16th century Tyndale coined "scapegoat" to provide an English word to represent "for Azazel". Jewish tradition views Azael as a demon, however most view it as wickedness, evil, Satan. But some think it was simoly a location outside of Israel. We do not know.

So how does the scaoegoat fit in? Some new this as God laying our sins on Jesus. Certainly we all agree that Jesus is tge Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

The problem with this is we need to keep in mind how the Hebrews would understand "for Azazel".

Remember, this scapegoat is not a stand alone ritual.

After the sins of the people have been atoned for (the sacrifice has been made) wickedness and sins are symbolically placed on this animal "for Azazel" and driven from the camp (typically off a cliff so it does not return).

Reading Jewish literature, the role of repentance is stressed. The sins are atonement for, but then there is this other goat, that the people make atonement by sending it away. It carries these "atoned for" sins away.

The first animal, the one sacrificed, is "for the Lord" and the second, the scapegoat, is "for Azazel".


I just wanted to bring that up for thought as some odd things have been said about this scapegoat.

 

[Some Rando]

My understanding:
Azazel is essentially a demon, a symbol of demonic powers etc...
He inhabits the wilderness, a place of fear, uncertainty, demonic power etc. Some sources suggest that Azazel was the proper name for a demon.

The "scapegoat" carries the sins of the righteous away from the camp of the now Holy people of God into the wilderness for "Azazel" where it belongs.
Sin is now outside the camp, and it "belongs" to the powers of darkness. It is cast out by a Strong man, who essentially EXPELS it.
Lev 16:21
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

I do not think that we are supposed to see the "scapegoat" as a type of Christ. That is, unless we are embracing some form of Ransom Theory of the atonement.

Rather, I see it as a symbol of repentance, as in, once atoned for, sin is to be utterly disposed of, done away with, sent away to its doom, forcibly expelled. The implication of sending the goat away is that it will invariably die, be a victim of the wolves, vile beasts, whatever. It is FOR Azazel in the sense that the other goat is FOR the Lord and he is welcome to them. They are his reward. The Scapegoat is the goat which belongs to Azazel.

Lev 16:8
And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

I do not think Christ is BOTH of these. he is the one for the Lord. The other goat is expelled from the congregation of the righteous and carries its sickness with it. It belongs to Azazel.

 

[JonC]

My understanding:
Azazel is essentially a demon, a symbol of demonic powers etc...
He inhabits the wilderness, a place of fear, uncertainty, demonic power etc. Some sources suggest that Azazel was the proper name for a demon.

The "scapegoat" carries the sins of the righteous away from the camp of the now Holy people of God into the wilderness for "Azazel" where it belongs.
Sin is now outside the camp, and it "belongs" to the powers of darkness. It is cast out by a Strong man, who essentially EXPELS it.
Lev 16:21
And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:

I do not think that we are supposed to see the "scapegoat" as a type of Christ. That is, unless we are embracing some form of Ransom Theory of the atonement.

Rather, I see it as a symbol of repentance, as in, once atoned for, sin is to be utterly disposed of, done away with, sent away to its doom, forcibly expelled. The implication of sending the goat away is that it will invariably die, be a victim of the wolves, vile beasts, whatever. It is FOR Azazel in the sense that the other goat is FOR the Lord and he is welcome to them. They are his reward. The Scapegoat is the goat which belongs to Azazel.

Lev 16:8
And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

I do not think Christ is BOTH of these. he is the one for the Lord. The other goat is expelled from the congregation of the righteous and carries its sickness with it. It belongs to Azazel.

I eoikdnt even include Ransom Throry (that one does not hold that our dins were transferred to Christ).

But some do view Azazel as a place rather than evil. So under that understsnding I can see why Penal Substitution Theory holds that this is Jesus taking away the dins of the world.

The problem (obviously) is that the scapegoat is one of two animals and one part of a more complete ritual. And, as you point out, is not the one set aside to God.


One Hebrew interpretation is that the scapegoat representation repentance. God forgives our sins (the sacrifice to God) but we also have to guard ourselves against sin (die to sin). Part of this is the idea that it is not the priest but the people who are driving out their own sin.

 

[37818]

A lot has been said of the scapegoat.

Leviticus 16:7-8, And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

Leviticus 16:10, But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Leviticus 16:26, And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp.

 

[JonC]

Leviticus 16:7-8, And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

Yep.

 

[percho]

Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: Lev 16:15

Was the above goat, the goat, the lot fell upon that was for the LORD? What did the blood, of that goat, represent as accomplishing?

Is that the same accomplishment as the passover lamb? Yet this representation is a feast day toward the end of the feast days.

The Passover Lamb was slain. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 1 Cor 5:7 The fourteenth day of the first month Lev 23:5

Beginning the day after the passover was slain the first feast day, the fifteenth, we are being unleavened, sin removed 1 Cor 5:7 as ye are unleavened to second feast day the twenty second day of the first month.

Fifty days after the sabbath following the passover the third feast day. The day the first-fruit of the Spirit was shed forth.
Where was Jesus the Lamb of God then? Where is he now? Acts 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

What is the next feast day ? the fourth?

Scapegoat the fifth? Why?