Why all this etherial explanation about the two goats. One beiing the devil and the other Christ. If you read levitical history the two goats are non other than just two goats sacrificed for the sins of the priest and people. One for the priesthood and one for the people. Simple as that. Read Heb. 5, 1-3; 9, 7. Levitical history is alot more interesting than hyperbole or hypothesy.........or whatever you call it.
V.5. And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, as the joint offering of the entire people, and therefore supplied by them, two kids of the goats for a sin-offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Although the ritual dealt with the two young goats in an entirely different manner, yet they both together constituted a single sin-offering. Thus the sacrificial victims both for the priesthood and for the congregation were provided. V.6. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house, the term here apparently including not only the immediate family of the high priest, but the whole order of priests. Since all the priests were representatives and mediators of the people in their dealings with the Lord, it was necessary that their own sin, first of all, be covered and expiated in the sight of God. V.7. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, formally set them forth in their character as sacrificial animals, before the face of the Lord. According to Jewish tradition the two goats were of the same size and otherwise as identical as possible in their markings. V.8. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, the lots being drawn from an urn by some attendant; one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat, or Azazel, as the Hebrew has it, for the “Remover of Sin.” Both he-goats bore the sins of the people, the one through the act of sacrifice, the other by complete removal into the wilderness. V.9. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin-offering, in the manner prescribed for such sacrifices. V.10. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, to symbolize the complete removal of all transgression and iniquity, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. So much for the preparation for the sacrifices. V.11. And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house, for the entire priesthood, and shall kill the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself. This was the first stage of the day’s sacrifices. V.12. And he shall take a censer, a pan or vessel, full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, from the altar of burnt offering, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, the form in which its perfume would be strongest, and bring it within the veil, into the Most Holy Place; v.13. and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense arising from its burning in the censer may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony, that covers the tables of the testimony, that he die not. The cloud of incense protected the high priest, a sinful human being as he was, from the angry glance of the holy God. V.14. And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, which had been caught up by some attendant and meanwhile kept from coagulating by constant stirring, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward, on the side which faced the east; and before the mercy-seat, between the ark and the veil, shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. This was the second stage of the special sacrifices of the day, whereby the atonement for the priesthood was completed. The atonement was made, not without blood, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission, and for the high priest and his house first, Heb. 5, 1-3; 9, 7.
THE OFFERINGS FOR THE PEOPLE. - V.15. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering that is for the people, the slaying taking place, of course, outside in the court, and bring his blood within the veil, into the Most Holy Place, 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 v.16. and he shall make an atonement for the Holy Place, the Sanctuary itself being in need of cleansing, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins, for it was exposed to defilement in the midst of a sinful people; and so shall he do for the Tabernacle of the Congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Thus both the sins of the priests, with which they had contaminated the Sanctuary, and the transgressions of the people, which also defiled the habitation of God in their midst, had to be expiated on the great Day of Atonement. V.17. And there shall be no man in the Tabernacle of the Congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the Holy Place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, for the entire priesthood, and for all the congregation of Israel. Everything and every person that was defiled had to be kept away from the Most Holy Place during this most solemn part of the ceremony, and the entire responsibility rested upon the high priest alone. While all the members of the congregation were, on this day, to feel the damnable nature of sin, the high priest was to be particularly conscious of this fact, since he acted in the name of all the children of Israel. V.18. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, to the altar of incense, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. So the blood of both kinds of sin-offering was mingled in the expiatory rite, the faults of both the priests and the people being atoned for in the sight of God by this third stage of the day’s sacrificial ceremonies. Note that even the altar, as an instrument used for purposes of purification and atonement, had to be cleansed of the defilement clinging to it by reason of the worship of sinners. V.19. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. The ceremonies of the great Day of Atonement were largely Messianic types. Christ is the true High Priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, Heb. 7, 26. By His own blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption for us, Heb. 9, 12. V.20. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the Holy Place and the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat, the second animal of the sin- offering. V.21. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, not only one, as in the ordinary sacrifices, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, individually and collectively, and all their transgressions in all their sins, all the misdeeds and trespasses which brought upon them the wrath of Jehovah, putting them upon the head of the goat, the “remover of sins,” and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man in to the wilderness, one who stood ready to go in an instant, without loss of time; v.22. and the go at shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, into a desert and desolate place, for complete removal; and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. Thus the fourth part of the special ceremonies of the day was brought to a close