Scapegoat

Reading through Leviticus, the instructions for the scapegoat are interesting.

From the Israelite community, Aaron (the high priest) is to take two male goats for a sin offering…Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat (Lev 16:6-8). The goat chosen for the Lord was to be presented as a sin offering (Lev 16:9).

The Hebrew word translated as “scapegoat” is Azazel, which literally means "goat of departure" or "goat that goes away". William Tyndale, one of the first English translators coined the word “scapegoat” as a contraction of the “goat of escape”. His new word has become common in English with the meaning “person blamed for something done by someone else” which is not the meaning in Leviticus. In a way, “goat of departure” or “escaping goat” is a better translation.

This second goat was presented at the tabernacle alive.

Aaron is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness (Lev 16:21-22).

This is interesting. The sins of the Israelites are not confessed over the goat that was offered to the Lord. They were confessed over the other goat as Aaron the high priest laid both his on its head. This goat carries the sins into a remote place that is unpopulated, literally, “cut off”. This is a lovely illustration of how God deals with human sin. He does not need to punish us but chooses to forgive us by sending them away to where they are lost and forgotten. They are sent away from him and away from us.

The wilderness is the place where the spiritual powers of evil dwell and have control. God sends our sins, which came from them in the first place, back to them.