Scapegoats And Saviors Series

“Guilt” offerings dealt with distinct categories of wrongdoing that disrupted the divine-human relationship, such as the unintentional desecration of sacred things. The prescribed sacrifice was a flock animal … such as a sheep or a goat.

This sacrifices or “gifts” were made for sins or actions or behaviors that the pilgrim or worshipper or penitent knew about … but what about the sins that the person committed through ignorance or sins that they had no idea that they committed? When the sinner remains unaware of his or her guilt, there doesn’t seem to be an awareness or the need to sacrifice or atone for any sin because they simply don’t know what sin, if any, they have committed … and so that sin remains, in a sense, unaccounted for. If they are not atoned for, they can continue to accumulate. If this condition remains unrelieved or unresolved, the sacrificial system falls short of its ultimate purpose. So, to meet this pressing and ever-present need, God instituted “Yom Kipper” – The Day of Atonement.

Once a year the high priest would offer special animal sacrifices for himself, for the other priests and Levites, as well as for the entire nation or population of Israel to atone for all the sins of the people – known and unknown. On this day … Yom Kipper … God decides whether or not He is going to forgive the sins of the nation … so the entire day is spent in fasting and in reverence to God.

In the days of the Temple, the high priest would sacrifice a special goat – the “scapegoat” – on Yom Kippur. Two goats would be brought before the high priest … as identical in age, color, and size as possible. The high priest would reach inside of a wooden box that contained two engraved markers or “lots.” Without looking, he would grab one marker in each hand. One marker would be engraved with the words “For the Lord” and the other said “For Azazel.” “Azazel” is another name for the Devil.

Facing the two goats, the priest would open his hand and determine the fate of each goat. The marker in his left hand determined the fate of the goat on his left. Obviously, the marker in his right hand would determine the fate of the goat on his right.

If, for example, the marker in the priest’s right hand said “For the Lord,” a red thread was tied to the right-hand goat’s horn and it was sacrificed to the Lord on the altar. A red thread would be tied around the neck of the other goat … the “scapegoat” or the goat for Azazel. The high priest would then lay his hands on the scapegoat for Azazel and transfer all of the people’s sins onto that goat. A Levite would then lead the scapegoat through the east gate of Jerusalem … across a ramp … and out into the Judean wilderness … and let the goat go. The problem is that the scapegoat sometimes wandered back into town so, according to some commentaries that I read, there were Levites who were assigned the job of making sure that the scapegoat didn’t wander back into town by chasing it off a cliff.

Key to all of this were the scarlet threads. One scarlet thread was tied to the horn of the goat sacrificed to the Lord. Another scarlet thread was tied around the neck of the goat sent off into the wilderness … and there was a third scarlet thread. This thread was attached to the door of the Temple. After the sacrifice to the Lord was burned on the altar and the scapegoat had died in the wilderness, the scarlet thread on the Temple door was said to miraculously turn pure white. Upon seeing this, the people of Israel knew that it was sign from God that He had accepted their sacrifices and forgiven their sins.