The Ultimate Scapegoat

I want to begin our sermon this morning by asking if you’ve ever before heard the word “scapegoat.” This term was coined by William Tyndale, the first great English Bible translator, who I will discuss a little further later on in our message. After Tyndale, the word came to be used for a person, animal, or object to which the impurity of a community was formally transferred and then removed. In common usage today, a scapegoat is someone whom people will blame for their own misfortunes, and even for their faults and sins. For example, in group dynamics, when two factions can’t get along, they will often unite once they find a common enemy. That common enemy becomes the scapegoat who receives the blame and helps the people feel good about themselves again. This morning, we’re going to learn about the ultimate Scapegoat who will take on our sins and unite us with God.

The Account of the Scapegoat (Leviticus 16:6-10, 15-16, 20-22)

6 Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 8 Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness . . .

15 Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. 16 So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness . . .

20 And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

In this chapter, we observe some of the rituals that took place on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. “The Day of Atonement was kept on the tenth day of Tisri [which] . . . would be about the first of October.”(1) It was observed by the people as a high solemn Sabbath. “On this occasion only, the high priest was permitted to enter into the holy of holies. Having bathed his person and dressed himself entirely in the holy white linen garments, he brought forward a young bullock for a sin offering, purchased at his own cost, on account of himself and his family; and two young goats for a sin offering, with a ram for a burnt offering, which were paid for out of the public treasury, on account of the people.”(2)

“He then presented the two goats before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle and cast lots upon them. On one lot [the words] ‘For Jehovah’ was inscribed, and on the other” – well, let me tell you, it wasn’t the word “scapegoat.” If the original Hebrew word for scapegoat were represented in verse eight, it would read like this: “Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for [Azazel].” So, on the other goat would be inscribed the words “For Azazel,” a very strange phrase, which we’ll look at in a moment.(3)

“After various sacrifices and ceremonies, the goat upon which the lot ‘For Jehovah’ had fallen was slain, and the high priest sprinkled its blood before the mercy-seat . . . The purification of the holy of holies and of the holy place being thus completed, the high priest laid his hands upon the head of the goat on which the lot ‘For Azazel’ had fallen, and confessed over it all the sins of the people. The goat was then led, by a man chosen for the purpose, into the wilderness, into ‘a land not inhabited,’ and was there let loose.”(4)