Scapegoat(scapebird)
“Removal or complete separation (debated)”
Summary
One of two goats used on the Day of Atonement, upon which Israel's sins were symbolically placed before it was sent into the wilderness.
☩The Day of Atonement Ritual
On the Day of Atonement, the high priest took two goats and cast lots over them—one lot 'for the LORD' and the other 'for Azazel.' The first goat was sacrificed as a sin offering. The high priest then laid both hands on the head of the live goat, confessing over it all Israel's iniquities and transgressions, symbolically transferring the people's sins to the animal.
☩The Meaning of Azazel
The Hebrew word azazel has occasioned much debate. Some interpret it as 'the goat that departs' (from which 'scapegoat' derives). Others see it as the name of a demon or desert spirit, representing complete removal of sins to a desolate, uninhabited place. Still others derive it from a root meaning 'complete removal,' emphasizing that sins were carried away entirely from God's presence and remembrance.
☩Typological Significance
The scapegoat symbolically bore away the sins of God's people from His presence, as the psalmist wrote: 'As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.' Together with the sacrificed goat, the two animals represented the complete work of atonement: propitiation through blood and removal of guilt.
☩The Parallel of the Two Birds
The scapegoat ritual had a lesser-known parallel in the purification ceremony for leprosy. When a leper was healed, the priest took two clean, living birds. One was killed over a vessel of spring water so that its blood ran into the water. The living bird, together with cedar wood, crimson wool, and hyssop, was then dipped in the blood-water mixture, the healed person was sprinkled seven times, and the living bird was released into the open field. The same ceremony was prescribed for a house cleansed of leprosy (Leviticus 14:49-53). The structural parallel with the Day of Atonement is unmistakable: in both rituals, two creatures are selected; one dies to provide the basis of cleansing; the other, having been associated with the blood of the first, is sent away alive—carrying impurity beyond return. The released bird, like the scapegoat sent into the wilderness, symbolized the complete removal of defilement, borne away into the open where it could never be recovered.
References
- 1.American Tract Society, "Scapegoat," in American Tract Society Bible Dictionary (American Tract Society, 1859).
- 2.Philip Schaff and Johann Herzog (ed.), "Azazel," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. I (Funk and Wagnalls, 1908–1914).
- 3.John McClintock and James Strong, "Leprosy," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. V (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).