I used the word “scapegoat” in a conversation recently and a friend told me the word actually has its origin in the Bible. I didn’t know that. Can you please explain where it is in the Bible?
The word originates in a ritual described in chapter 16 of the book of Leviticus. The chapter describes the ceremonies for the Day of Atonement, known today as Yom Kippur. It is one of the most sacred observances in the Jewish calendar.
It was only on that day, for example, that the high priest entered the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple, to perform the purification rite (cf. Lev 16:34; Heb 9:7).
In Leviticus 16, God instructs Moses on how Aaron, the high priest, is to perform a ritual to atone for the sins of the people.
The ritual involves two goats. They are taken from the congregation of the Israelites and presented before the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle, or Tent of Meeting, where God was especially present to his people before Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem. Lots are cast to determine which of the goats is to be “for the Lord,” and which “for Azazel”.
The meaning of Azazel is uncertain. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible edited by Scott Hahn says that the Hebrew word appears to be a compound of two Semitic words, meaning “the goat that goes away”.
The Greek Septuagint translates the word as “the one sent away”.
And the Latin Vulgate calls it “the emissary goat”. Also, according to an ancient Jewish tradition Azazel is the name of a demon prominent among the fallen angels.
The goat chosen “for the Lord” is sacrificed as a sin offering for the people. Aaron takes its blood into the innermost part of the tent, beyond the veil, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept with its mercy seat on top.
He sprinkles the blood on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat, to make atonement for the sins of the people and for the tent of meeting in their midst. When he comes out, he sprinkles some of the blood on the horns of the altar to make atonement for it and to hallow it from the uncleanness of the people.
When he finishes, Aaron lays both hands on the head of the other goat and confesses over it all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of the people of Israel. This act symbolically transfers the sins of the people onto the goat.
When this is done, the goat is sent away into the wilderness, led by a man. The biblical text says that the goat “shall bear all their iniquities upon him to a solitary land” (v. 22). In this way, the sins of the people are not only forgiven but are removed, carried far away from the community.
This ritual is to be repeated once a year for all time on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur (cf. v 34).
This transferring of the sins of the people onto a goat is a figure of Christ taking upon himself the sins of mankind. Christ is the Suffering Servant in the prophecy of Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:6).
Like the goat, Christ was innocent: “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth” (Is 53:9). Finally, “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities” (Is 53: 11).
How did we get the word “scapegoat”? In 1530, William Tyndale, one of the first translators of the Bible into English, rendered the Hebrew phrase referring to the second goat as “the escape goat,” which was later shortened to “scapegoat.”
Tyndale’s translation captured the essential idea of a goat that had done nothing wrong being sent into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people.
Over time, the concept of the scapegoat moved beyond its religious context to refer to a person or group that is unfairly blamed for the faults or wrongdoings of others. This retains the core idea in Leviticus of the transferring of guilt from the sinners onto an innocent party.
Nonetheless, whereas the biblical ritual was a divinely commanded act with symbolic significance, present-day scapegoating is typically unjust and harmful to the reputation of the person accused.
