What Is a Scapegoat in the Bible, and Why Is Jesus Ours?

What Is a Scapegoat in the Bible?

A scapegoat in the Bible is “the goat that goes away” (escape + goat). In essence, a scapegoat in the Bible is one who makes atonement for another (or redeems them). In the context of Leviticus 16:8-22, the scapegoat was, used in a Jewish ceremony as illustrated below.

What Would Happen to the Scapegoat in the Bible?

Leviticus 16 spells out the instructions for the high priest (at the time of its institution by the Lord, Aaron was the high priest) regarding the day of atonement. According to the exact instructions from God, Aaron was to enter the Holy Place with a bull from the herd as a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Once attired in his linen garments, he took from the congregation two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. The bull was offered first to cover Aaron and his house’s sins.

Aaron then set the two goats before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and two lots were set over the goats, one for the Lord and the other for Azazel (the meaning of Azazel is uncertain. It may be a term for a place or possibly a demon. Traditionally it meant scapegoat). The goat upon which the lot fell for the Lord was used as a sin offering for the people.

Leviticus 16:10 is the meat of the passage about the scapegoat. “…but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel”

Aaron then completed the ministrations of his atonement work (a very bloody, messy process), after which he laid both his hands on the “head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins.” And he “put them on the head of the goat” and sent “it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness” (Leviticus 16:21). The man then let the “goat go free in the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:22). Once the scapegoat was sent to the wilderness, the sins of the people “escaped” through the atoning work done by use of him. The man who led the scapegoat to Azazel had to wash his clothes and bathe before he could come back into the camp (Leviticus 16:26).

Leviticus 16:30 is also a key verse in our look toward Jesus as our Scapegoat, “For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.”

Why Is Jesus Our Scapegoat?

The scapegoat as defined in Leviticus served as an atonement for the people. First, let’s define atonement. It is the means of reconciliation between God and people (at one with Him). The Old Covenant defined sin in accordance with the Law (the Lord’s commandments as set in Exodus 20).

A priest kept the peoples’ accounts right with God (cover their sins via sacrifices) through their Old Covenant work. It was a seemingly never-ending progression of sacrificial offerings, for man cannot not sin (Psalm 51:3, Romans 5:12), and God cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13).

Even with the Law, there is no one who is righteous, not one (Romans 3:10). How can people be purified if not under the Law? What remained was the need for the sacrificial process until God instituted a New Covenant—a covenant by which One who could take on the sins of mankind. Only One perfect being can take away the sins of the world, and He was publicly introduced by John the Baptist when John said, “Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). No more goat to carry off the peoples’ sins, but a perfect lamb. The Law was given to reveal sin (Romans 3:20, Romans 7), and Jesus came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17).

Both believers and non-believers know the famous Bible verse, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that he who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Those who accept the truth of that verse and surrender their lives to Jesus as their Lord and Savior will have everlasting life in heaven with Him. Those who do not will fall victim to their own selfishness and will be separated from God for eternity.

A portion of the book of Hebrews may be likened to a treatise on the Levitical priesthood and sacrificial system, for it is grounded in them. What Hebrews adds, however, is the good news about Jesus! Through Jesus, we will receive our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9), for He is our “Great High Priest who has passed through the heavens…who was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We can now, because of Jesus, come “boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

He shed His blood once and for all, so there is now no need to continue a sacrificial system that was a type of what was to come (Hebrews 10:18). (A type is a resemblance of something yet to come). Hebrews 10:3-4 says, “But in those sacrifices there is a remainder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Since Jesus fulfilled the law by the shedding of His blood, there no longer remains a need for continual sin-erasing sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10).

Later in the same chapter of Hebrews, we find we can draw near to God “with a true heart in full assurance of faith…,” and we are to hold on to our confession of faith without wavering because Jesus is faithful (Hebrews 10:17-25). Hallelujah! Jesus paid it all with His blood (Romans 5:8) in a bloody, messy act of love, and now our bodies are now washed with pure water (John 4:10). God sent His sacrificial Lamb as a Scapegoat for us that when God looks at us, He sees His perfect Son.

Why Is This So Radical?

It’s hard for anyone in today’s society to think anything or anyone else can mitigate their responsibilities. Two types of people exist; those who take full responsibility for their actions and those who don’t. Either group could dismiss the idea that someone else would take their place, much less admit to wrongdoing that requires a repayment (atonement). That wrongdoing is sin, and so many people refuse to acknowledge that anything they do may be called a sin.

Many are appalled at the Bible’s biography of Jesus’ flogging, crucifixion, and death, and they wonder how a God of love can allow such a heinous act. Think about Aslan in The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Susan and Lucy watch, horrified, as Aslan sacrifices himself for no apparent reason. Yet they learn through Aslan’s death that evil cannot be destroyed without it “For without the shedding of blood there is no remission [of sins]” (Hebrews 9:23-28). Through Jesus, we have life “and that abundantly” (John 10:10).

That Jesus fulfilled the Law and is the perfect sacrifice is indeed radical to contemporary Jews too. The sacrificial system is one they would like to reinstate since they do not accept Jesus as Messiah.

Everyone—Jew or Gentile—needs a Savior. In Acts 4:11-12, the Apostle Peter tells a spiteful crowd of Sanhedrin about Jesus, “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Left to our own devices, we all fall (John 3:18).

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/mihtiander

Lisa Loraine Baker is the multiple award-winning author of Someplace to be Somebody. She writes fiction and nonfiction. In addition to writing for the Salem Web Network, Lisa serves as a Word Weavers’ mentor and is part of a critique group. She also is a member of BRRC. Lisa and her husband, Stephen, a pastor, live in a small Ohio village with their crazy cat, Lewis.