A creature that carries meaning
The Scapegoat
The scapegoat is one of the most striking pictures in the law of Moses. On the holiest day of the year, one goat carried the sins of the people away into the wilderness, out of sight and out of reach.
“And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”Leviticus 16:22
The creature in Scripture
The creature in Scripture. The scapegoat belongs to the ritual of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, the yearly day when Israel's sins were dealt with before God. Aaron took two goats and cast lots over them, "one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat" (Leviticus 16:8). The first goat was killed as a sin offering, its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat. The second, the scapegoat, was kept alive for a different purpose. "And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited" (Leviticus 16:21-22). The goat was then released in the wilderness, never to return. The two goats together formed one picture of atonement: one making payment by its death, the other carrying the guilt away. The scapegoat was a real animal in a solemn, once-a-year rite at the center of Israel's cleansing.
What it comes to mean
What it comes to mean. The scapegoat comes to mean the removal of guilt, sin not merely paid for but carried completely away. The text states this directly: the sins are confessed and laid on the goat's head, and it bears them "unto a land not inhabited," a place from which they will not come back. Where the slain goat pictures the price of sin, the scapegoat pictures the result, a people whose transgressions have been taken off them and sent beyond recall. The image gives flesh to promises like "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). The two goats should be read together as two aspects of one atonement rather than as two separate rescues. The scapegoat's particular meaning is the blessed sense of distance: forgiveness that does not leave the sin hovering nearby but carries it away into a wilderness of forgetfulness.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The New Testament sees the whole Day of Atonement fulfilled in Christ, who is both the sacrifice whose blood cleanses and the one who bears sin away. "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28), and He entered "into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24), doing in reality what the high priest did in shadow. Isaiah had already joined the two goats' meanings in one servant: "he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" and "the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:4, 6). On the cross Christ takes the confessed guilt of His people upon His own head and carries it away, so that it is not merely forgiven but removed. As John says, He "taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The scapegoat sent into the uninhabited land pictures the finality of that removal, sin borne off by Christ to a place from which it will never return to accuse us.
Questions people ask
What was the scapegoat in the Bible?
In Leviticus 16, on the Day of Atonement, two goats were used. One was killed as a sin offering, and over the live scapegoat the high priest confessed Israel's sins, then sent it into the wilderness to carry their iniquities away "unto a land not inhabited" (Leviticus 16:22).
What is the difference between the two goats?
The slain goat's blood pictured the price of sin paid at the mercy seat, while the live scapegoat pictured guilt being carried completely away. Together they formed one act of atonement, showing both payment for sin and its removal.
How does the scapegoat point to Jesus?
Christ fulfills both goats. He is the sacrifice whose blood cleanses and the one who bears sin away, "once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28) and the Lamb who "taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).