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Consider the Scape Goat

“And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats as a sin offering, and one ram as a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house (16:5) Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.5 And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. 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” (vv8-10) Following the sacrifice of Aaron’s bullock, he then takes the two kid goats brought to him by the people, one is sacrificed as a sin offering and the other, which is called the “scape goat” is released into the wilderness. He gives lots over them before the LORD, the one lot for Jehovah was to be a sin offering and the other for Azazel (Keil and Delitzsch’s commentary, identify this person Azazel as satan, p586).

Jesus, following His baptism was sent directly by the Holy Spirit to confront satan in the wilderness (Mat.4:1), this took place at the beginning of His ministry and at the end He again confronted satan when He was nailed to the cross and dying. The third temptation of satan in the wilderness, as described by Matthew, relates to the offer of the kingdoms of this world by satan if Jesus will worship him. Of course, the kingdoms of this world can only be won by the death of Jesus Christ, the “Lamb of God” – “but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb.9:26). Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can redeem humankind and legitimately deliver humanity from satan’s hold. When Jesus died on the cross, He stripped satan of his power and routed his kingdom! In His weakness He prevailed over satan’s armies. The “scape goat” comes to us as a completely new element with regards to sacrifice. In the Scriptures we view all sacrifices in the light of Gen.ch.22 – the sacrifice of Isaac. We have already discussed meal offerings in the context of the sacrificial system (ch.1-5), but this is a completely new phenomena, a live goat which is set free instead of being killed! Therefore, the appearance of the scape goat must have a particularly important teaching in relation to our understanding of Christ’s sacrificial death. Aaron will make atonement upon the head of the scape goat, by putting Israel’s transgressions and guilt upon its head before he sends it away into the wilderness. Both goats are sin offerings and therefore the second must be viewed equally as bearing sin as truly as the one which was slaughtered.

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