Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 16 – What? They cast lots for a sacrificial goat and a scapegoat, wasn’t ‘Blood Atonement’ all about a “Sacrificial Lamb”?

[First posted inv2013.  The instructions for the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are found in this chapter.  For an informative discussion of this most important holiday of the Jewish year, please go to http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday4.htm except remember that Jews today observe this commanded feast without a Temple and therefore without the animal sacrificial offerings.  

 

The original commandment was given in the context of the wilderness wanderings. during the time the Tabernacle in the wilderness was built.  The animals to be offered on this day were specific:  a young bull for the High Priest, and 2 goats for the nation.  The best and most thorough explanation we have read on this topic is by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: 

• Sacrificial goat, Scapegoat . . . what about the Lamb? Not on Yom Kippur.

Translation:  EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.—Admin1.]

Leviticus/Wayyiqrah 16

1 Now YHVH spoke to Moshe

after the death of the two sons of Aharon, 

when they came-near before the presence of YHVH and died;
2 YHVH said to Moshe: 

Speak to Aharon your brother, 

(so) that he (does) not enter, at (just) any time, the Holy-shrine, inside the curtain, facing the Purgation-cover that is on top of the Coffer, 

that he (does) not die; 

for in a cloud I make-myself seen, over the Purgation-cover.
3 In this (manner) is Aharon to enter the Holy-shrine:

with a bull, a young-one of the herd, for a hattat-offering, and a ram for an offering-up.
4 In a holy tunic of linen he is to dress, 

linen breeches are to be upon his (naked) body, 

with a sash of linen he is to gird himself, 

with a turban of linen he is to turban himself;

they are garments for the Holy-shrine.

When he has washed his body in water, he may dress in them.
5 From the community of the Children of Israel he is to take two hairy goats for a hattat-offering, and one ram for an offering-up.
6 And Aharon is to bring-near the bull for the hattat-offering that is his,

so that he may effect-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his household.

AST: He shall confess his sins and his household’s. An essential part of repentance and hence of atonement, confession is one of God’s greatest gifts.  He permits a person to erase his past so that he can begin a life unhampered by the corrosive effects of past sins.

7 He is to take the two hairy (goats) and is to stand them before the presence of YHVH,

at the entrance to the Tent of Appointment.
8 Aharon is to place upon the two hairy (goats) lots, 

one lot for YHVH and one lot for Azazel.

AST: The next step in the service was to select two he-goats: one that would become a national sin-offering and a second that would become the bearer of all the people’s sins, as it were.

9 Aharon is to bring-near the hairy-one for which the lot for YHVH came up, 

and is to designate it as a hattat-offering;
10 and the hairy-one for which the lot of Azazel came up is to be left standing-alive, before the presence of YHVH,

to effect-atonement upon it,

to send it away to Azazel into the wilderness.
11 Then Aharon is to bring-near the bull of the hattat-offering that is his, 

effecting-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his household; 

he is to slay the bull of the hattat-offering that is
his,
12 and is to take a panful of fiery coals from atop the slaughter-site, from before the presence of YHVH, 

and (two) fistfuls of fragrant-incense, finely-ground, 

and is to bring (it) inside the curtain.
13 Then he is to place the incense on the fire, before the presence of YHVH, 

so that the cloud (from) the incense covers the Purgation-cover that is over the Testimony, 

so that he does not die.
14 Then he is to take (some) of the blood of the bull 

and sprinkle (it) with his finger on the front of the Purgation-cover, eastward, 

and before the Purgation-cover he is to sprinkle, seven times, some of the blood with his finger.

AST: The special service of the Kohen Gadol’s (High Priest) own bull and the people’s he-goat is performed in the Holy of Holies. 16:17 Recanati and R’Bachya explain that on Yom Kippur the KG had to approach God, as it were, without any intermediary between them.

15 Then he is to slay the hairy-goat of the hattat-offering that is the people’s, 

and bring its blood inside the curtain,

doing with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull:

he is to sprinkle it on the Purgation-cover, and before the Purgation-cover.
16 So he is to effect-purgation for the Holy-shrine

from the tum’ot of the Children of Israel, from their transgressions, for all of their sins,

and thus he is to do with the Tent of Appointment, which dwells with them in the midst of their tum’ot.
17 No human is to be in the Tent of Appointment when he enters it to effect-atonement in the Holy-shrine, until he goes out.

He is to effect-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of his household, and on behalf of the entire assembly of Israel.
18 Then he is to go out to the slaughter-site that is before the presence of YHVH, and effect-purgation on it, 

he is to take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the hairy-goat 

and is to place (it) on the horns of the slaughter-site, all around;
19 he is to sprinkle on it from (the rest of) the blood with his finger seven times;

he is to purify it and he is to hallow it 

from the tum’ot of the Children of Israel.
20 When he has finished purging the Holy-shrine and the Tent of Appointment and the slaughter-site, 

he is to bring-near the live hairy (goat),

AST: Though the commandment to send a “scapegoat” to Azazel is a chok, (decree) that is beyond human intelligence, commentators have attempted to offer rationales”

• The ritual of the scapegoat inspires the Jews to repent, for it symbolizes that people can remove from themselves the burden of past sins.
• The two identical he-goats symbolize that every person must choose between good and evil; those who do not choose holiness are inevitably pushing themselves toward a wasteland of spiritual destruction (R’Hirsch).

21 Aharon is to lean his two hands on the head of the live hairy (goat) 

and is to confess over it

all the iniquities of the Children of Israel, all their transgressions, for all of their sins;

he is to place them upon the head of the hairy (goat) 

and is to send it free by the hand of a man for the occasion, into the wilderness.
22 The hairy (goat) is to bear upon itself all their iniquities, to a land cut off; 

he is to send-free the hairy (goat) in the wilderness.
23 Then Aharon is to enter the Tent of Appointment and is to strip off his linen garments in which he dressed when he entered the Holy-shrine, 

and is to leave them there;
24 then he is to wash his flesh in water, in a holy place, and is to dress in his garments,

he is to go out and sacrifice his offering-up and the offering-up of the people; 

so shall he effect-atonement on behalf of himself and on behalf of the people.
25 And the fat of the hattat-offering he is to turn-into-smoke upon the slaughter-site.
26 Now the one who sent free the hairy (goat) for Azazel is to scrub his garments and wash his flesh in water; 

after that he may reenter the camp.
27 And the bull of hattat and the hairy (goat) of hattat whose blood was brought in to effect-purgation in the Holy-shrine are to be taken outside the camp,

and in fire are to be burned their skins, their flesh, and their dung.
28 And (each) one who burns them is to scrub his garments and wash his flesh in water; 

after that he may reenter the camp.
29 And it shall be for you a law for the ages:

in the seventh New-moon, on the tenth after the New-moon 

you are to afflict your selves; 

any-kind of work you are not to do- 

(both) the native and the sojourner that sojourns in your midst.
30 For on this day atonement is to be effected for you,

to purify you from all your sins;

before the presence of YHVH, you will become-pure.

AST:  Sacrificial service can serve only to make God receptive to one’s personal repentance; then the sinner must make himself worthy of God’s forgiveness.  Only through personal repentance and self-cleansing can a person “be cleansed of all his sins before God” (Sforno).]  R’Elazar ben Azariah expounds that repentance and the Yom Kippur service can effect atonement only for sins  before Hashem, i.e., against God; one who sinned against his fellow must first appease his fellow.

31 It is a Sabbath of Sabbath-ceasing for you, 

 you are to afflict your selves, 

 a law for the ages.

32 The priest shall effect-purgation who has been anointed and whose hand has been filled to act-as-priest in place of his father.

 He is to dress in garments of linen, garments of the Holy-area;

33 he is to effect-purgation for the Holiest of Holy-shrines, 

 for the Tent of Appointment and the slaughter-site he is to effect-purgation, 

 and for the priests and for all the people of the assembly he is to effect-atonement.

34 This shall be for you a law for the ages, 

 to effect-atonement for the Children of Israel from all their sins, 

 once a year. 

 And he did as YHVH commanded Moshe.