The Two Goats -- Various Interpretations
J. Cumming, D. D. Leviticus 16:3-34 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.… There have been disputes about the interpretation of this. I may state that Faber, a very acute and able critic upon Leviticus, thinks that the one goat was sacrificed for sin-representing Christ's death; that the scapegoat was dedicated to the evil spirit-representing Christ put into the power of Satan to be tempted in the wilderness. The reason that he thinks so is that the word for goat of "scape" is azazel; and that name was applied to the fallen spirit by the Jews. And therefore Faber thinks it was one goat for a sacrifice — to denote Christ's atonement; the other goat let loose to Satan, or sent away to Satan — to represent the Saviour given up into the hands of the wicked one to be tempted for a season. The second interpretation is by Bush, the American commentator, a man of great sagacity and talent; and he thinks that the one goat that was slain as a sacrifice represented Christ's atonement for us, but that the other goat represented the Jewish races let loose, bearing the fearful responsibility of having trodden under foot the precious blood of Christ, and crucified the Son of God, and stained their name and their nation with the infamy of that crime; and that they, a blasted race, driven into the desert, were represented by the scapegoat that was here let go. And he thinks on the same ground, that when the lots were cast, and Jesus was condemned and Barabbas was let go, that that was the carrying out of the same great symbol — Barabbas, the representative of the Jews, let go, but branded with an inexpiable crime; and Jesus, the Great Atonement. sacrificed for the sins of all that believe. These criticisms, however, are more plausible than true. I do think the old-fashioned interpretation is the just one, and there is no valid reason for superseding it: that the one goat sacrificed on the altar was the symbol of Christ our Saviour or Atonement sacrificed for us; and that the other goat let loose into the desert was the symbol and representation to the children of Israel of Jesus rising from the dead, bearing the sins that He had exhausted, entering into heaven, and there ever living to make intercession for us. I know there are difficulties even in accepting the last of these; but those difficulties, if they do not completely vanish, are much diluted when you notice the accompaniments or the rites by which this goat was let loose into the wilderness: that the priest was to lay his hands upon the head of the scapegoat — the one that was presented alive; over it he was to confess all the sins of the children of Israel, and then this scapegoat was let loose with the sins of Israel upon its head. Now, the very phraseology that is applied to the scapegoat is applied to Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away" — that carrieth away "the sins of the world." And I cannot conceive a more beautiful type of Christ our Saviour, or a more expressive exhibition of the mode in which we become interested in Him than that of the high priest laying his hand upon his head, transferring the sins of Israel to it, dismissing it, and the sins blotted out, no more remembered, carried into a desert, passed away from the reminiscences of Israel and of God for ever. (J. Cumming, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. WEB: "Herewith shall Aaron come into the sanctuary: with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.