The Scapegoat

“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:”Leviticus 16:21 · KJV

“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 · KJV

Two goats, one day, and Leviticus calls them one offering: “two kids of the goats for a sin offering” (16:5), singular. The first died at the altar. On the second the high priest laid both hands and confessed “all the iniquities of the children of Israel,” and a fit man led it away “unto a land not inhabited” (16:21-22).

It took two animals to show what one Lamb would do, because a single goat cannot both die and walk away. Sin paid for, and sin carried out of sight: “as far as the east is from the west” (Ps 103:12), “into the depths of the sea” (Mic 7:19). And the lot decided which goat was which (16:8); neither was chosen for anything in itself. “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6). Both goats are in that sentence.