Azazel: Scapegoat Atonement

In the Old Testament description of the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26) reference is made to one of two goats being consigned to Azazel.  No one knows for sure just what “Azazel” means.  Some say it is the proper name of the goat itself, meaning “the goat that departs,” or “scapegoat” (as in the King James Version).  Others suggest that Azazel designates the area to which the goat was released (a rugged, desolate place; a wilderness).  Still others say that Azazel is the leader of the evil spirits (demons) of the wilderness (Deut. 32:7; Ps 106:37). 

Let’s assume that the word Azazel means scapegoat.  Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is drawing near (September 18) for our Jewish brothers and sisters.  Atonement means a cleansing—an act of making amends, giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury.  In the Leviticus description of the Day of Atonement,  one goat is sacrificed for the sins of the people and its blood used for the cleansing of the holy place.  Another goat (the scapegoat) is brought to the priest, who confesses over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and puts all those sins on the goat’s head.  Then the goat is sent away into the wilderness…carrying on itself all the sins of the people to a remote place, leaving the people feeling, “atoned.”  In the New Testament, atonement is seen as coming through Jesus—the Christian’s scapegoat—“and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” 

Moving from goats to people.  A scapegoat “is a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others.”  For many of us, things are so bad, and our sins so heavy, that we need a Day of Atonement every day.  Our “wickedness and rebellion” are so gross that we need more goats than just the two prescribed for some ordinary every day atonement!  Jesus just isn’t sufficient to carry all our sinful burdens—so we must find others upon whom we can cast all our faults, failures and shortcomings.  And in order to make a full atonement, we will have to consign that person to some desolate place.  How many goats will I need today? Who will be Azazels for me today; the persons upon whom I shall lay all my iniquities in order to feel, “atoned”?