The Jewish (civil/administrative) calendar starts with Rosh Hoshana followed by yamin noraim or ten “Days of Awe”. These 10 days are spent on tzedakah (charity), teshuvah (repentance) and tefillah (prayer) and preparation for the Day of Atonement. Unlike all the other spring and fall feasts described in Leviticus 23, this day which is considered the most holy day in the year, there is no feast or jubilation in the trading sense. Instead there is a 25-hour fast and rest from work. Yom Kippur was once-in-a-year access to the most Holy Place for the High Priest.
On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the high priest was supposed to select 2 goats, one for an offering unto the Lord and another to be presented live to make an atonement by symbolically carrying the sins away into the desert.
“He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be reserved as an offering to the Lord and which will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness of Azazel. Aaron will then present as a sin offering the goat chosen by lot for the Lord. The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot to be sent away, will be kept alive, standing before the Lord. When it is sent away to Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the Lord.”
Leviticus 16:8-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/lev.16.8-10.NLT
Since, there wasn’t any English word corresponding to the Hebrew word, “Azazel“, William Tyndale (16th Century) coined the term “scapegoat“, which has since been carried forward into the English literature. Since, this was the goat which escaped alive into the desert. The further adventures of the scapegoat are mentioned below;
“Aharon is to lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the transgressions, crimes and sins of the people of Isra’el; he is to put them on the head of the goat and then send it away into the desert with a man appointed for the purpose. The goat will bear all their transgressions away to some isolated place, and he is to let the goat go in the desert.”
Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:21-22 CJB
https://bible.com/bible/1275/lev.16.21-22.CJB
Yeshua on the cross, became the sin-carrier lamb (Isaiah 53:4-6)
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ” John 1:29 NLT
Unlike the scapegoat, Yeshua didn’t escape into the desert, but as the perfect High Priest, He made one final atonement with His own blood.
“So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”
Hebrews 9:11-12 NLT
Yeshua the perfect 🐑 of God, became the scapegoat for us so we who had wandered away as sheep 🐏 would come back to the Shepherd.
The Mishna and the Talmud (Jewish Rabbinical literature) talk about the book of life being opened on the Rosh Hoshana and being sealed on the Yom Kippur. As believers in Yeshua living a victorious life, we hold on to His promise,
“All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.”
Revelation 3:5 NLT.
As believers of Yeshua let us on this day join our Jewish brethren in rest and reflection. Reflection on the work of Christ by which we can access the most Holy Place, not as a once-a-year phenomenon but as an ever open access and rest because He said, “It is finished”.
God bless!
