The Meal That Heals

The Meal That Heals

were brought before the high priest. One goat, designated for the Lord, was slain and burned on the altar. The second goat, named for Azazel, was also called the scapegoat. Both goats were to be identical in age, size, and color. As both goats were presented to the high priest, he would reach his hand into a wooden box and pull out one of two gold engraved markers. One read “for the Lord,” and the other read “for Azazel.” An eighteen-inch red thread was then tied to the neck of the goat designated for the Lord. This goat would be slain and offered as a burnt offering before the Lord, while the second goat (the scapegoat) would play an important role in carrying the sins of the nation. According to Jewish tradition, as the scapegoat was brought before the high priest, he would lay his hands upon the goat’s head and pray a special series of prayers that symbolically transferred the sins of the Priest, the Levites, and the Israelites on to the scapegoat. After the ceremony, a chosen man led the goat into the wilderness where it was eventually abandoned. A red thread was tied to the horns of the scapegoat in case it would later appear in a community in the wilderness. Anyone who saw the red thread on the goat’s head knew it was the goat carrying sin, and they were to avoid contact with it. Later, a system developed wherein an appointed man led the goat with a rope around its neck outside the eastern gate, across the mountains, and into the wilderness. He eventually transferred the goat to another man who would run with the goat to a distant mountain and hand the goat to a third person. Miles outside the city of Jerusalem, on a mountain called the Mount of Azazel, the scapegoat, carrying the sins of the nation, was pushed off a cliff where it tumbled to a violent death hundreds of feet below. When this goat met its death, a crimson colored thread that had been nailed to the outside of the Temple door supernaturally turned white. This was visible evidence to the Priests, Levites, and Israelites that God had forgiven their sins. Isaiah may have been referring to this crimson thread when he wrote: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

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