VL-IV: A Scapegoat From the Archives

[Robin Landseadel]

A particularly interesting post by schwitterZ concerning Zoyd and the  
ritual scapegoat:
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I was thinking about the glass being shattered or gone through which  
reminded me of the veil separating the people from the Inner Sanctum  
in the ancient Hebrew temple...the one that was 'shattered' when  
Christ was crucified. And I was thinking that this annual rite old  
Zoyd enacts sounds like a modern version of the old Hebrew rite of  
atonement in which the sins of the people were placed on a goat, and  
it and the sins were driven into the wilderness. This I believe was an  
annual rite. Then I looked up the Levitical account of this ritual and  
found all of these images mentioned in one place, including dressing  
up for the occasion:

Book of Leviticus
Chapter 16 (KJV)
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1
And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of  
Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died;

2
And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he  
come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the  
mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear  
in the cloud upon the mercy seat.

3
Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a  
sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.

4
He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen  
breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and  
with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments;  
therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

5
And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two  
kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

6
And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for  
himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

7
And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at  
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

8
And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD,  
and the other lot for the scapegoat.

9
And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD's lot fell, and  
offer him for a sin offering.

10
But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be  
presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to  
let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
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There's also a section under SCAPEGOAT in Frazer's THE GOLDEN BOUGH  
titled: "The Public Expulsion Of Evil" in which various scapegoat  
rituals are outlined including using humans as scapegoats by painting  
their faces and dressing them up before expelling them from the  
community. I'll look at that more closely as time permits.

s~Z