Leviticus 16:20-34
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
23 “Then Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of meeting, shall take off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. 24 And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26 And he who released the goat as the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. And they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal. 28 Then he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
29 ”This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. 30 For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 31 It is a sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. 32 And the priest, who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place, shall make atonement, and put on the linen clothes, the holy garments; 33 then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. 34 This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.” And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Moses continued to lay out the law as given by the LORD on the part of the scapegoat for sin’s atonement. He did this after sanctifying the Holy Place where God’s mercy seat sat. Aaron the high priest was to bring the live goat near and lay his hands on its head to confess the iniquities and transgressions of the people, putting all their sins on the scapegoat (Isaiah 53:6) as a picture of Christ the Messiah, and sending it with those confessed sins into the wilderness as guided by the hand of a suitable man, available and ready for the task. That scapegoat took their sins to a place where nobody lived, to an uninhabited wilderness where no sin dwelt. Afterwards, Aaron cleansed himself and offered sacrifices of atonement for himself before being able to reenter the camp with sins forgiven and covered by the scapegoat who took on their sin and removed far from them (Jeremiah 31:34, Psalm 103:12, Micah 7:19). We likewise are able to enter the kingdom of God, His eternal camp, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the Passover Lamb of God who took away our sins, bearing our reproach and punishment outside the camp (Hebrews 13:12-14) to gain us entry to the Father. He is our sacrifice and scapegoat all in one, for He took our sins upon Himself outside the city on the tree of our curse of sin’s penalty and also sacrificed Himself there as our great High Priest, (Hebrews 4:14, 7:25) eternally living and ministering this atonement for us in heaven as our divine scapegoat.
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