Reading: Leviticus 16-18, Psalm 35

Well, we got here. We have reached the peak of the book of Leviticus, and the Day of Atonement for the people Israel. These chapters occupy the middle of the book, and they are framed by God’s regulation of impurity, priests, and offerings. Ancient writers liked to place their major point at the center of a work, with related information emanating from it on either side like ripples on the water from a rock.

So this is the point of the Book of Leviticus. We ended Exodus with God occupying the tabernacle, but Moses unable to enter. This was a really big problem, because the entire point of the tabernacle was to give the people a place to interact with their ruler, God, who had them place his throne, the mercy seat, the place of his judgment, inside the inner tent of the tabernacle behind a veil. If even Moses can’t enter the tent, there is no one to carry their faults, grievances, or queries before their king. There is no way for them to be in the presence of God and receive judgment apart from the natural consequences of their unholiness: death. Back in Exodus 28 God outlined for them an intermediary- the high priest, who will carry their guilt into the presence of God and carry their judgment on his heart. But then in Leviticus 10 we get a little story about Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, who approach the presence of God incorrectly and are destroyed. Approaching God, even if you are a priest, is dangerous.

After his elder sons are destroyed, Aaron receives very very specific instructions from God as to how and when he is to approach the throne of God. Remember that the Aaron, and every ordained high priest after him, has already gone through a process of identifying himself with an animal, which is then killed. In order to even hold the office of high priest, they have to die. But there is more to be done. Again through identification with animals, the high priest must make atonement for himself, his house, the tabernacle itself, the altar, and the people. He brings forward two goats. One of them is killed and it’s blood, along with that of the bull that he killed for himself and his house, are carried into the tent where he sprinkles it before God’s throne.

So that should be it, right? The high priest has borne the guilt of Israel right into the presence of God, and received the judgment of God, confirmed to be merciful by his continuing to live. Well, not quite. Apparently the guilt and judgment of the people aren’t really dealt with, because when he leaves the tent, the high priest is still bearing them. This is where the second goat comes in. This unfortunate animal is the scapegoat- a word invented by William Tyndale as he translated in an attempt to communicate what was going on in the Hebrew- and it will be bearing the guilt and judgment of Israel.

/translation rant

A note about Azazel. Depending on what translation you are reading, you may be getting this animal as “for Azazel.” My current favorite translation, the ESV, does this, though it is not my favorite thing about it. This is just an English transliteration of the Hebrew word עֲזָאזֵל‬. This word only appears here in the Bible, and it’s meaning is not totally certain. In the mid first century before Christ, when the apocryphal books of Enoch were composed, it was believed to be the proper name of a demon. However, this was a short lived belief, as rabbis started to look at the origin of the word, which they decided it meant “rugged place of God” (azaz in Hebrew is “rugged” and el is God.) In English, we have just gone with “the scapegoat” for a long time, and just recently began assigning proper name status to the word, which doesn’t really have any support outside of 1 Enoch, a book that is frankly not taken very seriously by Jewish or Christian scholars. In any event, it seems extremely unlikely that this was understood by the ancient Israelites to be a person. It is more likely a place, whether a specific place or a general “rugged” one, we just don’t know.

/end translation rant

The high priest places both his hands on the animal (once again the rite of identification) and confesses onto it all the sin of Israel. Then they get rid of it. Note it is not killed, not a sacrifice. It is driven into the wilderness. Where isn’t important, so much as that it is away. The guilt and judgment of Israel is removed from the people, but is not finally dealt with. The atonement made by the high priest Aaron and his descendants did not result in the human problem‘s resolution, only the removal of the consequences of the problem. And even that temporarily. The animal, and by identification the guilt and judgment, is still out there somewhere. It is not dealt with. Worse than that, they have to do this every year on a particular day. The guilt of the people is being sent to the wilderness year after year. The people bear the consequences of the human problem. The priest assumes it. Then it is transferred to a poor goat who is driven away. But it still exists, and as time goes on it continues to grow.

Following the scapegoat being driven away, everyone involved has to purify themselves. They wash their clothes and themselves. The goat is horribly impure, and to have any association with it is impure and must be cleaned off.

Our reading today continues with certain rules about sacrifice and purity, mirroring in many ways the reading leading up to the day of atonement. All sacrifices must be at the tabernacle, because that is where God’s throne room is, and the priests have to be making atonement for this system to work. The people can’t do it themselves, and even the priests can’t do it apart from the tabernacle. God again reserves the blood for himself- the power of the life of a creature was believed to be in it’s blood, and that power belongs only to God.

Finally, there is a long section on sexual purity, hearkening back to the design of humans in Genesis 2. God insists that his people follow the design of humans, not the distortion that the human declaration of independence has brought about. This is seen no where in the Bible so clearly as in sexual ethics and behavior. We will see much more of this in tomorrow’s reading, so I’ll cover it more there.

We have reached the peak of the book of Leviticus, and while it gives humans a way to interact with God, it is rather underwhelming as far as actually solving the problem. It is a step forward, but there is a long way to go, and the story is far from over.