The Goat for Azazel and the Once-a-Year Atonement

The Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron had died for drawing near before the Lord. The command was blunt: Aaron must not enter the Holy Place behind the veil whenever he chooses. To come carelessly before the mercy seat where the Lord appears in the cloud was to die. The chapter does not explain why Aaron’s sons died; it only uses their death as the reason for the restriction that follows.

Only one day each year could the high priest enter that inner space, and only with a specific sequence of offerings. He was to bring a young bull for a sin offering for himself and his household, and a ram for a burnt offering. From the congregation he took two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. The garments were not the gold and jeweled vestments of his office but simple linen—a coat, breeches, a girdle, and a mitre. He bathed his whole body before putting them on.

The two goats were presented before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Aaron cast lots over them: one lot for the Lord, one lot for Azazel. The goat whose lot fell to the Lord was slaughtered as a sin offering. The goat for Azazel was kept alive, to be sent away into the wilderness to make atonement by carrying the sins away.

Aaron first killed the bull for his own sin offering. He took a censer full of burning coals from the altar and two handfuls of finely beaten incense, brought them inside the veil, and placed the incense on the fire so that the cloud of smoke covered the mercy seat. The text is explicit: this was so that he would not die. Then he took some of the bull’s blood and sprinkled it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat, and seven times before it.

Only after that did he kill the goat for the people’s sin offering. He brought its blood inside the veil and did the same work—sprinkling it on the mercy seat and before it seven times. The purpose was to make atonement for the Holy Place because of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, their transgressions, and all their sins. The same was done for the tent of meeting, which dwelled among them in the midst of their uncleannesses.

No one else was allowed inside the tent of meeting while Aaron performed this work. He was alone from the moment he entered until he came out, having made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel. Then he went out to the altar that stood before the Lord and made atonement for it, putting some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood on its horns all around, and sprinkling it seven times with his finger to cleanse and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of Israel.

When the atonement for the Holy Place, the tent of meeting, and the altar was finished, Aaron presented the live goat. He laid both his hands on its head and confessed over it all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of the children of Israel, putting them on the goat’s head. Then he sent the goat away into the wilderness by the hand of a man designated for the task. The goat bore all their iniquities into a solitary land and was released there.

After that, Aaron reentered the tent of meeting, removed the linen garments, left them there, bathed his body in water in a holy place, and put on his regular garments. Then he came out and offered his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering, making atonement for himself and for the people. The fat of the sin offerings was burned on the altar. The carcasses of the bull and the goat whose blood had been brought inside the veil were carried outside the camp and burned completely—skin, flesh, and dung. The man who released the goat and the man who burned the carcasses each had to wash his clothes and bathe his body before reentering the camp.

The Lord then established this as a permanent statute. On the tenth day of the seventh month, the people were to afflict their souls and do no work—both the native-born and the foreigner living among them. This was a Sabbath of solemn rest. On that day atonement was made to cleanse them from all their sins so that they would be clean before the Lord. The statute applied to every generation. The priest who was anointed and consecrated to serve in his father’s place would perform this atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. He would make atonement for the holy sanctuary, the tent of meeting, the altar, the priests, and all the people of the assembly. Once a year, forever, this was to be done. And the text ends with a simple report: Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.