Lexicon

The goat

הַשָּׂעִ֥יר

(haś·śā·‘îr)

Article | Noun - masculine singular



Shaggy, a he-goat, a faun

will carry

וְנָשָׂ֨א

(wə·nā·śā)

Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular



To lift, carry, take

on

עָלָ֛יו

(‘ā·lāw)

Preposition | third person masculine singular



Above, over, upon, against

itself

אֶת־

(’eṯ-)

Direct object marker



Untranslatable mark of the accusative case

all

כָּל־

(kāl-)

Noun - masculine singular construct



The whole, all, any, every

their iniquities

עֲוֺנֹתָ֖ם

(‘ă·wō·nō·ṯām)

Noun - common plural construct | third person masculine plural



Iniquity, guilt, punishment for iniquity

into

אֶל־

(’el-)

Preposition



Near, with, among, to

a solitary

גְּזֵרָ֑ה

(gə·zê·rāh)

Noun - feminine singular



Separation

place,

אֶ֣רֶץ

(’e·reṣ)

Noun - feminine singular construct



Earth, land

and [the man] will release

וְשִׁלַּ֥ח

(wə·šil·laḥ)

Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular



To send away, for, out

[it]

הַשָּׂעִ֖יר

(haś·śā·‘îr)

Article | Noun - masculine singular



Shaggy, a he-goat, a faun

into the wilderness.

בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃

(bam·miḏ·bār)

Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular



A pasture, a desert, speech

Unto a land not inhabited.

unto a land cut off,

(22)--Literally,that is, a place the ground of which is separated from all around it, hence a summit, a peak standing out by itself, a precipice.

In the wilderness.--Where no human beings dwell, but which is the abode of evil spirits. It will be seen that the directions here are simply to conduct the goat into the wilderness, where it is apparently to be let loose to pursue its own course. During the second Temple, however, the authorities decreed that the animal must be destroyed. Accordingly one of the priests who was appointed to execute this mission led the goat to a rock called Zuck, in the wilderness, situate about twelve miles, or ninety furlongs, from Jerusalem. Between the holy city and this steep rock, ten booths were erected at intervals of one mile, and persons were located in every booth to accompany the messenger to the next tent, which was distant a Sabbath day's journey. From the last booth to the rock, which was double this distance, the messenger had no companion, but he was carefully watched by the occupants of the last booth to see that he performed the ritual according to the prescribed order. On his arrival at the mountain he divided the crimson thread, which was the badge of the goat, into two; one half he fastened to the rock, and the other he tied between the two horns of the victim, and then pushed the animal down the projecting ledge of the rock, when it was dashed to pieces before it reached the bottom. Hereupon the persons stationed at the last booth to watch the proceedings waved linen cloths or white flags, thus signalling from station to station to the priests in the court of the Temple the arrival of the goat at its proper destination.

Verse 22.

bearing upon him all their iniquities.

unto a land not inhabited.

eretz gezerah - would

a laud cut off

gazar

jazara

gezerah

jaziruh

to let him go.

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- Then the goat went forth,The slain goat had symbolized and ceremonially wrought full atonement or covering of sins; but in order to impress upon the mind of the nation a joyful sense of entire liberation from the burden of sin, the second symbol of the disappearing goat is used; so that not only sin, but the consciousness and the fear of the taint and presence of sin, might be taken away from the cleansed and delivered people. The goat is to bear the iniquities of the peopleThe latter words - in the original,be more correctly translated,, that is, completely isolated from the surrounding country by some barrier of rock or torrent, which would make it impossible for the goat to come back again. Thus the sins were utterly lost, as though they had never been, and they could not return to the sanctified people. The Hebrew word, to cut ( 1 Kings 3:25 Psalm 136:18 ), is represented in Arabic by, and the substantiveby, which means an island, or an area surrounded by rivers. The word is still in use in countries where Arabic is spoken, as the designation of a district divided from the neighbouring territories by rivers cutting it off, and making it a sort of island or peninsula. Into such a district as this, the man who led the goat wasIn later times, contrary to the spirit of the Mosaic appointment, the goat was pushed over a projecting ledge of rock, and so killed, a device of man clumsily introduced for the purpose of perfecting a symbolism of Divine appointment. It was more in accordance with the original institution that "the arrival of the goat in the wilderness was immediately telegraphed by the waving of flags, from station to station, till a few minutes after its occurrence it was known in the temple, and whispered from ear to ear, that the goat had borne upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited" (Edersheim, 'Temple Service'). Both the goat that was sacrificed and the goat that served as remover of sins typified Christ. The first presents him to our faith as the Victim on the cross, the other as the Sin-bearer on whom the Lord laid "the iniquity of us all" ( Isaiah 53:4 ; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21 Galatians 3:13 ). "The reason for making use of two animals is to be found purely in the physical impossibility of combining all features that had to be set forth in the sin offering in one animal" (Keil).Alphabetical: a all and bear carry desert goat he in iniquities it itself land man on place release shall sins solitary The their to wilderness will