THEOSISTheodoret of Cyrus
He also instructed regarding the sacrificial rites that the bishop was to perform when approaching the sanctuary. He commanded the sacrifice of a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, which was to be made on his behalf; for the whole congregation, he prescribed two goats as a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. The two goats were to be chosen by lot, with one being sacrificed and the other sent away into the wilderness. However, some, misunderstanding this, incorrectly believed that the goat sent away represented a demon. Moses stated: “One for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat.” But such assumptions were naive.
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How could He who declared, “You shall have no other gods before Me; you shall not worship any other god but Me” (Exodus 20:3-5), instruct that a demon receive an offering equivalent to that made to Him? Attention should have been drawn to the fact that God commanded that the goat set free was also to be for Him. For He said, “and the goat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement over it and to send it away into the wilderness” (Lev. 16:10). This clearly indicates that the goat destined for the wilderness is referred to as the “scapegoat.” Additionally, it is evident from the following verse: “and the goat shall bear upon itself all their iniquities into a solitary land” (ibid.). Symmachus translated the term for “scapegoat” (τον άποπομπαίον) as “the goat sent away into the wilderness,” while Aquila rendered it as “the goat cut off into the wilderness." Thus, neither a god nor a demon received the goat; both goats were offered to the one true God, with one being sacrificed and the other bearing the sins of the people as it was released. Similarly, in the ritual for cleansing a leper, one bird was sacrificed, while the other, dipped in the blood of the first, was set free; likewise, of the two goats for the people's transgressions, one was killed and the other liberated. These actions were also foreshadowing the Lord Christ, and these two goats should be understood as symbols of two natures rather than two persons. Since one goat represents the mortal aspect, it was necessary to employ two animals to illustrate both the sufferable flesh and the impassible nature of the Divine. Blessed David, prophesying the suffering, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Christ, declared: “O God, when You go out before Your people, when You march through the desert, the earth quaked, and the heavens dropped down at the presence of God” (Psalm 67:8-9). We recognize that at the crucifixion, the earth was shaken, rocks were split, and darkness covered the heavens, revealing the depth of wickedness. The wilderness symbolizes death, hence David’s reference to “when You march through the desert.” It should not be deemed inappropriate that the goats symbolize the Savior’s suffering, especially when John the Baptist referred to Him as a Lamb. It is vital to remember that He did not offer Himself solely for the righteous but also for sinners, and He Himself compared the company of sinners to goats, stating: “He will place the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matthew 25:33). Under the law, the goat was offered for sin, and the Lord identified the bronze serpent as His figure, declaring: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Therefore, if it were inappropriate to serve as an image for goats, it would be even more inappropriate to serve as an image for serpents. Thus, the goat bearing away sin into the wilderness prefigured the salvation of all creation and reassured the Jews, akin to infants, as it reminded them of the transgressions they had committed in the wilderness and of the Lord’s immeasurable mercy, by which they escaped just punishments and entered the Promised Land.