ATONEMENT, DAY OF (n+-ppn 12i+, LXX. Talm. NV+, THE DAY), a great religious festival of the Jews, of which the rule and order are given, Lev. xvi. 1-34 • xxiii. a6-32 ; Num. xxix. 7-II. It was observed on the tenth day of the seventh month (Tisri), and was held as a day of entire rest from all labour (pray, nzy), a sabbath of sabbaths), a day of holy convocation rip Nipn), the only day in the year when the entire congregation of Israel fasted (Cre3 Ma?). The fast commenced at sunset on the previous evening, and lasted for twenty-four hours, and was imperative on every member of the community, under pain of being cut off from his people in case of neglect.
The service of the day was conducted by the high-priest. Having provided a young bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, he had first to bathe himself, for the purpose of puri fication, and then to clothe himself in white linen, without any of his usual splendour of attire, that his appearance might be expressive at once of purity and humiliation. Having taken of the con gregation two goats as a sin-offering and a ram as a burnt-offering, and having presented the goats before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle, he cast lots upon them, one for Jehovah, the other for Azazel. Great difference of opinion exists as to the signification of this word. The more important views may be presented thus :—A. That Azazel denotes a Person—s. The devil (Origen, Spencer, Hengstenberg, etc.) ; 2. An evil demon (Gesenius, Ewald, Rosenmiiller, De Wette, Knobel, and many of the Robbins). B. That Azazel denotes a Place s. A certain place in the wilderness (Vatablus, Deyling, Kimchi, Abenesra, etc.) ; 2. Any lonely, desolate place (Bochart, Carpzov) ; 3. A mountain (' Mount Azaz,' Arab. Vers. ; some Rabbins, Le Clerc). C. That Azazel is the goat itself—LXX. ciroirolurcaos, Lev. xvi. 8, 9 (but see Bochart, Hier. a. 54, and Suicer, Thes. s. v. on this word) ; Symm. roars brep7i6gepos, Aq. Tp. droXvotteoos, Theodotion rp. cicli(Eiheoos, Vulg. caper entirsariNs, Eng. V. scapegoat, Luther der ledige bock, etc.) D. That Azazel is an abstract term, denoting—s. A free going away (Michaelis, Jahn) ; or 2. An entire and utter removal (Tholuck, Winer, Bahr, etc.) The LXX. seem to have some such meaning in view when they rendered the word by cbroroxi-h, Lev. xvi. so, and depects, ver. 26. Of these mean ings, the last seems the preferable. The first class is exposed to the objection that it supposes Satan, or an evil demon, set over against Jehovah, and equally entitled with him to receive an offering for sin ; a notion utterly repugnant to all Jewish belief and thinking. The rendering ' wilderness' is ex cluded by the statement in Lev. xvi. to, that the goat was to be sent to Azazel in the wilderness, which shews that Azazel is not the wilderness itself; and the supposition that some definite place is intended labours under the objection that no such place as Azazel is elsewhere mentioned, and had it been a mountain the addition of "WI would not have been omitted. The third class is incon sistent with the express statement of Moses, that the goat was to be sent to Azazel. The only
objection that has been offered to the opinion last mentioned is, that it destroys the exact antithesis between Jehovah and Azazel, by making the latter a thing and not a person, like the former. But this assumes that it was the design of Moses, in expressing himself thus, to preserve an exact antithesis, which is by no means evident. If we render the One for Jehovah and the other for an utter removal,' a meaning sufficiently clear and good is obtained. It only remains to add, that 1V111 is regarded by those who take this view as the Pealpal form of the verb SIIZ, removit, with the omission of the 5 of the penult, and the supplying of its place by an immutable vowel, as in inn tor nylyn. This form is intensive. (See Spencer, De Legibus Hebr. iii. 8 ; Gesenius, Thes. s. v. ; Bahr, Mos. Callus, ii. 665 ; Hengstenberg, Die Blither .111osis mid [GOAT, ScAPE]; Tholuck, Das A. T. ins N. T. p. 79 ; Thomson, Bampton Lea. p. 72.) These preliminaries having been settled, the high priest proceeded to offer the victims. First of all, he took a censer full of coals from off the altar, and entered with it into the most holy place, where he put the incense on the coals, and placed it so that the smoke might envelope the capporeth or mercy seat. He then proceeded to offer the bullock of the sin-offering for himself and his house, and, taking of its blood, he entered therewith again into the most holy place, and sprinkled the blood with his finger once upon and seven times before the capporeth. He then went out and slew the goat on which the lot for Jehovah had fallen, and carried off its blood also into the most holy place, and did with it as with the blood of the bullock. Thus atonement was made for himself; his house, and all the congregation of Israel. This done, he took of the blood of the bullock and of the goat and put it on the horns of the altar, and sprinkled of the blood upon it seven times to cleanse and sanctify it, so as that none of the un cleanness arising from the sins of the worshippers might adhere to it. The live goat was then brought forth, and the high-priest having confessed over its head the sins and iniquities of Israel, thereby putting them on the head of the goat, the animal was sent away by the hand of a trust worthy person into the wilderness. The high priest then took off the dress in which he had per formed these rites and left it in the tabernacle of the congregation ; bathed himself in the holy place ; put on his usual attire; and offered the rams of the burnt-offering for himself and the people. Neither the bullock nor the goat was eaten, but after the fat had been burnt on the altar the remainder was carried beyond the camp and consumed by fire. The man who conveyed the goat into the wilderness and the man who burnt the carcasses of the bullock and the goat, had to wash their clothes and bathe themselves before they could return to the camp. This finished the services of the day.