|
by
Doug Ward |
Early Christians in Jerusalem often gathered at Solomon's Colonnade at the
Jerusalem Temple (Ac 3:11; 5:12). This was a place where the apostles had
walked with Jesus (Jn 10:23), and they taught and healed there as their Master
had done.
There
were additional reasons for their attachment to the Temple in its final years.
Temple rituals had taken on enhanced significance for them in light of the
Messiah. They recognized in these rituals a commemoration of the death,
resurrection, ascension and heavenly priesthood of their Savior.
An
example was the ceremony on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, where two goats
were employed in an annual cleansing of sacred space. According to Jewish
tradition, the goats were selected to be as close to identical as possible (m. Yoma 6:1). One of the goats was chosen by lot as a sin
offering for the people, and its blood was sprinkled in the Temple's Most Holy
Place (Lev 16:8-9, 15).
A
strip of scarlet wool was tied on the head of the second goat (Yoma 4:2). The high priest laid his hands on this goat,
confessing over it the sins of Israel (Lev 16:21). Then a man (often a Gentile)
led the goat away, while onlookers plucked at the goat's hair and taunted,
"Take our sins and go" (Yoma 6:2-3). The
man led the goat out of Jerusalem to a specified location, then removed the
strip of wool and tied half of it between the goat's horns and the other half
to a nearby rock. Finally, he pushed the goat backward over a cliff so that it
died in a ravine below (Yoma 6:6).
In
the roles of the two goats we can see two parts of the Messiah's atoning work
on the cross. Through Jesus' death our sins are both forgiven and completely
removed. (On the complete removal of forgiven sins, see Ps 103:12; Mic 7:19.)
Jesus is the Suffering Servant upon whom our iniquity is laid (Isa 53:6) and
who "takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29).
|
Jesus
and Barabbas |
There are several New Testament allusions to one or both of the Yom Kippur
goats. For example, both goats are in view in the Gospel passion narratives
when Jesus is brought by Jewish leaders before Pilate, the Roman governor.
Pilate is not convinced that Jesus is worthy of death, and he proposes that
Jesus be pardoned according to a custom that one prisoner be released each year
during the Passover season (Mt 27:15-18).
Pilate
offers two options to the crowd assembled before him in Jerusalem. He will release
either Jesus or Barabbas, another well-known prisoner (v 16). Some manuscripts
of Matthew's Gospel identify Barabbas (a name meaning "son of the
father") as Jesus Barabbas, so apparently both prisoners share the name
Jesus. As with the goats in the Yom Kippur ritual, there are similarities
between them.
The
crowd favors releasing Barabbas, and Jesus is taken away to be crucified. Like
the goat chosen for a sin offering, he will die for the people.
In
the Yom Kippur ritual the high priest laid hands on the second goat and
confessed Israel's sins, symbolically transferring those sins to the goat,
which took them to the wilderness (Lev 16:21). In Matthew 27 Pilate washes his
hands and releases Barabbas. These actions symbolically transfer responsibility
for shedding Jesus' blood to the crowd, which affirms, "His blood be on us
and on our children!" (vv 24-26).
Jesus
had earlier stated that his generation would be held accountable for the deaths
of prophets sent to Israel (Mt 23:34-36). Indeed, that generation and its
children would suffer the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, as Jesus
predicted (Mt 24:1-2). Like the second goat, many were driven away from
Jerusalem to a "wilderness."
It
should be emphasized, however, that Matthew does not imply this divine
punishment would continue beyond 70 AD. Sadly, Matthew 27:25 often has been
misunderstood as a kind of perpetual curse and used as a rationale for
Christian persecution of Jews.
|
Jesus
as the Second Goat |
Christian exegetes beginning with Origen (c. 200 AD) have often associated
Jesus and Barabbas in Matthew 27:15-26 with the two goats. There are additional
connections in verses 27-31 between Jesus and the second goat.1
When
Pilate delivers Jesus to his soldiers, the soldiers proceed to mock him. They
dress him in a scarlet robe, reminding us of the scarlet wool that adorned the
second goat. Later they strip off the robe, much as the scarlet wool was
subsequently removed from the goat.
The
soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head (v 29). Elsewhere in Matthew's
Gospel thorns are associated with moral evil, including the work of false
prophets (7:16) and "the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of
riches" (13:22) that block spiritual growth. The crown of thorns placed on
Jesus' head can be compared to the sins placed on the head of the second goat.
The
Roman soldiers jeer at Jesus, spit on him, and strike him. They then lead him
away to be crucified (vv 28-31). This is reminiscent
of the verbal and physical abuse that was heaped on the second goat as a
Gentile led it away from the Temple and out of Jerusalem.
For
Matthew, Jesus played the role of both the goat for the sin offering and the
goat led away from the Temple, dying for and removing the sins of mankind. For
two thousand years Christian interpreters have concurred, recognizing types of
the Messiah in the Yom Kippur goats.
1See
Hans Moscicke, The New Day of Atonement: A
Matthean Typology, Dissertation, Marquette University, 2019.
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On 16 Sep 2022, 11:51.
