After touching upon the word "scapegoat" in explaining "fall guy" in the previous column, I felt the job was incomplete without elaborating on the Scapegoat.
So here I am telling the story of the original scapegoat, which was a real goat.
In Jewish tradition of a long past, the Scapegoat referred to the Azazel goat, a sacrificial goat sent out to the desert (Azazel) to carry off the sins of men. That poor creature, translated scapegoat (meaning "goat that escapes"), was left to fend for his own in the wilderness, destitute of water and grass, only to wipe out whatever sins men had committed against men and other species (goats and sheep included, I'm sure).
Still, the Scapegoat was a lucky goat, or rather the luckier goat in comparison to the other for there were always two goats to be sacrificed on the Day of Atonement. While the Scapegoat was let to "escape", the other goat was killed outright.
This ceremony was described in the Christian Bible, thus:
"Then he shall take the two goats, and set them before The Lord at the door of the tent of meeting; and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for The Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for The Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before The Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel." (Leviticus 16:7-10 RSV)
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