Leviticus 16: The Scapegoat, literally

Synopsis:

God tells Moses how to make everything right since the incident where Aaron’s sons were killed. They need to sacrifice a bullock and a kid from a goat. They need to take another kid and make it a scapegoat. This is done by placing hands on the goat’s head and confessing all the sins of the children of Israel. The goat is then led off by a fit man into the wilderness and left. The fit man comes back, washes himself and reenters the camp. The bullock and other goat are killed, blood sprinkled liberally around and the fat burned. The remains of the blood and dung and skin are burned at each individual family camp. This has to be done every year in the 10th day of the 7th month.

In other words:

God wants another sacrifice but allows them to offer a scapegoat to cleanse them of their sins.

Favorite bit: 

The scapegoat. It’s literally a goat.

Bit that makes me the happiest:

That no one really feels compelled to do this anymore despite all the “literalism” talk.

Moral Lesson Learned:  

We are collectively responsible for the sins our community commits (Leviticus 16)