The Scapegoat and Atonement

Abstract

Hebrews 2:14–15 claims that Christ defeated the devil through death, while Hebrews also presents his atoning work through the Day of Atonement. Building on David M. Moffitt’s account of the priestly and heavenly dimensions of atonement, and engaging Katie Marcar’s Passover–Exodus proposal, this article asks whether Leviticus 16 itself supplies a complementary mechanism for the devil’s defeat. It argues that the second goat—the goat for Azazel—forms a genuine component of the atoning rite and may illuminate Christ’s sin-bearing descent to Hades. On this reading, Satan’s “power of death” is a sin-conditioned juridical claim: he tempts, accuses, and invokes death on the basis of human guilt. Christ bears transferred sin without personal guilt, carries it into the accuser’s realm, and cancels the record on which that claim depends. The article develops this proposal through the identity of Azazel, the biblical roles of tempter and accuser, Colossians 2:13–15, the deception leading to the crucifixion, the harrowing of Hades, Jubilee release, and the New Covenant gift of the Spirit. The result is a constructive synthesis of Day of Atonement and Christus Victor themes in which forgiveness disarms the powers and prepares a cleansed people for divine indwelling.

Keywords: Day of Atonement; scapegoat; Azazel; Hebrews; Christus Victor; descent to Hades; Satan; Second Temple Judaism; Jubilee; New Covenant