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scapegoatmore about scapegoat

scapegoat


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Scapegoat  \Scape"goat`\,  n.  [Scape  (for  escape)  +  goat.] 
  1.  (Jewish  Antiq.)  A  goat  upon  whose  head  were  symbolically 
  placed  the  sins  of  the  people,  after  which  he  was  suffered 
  to  escape  into  the  wilderness.  --Lev.  xvi.  10. 
 
  2.  Hence  a  person  or  thing  that  is  made  to  bear  blame  for 
  others  --Tennyson. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  scapegoat 
  n  :  someone  punished  for  the  errors  of  others  [syn:  {whipping 
  boy}] 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Scapegoat 
  Lev.  16:8-26;  R.V.,  "the  goat  for  Azazel"  (q.v.),  the  name  given 
  to  the  goat  which  was  taken  away  into  the  wilderness  on  the  day 
  of  Atonement  (16:20-22).  The  priest  made  atonement  over  the 
  scapegoat,  laying  Israel's  guilt  upon  it  and  then  sent  it  away 
  the  goat  bearing  "upon  him  all  their  iniquities  unto  a  land  not 
  inhabited." 
 
  At  a  later  period  an  evasion  or  modification  of  the  law  of 
  Moses  was  introduced  by  the  Jews.  "The  goat  was  conducted  to  a 
  mountain  named  Tzuk,  situated  at  a  distance  of  ten  Sabbath  days' 
  journey,  or  about  six  and  a  half  English  miles,  from  Jerusalem. 
  At  this  place  the  Judean  desert  was  supposed  to  commence;  and 
  the  man  in  whose  charge  the  goat  was  sent  out  while  setting  him 
  free  was  instructed  to  push  the  unhappy  beast  down  the  slope  of 
  the  mountain  side  which  was  so  steep  as  to  insure  the  death  of 
  the  goat,  whose  bones  were  broken  by  the  fall.  The  reason  of 
  this  barbarous  custom  was  that  on  one  occasion  the  scapegoat 
  returned  to  Jerusalem  after  being  set  free  which  was  considered 
  such  an  evil  omen  that  its  recurrence  was  prevented  for  the 
  future  by  the  death  of  the  goat"  (Twenty-one  Years'  Work  in  the 
  Holy  Land).  This  mountain  is  now  called  el-Muntar. 
 




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