Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

A scapegoat is a person who takes the blame for the mistakes or sins of others. The original scapegoat was a player in one of the most somber dramas of the Bible's old testament.

The book of Leviticus describes in detail the rituals and sacrifices of the Israelite people. One of the Levitican ceremonies, enacted on the Day of Atonement, sets the precedent for the modern observance of Yom Kippur.

Leviticus chapter 16 says that on the first Day of Atonement for Israel's sins, God ordered the patriarch Moses to lead a live goat before a holy alter. There, a priest laid his hands upon the head of the goat and "confessed over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites, all their sins, and put them on the goats head." The sin-burdened goat was then led away and released into the desert wilderness, thus freeing the Israelites from the penalty of their sins.

Nowadays, a scapegoat, who is not a goat at all, of course, but a human, is likewise a target of blame for the errors of others.

(Eventually, the term scapegoat was originally escape goat. The "e" at the front of escape was eventually dropped through a process called aphesis, or the loss of an unaccented initial vowel. Other examples of aphesis are cross for across, squire for esquire.)

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