A goat upon whose head were symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he was suffered to escape into the wilderness.
Hence, a person or thing that is made to bear blame for others.
(sah-'eer la-e-za-EL) n. Scapegoat. (Lev. 16:8). According to Leviticus 16, a sacrificial goat on whose head Israel's high priest placed the people's collective sins on Yom Kippur, after which the goat was sent out into the desert to Azazel (possibly a demon).
Originally an animal or person who was ritually expelled (or even killed), in place of the divine king or priest, in order to rid a people of unwelcome impurities and so restore its fertility and well-being. James Frazer provides illuminating discussions of this phenomenon in The Golden Bough. See also "displacement."
A goat sent out annually, ritually bearing the sins of the people, into the desert to perish and this abode of evil spirits.
a group, individual, nation, ethnic group, or religious group upon whom the crimes, sins, mistakes, or guilt of others is placed upon or imputed to
a person or category of people, typically with little power, whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles
a person or group that is unjustly blamed for some fault or problem in society
a person or thing made to bear the blame for the mistakes or sins of others
a person who bears the blame for the sins, crimes, mistakes, or misfortunes of other people
The Jews were a scapegoat for German problems, taking all of the blame without meriting it. The name comes from a ritual in the Old Testament where a priest placed the sins of Israelites over the head of a goat and drove him away, metaphorically driving away their sin.
A person, group, or thing that bears the blame for the mistakes or crimes of others. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I and its post-war troubles.
A person, or group who is the object of hatred and even violence in a situation where prejudiced people must place blame for their mistakes or actions on others.
Person or group of persons unfairly blamed for wrongs done by others, as the Jews historically have been used as scapegoats by Christians and Arabs over many hundreds of years.
Person or group of people blamed for crimes committed by others.
Unable to blame God for anything negative, Christians often find goats to shoulder the blame. These animals are then tortured and put to death in a grizzly fashion, which God greatly appreciates. Sacrificing goats is however frowned upon in our civilized society, so theists often turn their attention to homosexuals, Jews, atheists, Muslims, music, and video games.
On Yom Kippur in ancient times, a lottery would be held to choose between two goats. One of which would be offered as a sacrfice. The other one was called a "scapegoat." The High Priest ( Cohen Gadol) would confess the sins of the people while placing his hands on the head of the scapegoat, symbolically transferring the sins onto the goat. The scapegoat would then be sent out to perish in the wilderness, as it states in the Torah (Leviticus 16:7-8, 21-2): And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for Azazel... And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
A form of displaced aggression in which an innocent but helpless victim is blamed or punished as the source of the scapegoater?s frustration. See also displaced aggression, scapegoat theory of prejudice.
The scapegoat was a goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in Judaism during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem. The rite is described in Leviticus 16.