Interesting Fact of the Day: Scapegoat History

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Brief detour from my fruit series. No, I don’t mean @narfcake’s history of meh’s scapegoat (which is in need of updating). I mean where the term originated. The term actually originated in the Bible, which is probably why it’s so well known in our culture.

The Old Testament was big on sacrifices: “If you commit this, sin sacrifice this animal on this day; if you commit that sin, sacrifice that animal on that day.” But, since people wouldn’t remember every sin or to do the sacrifice every time, there was a backup: The scapegoat. During the holiday of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), all the sins of the people would be ceremoniously placed on a pure, male goat, who would then wander off into the wilderness to presumably die. (There were lots of other things prescribed for Yom Kippur, too. Modern Jews still celebrate the holiday, but in a different way.)

Christians believe Jesus was the fulfillment of this sacrifice, which is why they don’t really offer sacrifices.

Since the scapegoat is a thing on Meh, I thought you guys may find the history interesting—but I really don’t want this thread to become like the political threads here. Please don’t post if you don’t have something constructive to say. No disassembling of Jewish & Christian beliefs. Thank you.