The two goats of Leviticus 16 follow this pattern of dual roles:
Here, two goats are prescribed as a sin offering, which is unusual because the typical sin offering used only a single animal. So, there is a backstory that we need to cover before going further in the chapter. It has to do with sin offerings in general, so please turn back to Leviticus 4.
Leviticus 4 gives four slightly different sets of instructions for a sin offering, depending on who had committed the unintentional sin. So, beginning in verse 3 are instructions for a sin offering for a priest. Verse 13 talks about a sin offering for the whole congregation. Verse 22 talks about a sin offering for a leader of the people, and then a sin offering for an individual is found in verse 27.
A significant point here is that there are instructions (in verse 13) for a sin offering for the whole congregation, which involves a young bull. However, what happened on the Day of Atonement, with its two goats as a sin offering, does not match those instructions. If a typical sin offering for the congregation would have sufficed, the instructions in verses 13-21 would have been used. But what happened on the Day of Atonement was not typical. God is showing a unique scenario altogether.
Regardless of who sinned, though, the priest used the same basic process in a typical sin offering. This procedure is important to understand because it will help to explain later why two goats were used for the Day of Atonement offering. We will use the sin offering for the priest as an example of how a sin offering was performed.
First (in verse 4), the guilty party - the priest, in this case - laid his hand on the head of the sacrificial animal. This symbolized the animal taking the place of the sinner. Through the laying on of a hand, the substitute was identified, and the sin was figuratively transferred to the animal. Second, the animal was killed. Third (in verses 5-6), some of its blood was sprinkled in front of the veil of the Tabernacle. The blood did not go into the Holy of Holies, which is a critical point. Fourth (in verse 7), some of the blood was put on the horns of the golden altar (which was used for incense). The rest of the blood was poured at the base of the other, larger altar, the brazen altar. Fifth (in verses 8-10), select parts of the animal were burned on the brazen altar. Finally (in verses 11-12), the rest of the animal was burned outside the camp. The details vary a little, but the same basic procedure is carried out in each of the four scenarios listed here.
You might remember from the previous sermon that the Hebrew word for sin offering, chatta'ah (Strong's 2403), is also the word for sin. It has multiple meanings. It can indicate sin, a sin offering, guilt as a result of sin, purification from sin, or punishment because of sin. In general, chatta'ah has to do with sin, its effects, or its remediation.
The Hebrew in Leviticus 16:5 literally says, two kids of the goats as a sin [chatta'ah]. When we substitute some of the other ways chatta'ah is used, verse 5 could be rendered as:
…two kids of the goats as a purification from sin…
…two kids of the goats because of sin…
In a sin offering, the animal became symbolic of the guilt incurred by sin. It then suffered the judgment of sin, and was thus the purification from sin. This is why the same word is used for both sin and sin offering: The animal becomes synonymous with the sin and its atoning.
In the case of the two goats, both goats became offerings on account of sin, yet they had differing roles in making atonement. The second goat, though not killed by the priest, was still an offering. It was still a substitutionary representative of sin, as chatta'ah is defined.
