What the Bible says about Chatta-ah
(From Forerunner Commentary)

2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul's words may be startling and uncomfortable, but they are true: God the Father made Christ to be sin! This does not mean God made Him commit sin; His life and nature were entirely flawless. But this says God made Him to be sin. The instructions for sin offerings contain a detail that helps us to understand why Paul could make this statement. An interlinear Bible shows that in almost every verse in the Old Testament where a sin offering is mentioned, the translators supply word “offering”; it is not present in the Hebrew. This is because the word for “sin offering,” chatta'ah (Strong's #2403), is also the word for “sin.” This word has multiple meanings: "sin," "a sin offering," "guilt because of sin," "purification from sin," or "punishment because of sin." The same word can signify all those things. In a sin offering, the animal became symbolic of the guilt incurred by sin; it suffered punishment because of sin; and it was also the symbolic purification from sin. This is why the same word is used for both sin and sin offering. The animal—the substitute—essentially became the sin needing to be atoned. When the high priest laid all the iniquities of Israel on the azazel, that second goat became sin. One translation tries to soften what is said here by saying that God made Christ to be the offering for our sins. While true, this rendering is not faithful to the text. The Greek word for "sin" here is unlike the Hebrew word, which can also indicate a sin offering. In the Greek, sin simply means sin. When a sin offering is indicated, another Greek word must be included. But here, Paul means just what we read: "God made Christ to be sin." Truly, the role of the azazel was a dreadful one, but it was part of the work that only the Messiah could do and which He had to do for there to be reconciliation with God. David C. Grabbe Azazel: Beginnings Related Topics: Atone for sin | Atonement | Azazel Bearing Sins | Azazel Goat | Chatta-ah | Messiah | Purification from Sin | Reconciliation for Iniquity | Sin Offering

Hebrews 13:12 The instructions for the regular sin offering specify that the animals had to be killed at the Tabernacle (Leviticus 4:4, 14, 24, 29). Their carcasses were burned outside the camp (Leviticus 4:11-12, 21), but their deaths took place at the Tabernacle (or later Temple). The exception was the azazel of the Day of Atonement ceremony in Leviticus 16. That the priest left the azazel alive does not preclude it from being a sin offering. The life of the azazel was most certainly dedicated and consumed by its role of becoming sin (II Corinthians 5:21), becoming cursed (Galatians 3:13), and acting as a purification from sin. All that fits within the meaning of chatta'ah, the word for "sin offering," which has a wide variety of uses. So, the life of the azazel did not end at the Tabernacle. Instead, it was sent or led outside the camp, away from God's presence, while bearing the nation's sins (Leviticus 16:20-22). Where did Christ bear our sins? Hebrews 13:12 says that He “suffered outside the gate.” The standard sin offerings were killed at the Tabernacle or Temple, but Jesus suffered outside the gate. The most likely place for Christ's crucifixion was across the Kidron Valley, on a slope of the Mount of Olives. Christ's crucifixion was at a place where the centurion could see that the Temple veil, which faced east, was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 7:51-54; Mark 15:38-39). To be able to see that required the centurion have a specific angle and a minimum elevation to see over the Temple wall. Jesus did not suffer at the Temple, where the sin offerings had to be killed. The gospels record He was led away and sent from the Temple, from the symbolic presence of God—just like the azazel (Matthew 27:31; Mark 15:20; Luke 23:26; John 19:16). The Second Adam was led and sent away to fulfill the curse on the first Adam, so that we can now come back into God's presence. That was part of the curse He took on our behalf. Like the second goat, Christ's sacrifice was not an immediate death. He was alive while He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (I Peter 2:24). Christ's bearing of our sins took hours, and He felt every second. He became sin and a curse as He hung there, bearing our transgressions, outside the gate. David C. Grabbe Azazel: Beginnings Related Topics: Azazel Bearing Sins | Azazel Beginnings | Azazel Separated from Fellowship | Azazel Symbolizes Divine Rejection | Chatta-ah | Jesus Cursed by Hanging on a Tree | Sin Offering | Who Fulfills the Azazel Goat?

 

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