out what remained at the foot of the altar of burnt-of- fering.
5. Most careful directions are given for the prepa- ration of the high-priest for the services of the day. For seven days previously he kept away from his own house and dwelt in a chamber appointed for his use. This was to avoid the accidental causes of pollution which he might meet with in his domestic life. Hut, to provide for the possibility of his incurring some un- cleanness in spite of this precaution, a deputy was chos- en who might act for him when the day came. In the treatise of the Mishna entitled "Pirke Aboth," it is stated that no such mischance ever befell the high- priest. But Josephus (Ant. xvii, 6, 4) relates an in- stance of the high-priest Matthias, in the time of Her- od the Great, when his relation, Joseph, took his place in the sacred office. During the whole of the seven days the high-priest had to perform the ordinary sacer- dotal duties of the daily service himself, as well as on the Day of Atonement. On the third day and on the seventh he was sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer, in order to cleanse him in the event of his hav- ing touched a dead body without knowing it. On the seventh day he was also required to take a solemn oath before the ciders that he would alter nothing whatev- er in the accustomed rites of the Day of Atonement. (This, according to the "Jerusalem Gemara" on Yoma [quoted by Lightfoot], was instituted in consequence of an innovation of the Sadducean party, who had di- rected the high-priest to throw the incense upon the censer outside the vail, and to carry it, smoking, into the Holy of Holies.)
6. Several curious particulars are stated regarding the seap^-goat. The two goats of the sin-offering were to be of similar appearance, size, and value. The lots were originally of boxwood, but in later times they were of gold. They were put into a little box or urn, into which the high-priest put both his hands and took out a lot in each, while the two goats stood before him, one at the right side and the other on the left. The lot in each hand belonged to the goat in the correspond- ing position; and when the lot "for AzazeV' happen- ed to be in the right hand, it was regarded as a good omen. The high-priest then tied a piece of scarlet cloth on the scape-goat's head, called "the scarlet tongue" from the shape in which it was cut. Mai- monides says that this was onby to distinguish him, in order that he might be known when the time came for him to be sent away. But in the Gemara it is as- serted that the red cloth ought to turn white, as a token of God's acceptance of the atonement of the day, re- ferring to Isa. i, 18. A particular instance of such a change, when also the lot ufor Azazel" was in the priest's right hand, is related as having occurred in the time of Simon the Just. It is farther stated that no such change took place for forty years before the de- struction of Jerusalem. The prayer which the high- priest uttered over the head of the goat was as follows : " O Lord,the house of Israel, thy people, have trespass- ed, rebelled, and sinned before thee. I beseech thee, 0 Lord, forgive now their trespasses, rebellions, and sins which thy people have committed, as it is written in the law of Moses, thy servant, saying that in that day there shall be 'an atonement for you to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord' " (Gemara on Yoma, quoted by Frischmuth). The goat was then goaded and rudely treated by the people till it was led away by the man appointed. As soon as il reached a certain spot, which seems to have been regarded as the commencement of the wilderness, a signal was made by some sort of telegraphic contri- vance to the high-priest, who waited for it. The man who led the goat is said to have taken him to the top of a high precipice and thrown him down backward, so as to dash him to pieces. If this was not a mistake of the writer of Yoma, it must have been, as Spencer ar- gues, a modern innovation. It cannot be doubted that
ATONEMENT
525
ATONEMENT
the goat was originally set free. Even if there be any uncertainty in the words of the Hebrew, the explicit rendering of the Sept. must be better authority than the Talmud (/cai 6 k'iairooTtWiov tLv x<['«pov tov 81- KjTaXfdvou fif u<pi.cni> k. t. X. Lev. xvi, 2G).
7. The high-priest, as soon as he had received the signal that the goat had reached the wilderness, read some lessons from the law, and offered up some pray- ers. He then bathed himself, resumed his colored garments, and offered either the whole or a yreat part of the necessary offering (mentioned Num. xxxix, 7- 11) with the regular evening sacrilice. After this he washed again, put on the white garments, and entered the most holy place for the fourth time, to fetch out the censer and the incense-plate. This terminated the special rites of the day.