The Goat. Part 2.
WE were speaking last week of the bottles made of Goats skins, which to this day are used in the East. These bottles, of course, were likely to tear and become worn out. The cunning Gibeonites, wishing to make peace with Israel, when they first entered the land of Canaan, pretended they came from a long distance, and to prove this shewed “wine bottles, old and rent and bound up.” I daresay you are thinking too, of our Lord’s words in Matt. 9:1717Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved. (Matthew 9:17). “Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out.”
Sacks were also made of the whole goat skin, in much the same manner as the bottles. Can you picture to yourself Joseph’s brothers, with their goat skin sacks filled with wheat, and laded upon their asses? or these same wily Gibeonites with their “old sacks upon their asses”? Josh. 9:44They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; (Joshua 9:4).
One more thing I must mention as made of goat’s skin, and that is the kneading troughs used by the women. If we Think of them as a flat piece of tanned goat skin, we can better understand, how, on their hurried flight from Egypt, “the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.” Ex. 12:3434And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. (Exodus 12:34).
We now come to another important use of the goat amongst the Israelites. mean as a sacrifice. Only clean beasts might be sacrificed, and as we have seen the goat was one of these. In many of the sacrifices they might take either a kid or a lamb, in others they were particularly told which it was to be. We find this in Leviticus 16, where we get the account of the “great day of atonement.” On that one day, the tenth day of the seventh month, the high priest entered into the Holy place, alone, carrying with him the blood which was to make atonement for himself and for the people. The tabernacle, as most of you know, was divided into two parts, by a heavy curtain or veil. Into the larger or outer room, the priests came daily, “accomplishing the service of God,” but into the, inner apartment they might not come, for there upon the mercy seat, was the cloud which shewed the presence of God. When that great and solemn day arrived, on which the high priest was to enter the most Holy Place, he was to be dressed in pure white linen, after bathing himself in water, and then he was to take of the congregation two goats for a sin offering, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle. The next step was to cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and one for the scapegoat. The goat upon whom the Lord’s lot fell was then offered for a sin offering, but the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord. But even yet the high priest could not go into that Holy Place. You must remember that he was but a sinful man and before he could make atonement for others, he must have his own sins atoned for, so a bullock was slain for a special sin offering for the priest and his household.
Then carrying a censer of burning coals from off the altar, and his hands full of sweet incense, he entered within the wail, where stood the golden ark and the mercy seat, and as he came thus into the presence of God, he threw the incense upon the coals, and the smoke rose up before the Lord, covering the mercy seat; then he sprinkled the blood of the bullock seven times upon the mercy seat; this was to atone for his own sins. Now he could enter again with the blood of the goat, and do with it for the congregation, as he had done with the blood of the bullock for himself. When this important ceremony was performed, the priest put both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel—all their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and sent him away into a land not inhabited. Does not this remind us of that beautiful verse, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us?” Ps. 103:12. There is no vail now to keep us away from the presence of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ made atonement for sin, upon the cross, the vail was rent, and all who trust in His precious blood may come boldly into the Holiest, not once a year, but every day. “Having therefore boldness, brethren, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.” Heb. 10:2222Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22).
“And now we draw near to the throne of grace
For His blood and the Priest are there.
And we joyfully seek God’s holy face,
With our censer of praise and prayer.”
ML 12/12/1909