Extracts from paper of W. H. S., who gains First Prize, Dr. Thomson’s “Land and Book”—
“The first mention we have of goats in the Scriptures is in Genesis 15:99And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. (Genesis 15:9), where Abraham is directed to take a she-goat to offer it up for a sacrifice. From this passage it would appear that goats formed part of the possessions of Abraham; so that these animals have been domesticated by man for at least 3800 years, and most probably they were domesticated a long time before Abraham. The passages of Scripture which refer to goats may be divided into two classes—those passages that refer to the uses of the goat, and those that refer to its habits and natural characteristics.
“As to the uses of this animal, we find from Genesis 27:99Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory meat for thy father, such as he loveth: (Genesis 27:9) that the hairy skins were used for clothing; afterwards, when weaving had become known, the long, silky hair of the goats was woven into cloth, the use of which was by no means confined to clothing, but it was employed for numerous other purposes; for instance, eleven of the curtains of the Tabernacle were made of woven goats-hair, as we learn from Exodus 26:6-86And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle. 7And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. 8The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. (Exodus 26:6‑8); and on account of its softness we find goats-hair used for a pillow. (1 Samuel 19:13-1613And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster. (1 Samuel 19:13‑16)).
“From a great number of verses of Scripture we learn that goats were used in sacrifices. In Abraham’s sacrifice (Genesis 15:99And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. (Genesis 15:9)), a she-goat was one of the animals offered up. In the burnt offering a male goat might be employed; likewise in the peace offering (Leviticus 1 to 3:12). In the sin-offering for the ruler the kid appointed for sacrifice was to be a male; while in the sin-offering for one of the common people the kid was to be a female. If a kid were employed in the trespass-offering it was to be invariably a female (Leviticus 4:23, 28; 5:623Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: (Leviticus 4:23)
28Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned. (Leviticus 4:28)
6And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin. (Leviticus 5:6)). In all cases the animal was to be without blemish. On the Great Day of Atonement two kids were chosen, and lots cast on them; one being for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat or Azazel. The goat on which the Lord’s lot fell was then offered for a sin offering, and the other goat was presented alive before the Lord. Then Aaron, or the high priest, went into the most holy place, or holy of holies. After he had come out he laid his hands on the head of the surviving one and confessed over him all the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel, so putting them on the head of the goat, which was then led by the hands of a fit man to the wilderness, and there let go. All the details of this solemn ceremony are given in Leviticus 16.
“There are very few passages in the Bible from which we can gather anything definite respecting the habits of the goat. The domesticated goats were always considered distinct from the wild goats (see Deuteronomy 14:4-54These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 5The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. (Deuteronomy 14:4‑5)). The former were kept in flocks, apart from the sheep (Matt. 25:3232And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (Matthew 25:32)), but the favourite abode of the latter was on the rocky mountains of Palestine (see 1 Samuel 24:22Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. (1 Samuel 24:2); Job 39; Psalms 114:18). The stateliness and majestic bearing of the he-goat are referred to in Proverbs 30:3131A greyhound; an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up. (Proverbs 30:31). The first time goats are used symbolically in the Bible is in Exodus 12:55Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: (Exodus 12:5), where the goat is mentioned as an animal to be used in the Passover. In this passage the animal undoubtedly is a symbol of the Lord Jesus, for, as in the blood shed at the Passover, all who are sheltered by His precious blood are saved from the doom which will surely overtake all those who reject Christ. In the laws and descriptions of the sacrifices the goat always typically represents the Lord Jesus; likewise the scapegoat, for the sins of all those who believe in Him are borne away by the blessed Saviour to a ‘a land not inhabited.’ They are for ever forgiven.
“In the book of the prophet Daniel we have the goat employed by the Spirit of God to represent the King of Greece, who rose out of the west and subdued the power of the ram (the Persian empire), but in turn his power was broken, and his vast empire divided into four. All this is literally true of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king, who, as history tells us, flourished greatly, but was struck down in the midst of his career, and his kingdom broken up.”
The Second Prize, “Tales of Alsace,” is gained by A. S. R. T., of Manchester.