Common misinterpretations of Leviticus 16:7 treat the presentation of the two goats as arbitrary animal cruelty or pagan sorcery involving lots, overlooking its purposeful role in God's redemptive plan; others dismiss it as obsolete Old Testament ritual irrelevant to New Testament believers, missing its typological foreshadowing of Christ's atoning death and intercession; some erroneously allegorize the goats as representing inherent human duality of good and evil or dual paths to salvation, which contradicts the passage's emphasis on unified substitutionary atonement through divine selection.
Leviticus 16:7
King James Version (1769)
7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Leviticus 16:7 describes the high priest taking two goats and presenting them before the Lord at the tabernacle entrance during the Day of Atonement, initiating a ritual that provides atonement for Israel's sins. One goat is selected by lot for sacrifice as a sin offering, its blood applied to purify the sanctuary and the people from defilement, while the other, the live scapegoat, bears the community's confessed sins into the wilderness, symbolizing God's complete removal of guilt and restoration of holiness in His presence.