Goat for Yahweh, Goat for Azazel: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Gospels by Hans M. Moscicke

Abstract

Reviewed by: Goat for Yahweh, Goat for Azazel: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Gospels by Hans M. Moscicke Lawrence Frizzell hans m. moscicke, Goat for Yahweh, Goat for Azazel: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Gospels (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2021). Pp. ix + 161. $95. This study builds on Moscicke's book The New Day of Atonement: A Matthean Typology (WUNT 2/517; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020). In chap. 1, "The Final Judgment as Ritual of Cosmos: The Impact of Yom Kippur on the Sheep and the Goats (Matt 25:31–46)," M. plunges the reader into five studies on passages from all four Gospels. The last parable in Matthew's fifth discourse ("Jesus in the least ones") is the portrayal of final judgment, with the separation of sheep from goats. According to M., considering the Day of Atonement traditions of Judaism in the Second Temple period would "introduce into Matthew's eschatology a ritual element, wherein the final expulsion of all the unrighteous becomes a purgative event resembling the yearly expulsion of iniquity from the earthly temple by means of the goat for Azazel (Lev 16:21–22)" (pp. 5–6). Since most scholars now date the Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 37–70) to the time of Herod the Great, M. thinks this "opens up the possibility that the Azazel traditions attested in the Parables have impacted the judgment [End Page 359] scene as well" (p. 7). M. presents hints from Leviticus 16 in Jesus's parable and other places to conclude that "the Son of Man's eschatological purgation of iniquity from the cosmos [is] reminiscent of the yearly expulsion of moral impurity from Israel's Temple by means of the scapegoat ritual" (p. 19). In chap. 2, "Jesus as Goat for Yahweh and Goat for Azazel in Matthew's Baptism-Temptation Narrative (Matt 3:16–4:11)," M. proposes that the Matthean Baptism-wilderness sequence may involve a Yom Kippur typology, though this is "secondary to the prevailing Israel and Moses typologies in the same narrative segment" (p. 32). M. reviews confession of sin by the people, sacrifice to God, and priestly transference of sins in the scapegoat ritual. Then he discusses Jesus's fast in the wilderness and his encounter with the devil. Jesus's quotation "man does not live by bread alone" (Deut 8:3) leads to discussion of manna and Israel's afflictions in the wilderness. M. finds eight points of correspondence with Yom Kippur themes; together they lead him "to conclude that Matthew has deliberately associated Jesus with the goat for Yahweh and the goat for Azazel" (p. 46). In chap. 3, "Jubilary Release of Sins and the Scapegoating of Jesus in Nazareth (Lk 4:16–30)," M. reviews a critique of scholars who emphasize the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25) as background to Jesus's reading of Isa 61:1–2 and 58:6. According to M., "the Jubilary motif only partially explains why the third Evangelist has Jesus read not only from Isa. 61:1–2 but also Isa 58:6" (p. 61). Themes from Leviticus 16 in Isaiah 58 provide background for the attack on Jesus by irate neighbors, foreshadowing his "ultimate banishment from Jerusalem, beginning a series of events that will culminate in the forgiveness of sins" (p. 69). In chap. 4, "The Gerasene/Gadarene Exorcism as Apocalyptic Mimesis of the Scapegoat Ritual: A Synoptic Analysis," M. proposes that this exorcism may relate to 1 Enoch 10 and develop the Watchers tradition from Gen 6:1–4, while "early Jewish Yom Kippur traditions have shaped the Markan Gerasene account in several significant ways" (p. 83). On Yom Kippur, Israel's sins are transferred to the scapegoat (Lev 16:21–22). In Jewish tradition of the Second Temple period, the scapegoat is pushed off a cliff to its death. In Mark 5:13, demons are sent into pigs that plunge into the sea. According to M., the demoniac's self-debasing behavior (Mark 5:5) echoes the biblical command to "afflict yourselves" on the Day of Atonement (p. 84). In Mark "this exorcism signals the eschatological expulsion of the cosmic powers of Satan's...