"The Scapegoat" by Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn)

The Scapegoat by Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn) (1823-1909) Click on image to enlarge it. 1886. “Photographed from the originals and printed in planotype.” Bible Beasts and Birds (Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the Getty Research Institute)

The following text from Leviticus XVI bottom of the picture: “And the Goat shall appear upon him all their iniquities” unto land not inhabited,” and the following pages include the following biblical texts nd a passage from Milton’s Paradise Lost:

The Scapegoat

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two Goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the Scape Goat.

And Aaron shall bring the Goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering:

But the Goat, on which the lot fell to be the Scape Goat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a Scape Goat into the Wilderness.

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the Holy Place, and the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and the Altar, he shall bring the live Goat:

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the Children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the Goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the Wilderness. Leviticus xvi. 8-10, 20, 21.

Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah liii. 4, 6,

And he that let go the Goat for the Scape Goat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the Camp.

And the Bullock for the sin offering, and the Goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall one carry forth without the Camp: and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. Leviticus xvi. 26, 27.

For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the High Priest for Sin, are burned without the Camp.

Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the Gate. Hebrews xiii. 11, 12. Leviticus xvi. 26, 27.

To whom thus Michael Doubt not but that sin
Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
And therefore was Law given them to evince
Thir natural pravitie, by stirring up
Sin against Law to fight; that when they see
Law can discover sin, but not remove,
Save by those shadowie expiations weak,
The bloud of Bulls and Goats, they may conclude
Some bloud more precious must be paid for Man,
Just for unjust, that in such righteousness
To them by Faith imputed, they may finde
Justification towards God, and peace
Of Conscience, which the Law by Ceremonies
Cannot appease, nor Man the moral part
Perform, and not performing cannot live.
So Law appears imperfet, and but giv'n
With purpose to resign them in full time
Up to a better Cov'nant, disciplin'd
From shadowie Types to Truth, from Flesh to Spirit,
From imposition of strict Laws, to free
Acceptance of large Grace, from servil fear
To filial, works of Law to works of Faith."

Paradise Lost, Ed. 1667, bk. x. 11. 1176-1197.

Related Material

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust and the Getty Research Institute and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — George P. Landow.

Bibliography

Blackburn, Jemima. Bible Beasts and Birds: A New Edition of Illustrations of Scripture by an Animal Painter. London: Kegan Paul, 1886. Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the Getty Institute. Web. 11 January 2021.

Last modified 11 January 2021