Dragon's Atonement: Eschatological Yom Kippur in the Book of Revelation

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2024

Publisher

Brepols

Source Publication

Who is Sitting on Which Beast?: Interpretative Issues in the Book of Revelation Proceedings of the International Conference held at Loyola University, Chicago, March 30-31, 2017

Source ISSN

9782503602585

Abstract

There are striking differences between the classic description of the scapegoat ritual found in Leviticus 16 and later renderings of this rite in rabbinic and early Christian authors. For instance, several enigmatic additions to the Levitical blueprint of the scapegoat ritual appear in later interpretations of this rite found in mishnaic, targumic, and talmudic accounts, especially in the description of the conclusion of the scapegoat ceremony. Some of these accounts insist that in the final moments of the ritual in the wilderness the crimson band of the scapegoat was removed and then placed back onto the animal. The scapegoat was then pushed off the cliff by its handler. These traditions are not attested to in the biblical description of Leviticus, yet they figure into many rabbinic and early Christian interpretations.

Comments

"Dragon’s Atonement: Eschatological Yom Kippur in the Book of Revelation," in: “Who is Sitting on Which Beast?” Interpretative Issues in the Book of Revelation Proceedings of the International Conference held at Loyola University, Chicago, March 30-31, 2017 (eds. E. F. Lupieri and L. Painchaud; Judaïsme ancien et origines du christianisme, 29; Turnhout: Brepols, 2024) 165-184. Publisher link. 

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