scapegoat
      n : someone punished for the errors of others [syn: {whipping
          boy]


 Scapegoat
    Lev. 16:8-26; R.V., "the goat for Azazel" (q.v.), the name given
    to the goat which was taken away into the wilderness on the day
    of Atonement (16:20-22). The priest made atonement over the
    scapegoat, laying Israel's guilt upon it, and then sent it away,
    the goat bearing "upon him all their iniquities unto a land not
    inhabited."

      At a later period an evasion or modification of the law of
    Moses was introduced by the Jews. "The goat was conducted to a
    mountain named Tzuk, situated at a distance of ten Sabbath days'
    journey, or about six and a half English miles, from Jerusalem.
    At this place the Judean desert was supposed to commence; and
    the man in whose charge the goat was sent out, while setting him
    free, was instructed to push the unhappy beast down the slope of
    the mountain side, which was so steep as to insure the death of
    the goat, whose bones were broken by the fall. The reason of
    this barbarous custom was that on one occasion the scapegoat
    returned to Jerusalem after being set free, which was considered
    such an evil omen that its recurrence was prevented for the
    future by the death of the goat" (Twenty-one Years' Work in the
    Holy Land). This mountain is now called el-Muntar.