The Bible, Trump, and the Scapegoat
In the days since Trump’s second inauguration, his far-right administration has taken drastic steps to fulfill key campaign promises: he’s ramped up deportations of poor, migrant workers, dismantled DEI programs in the federal government, and launched a new wave of attacks against already terrified trans people.
According to Trump and the Republican party, those three things: migrants, DEI programs, and trans people — are the root of all problems in the United States of America.
Of course, if you’re reading this, you probably already know that’s a complete lie. The root of our country’s problem is greed.
But instead of calling that out, the king of greed, Donald Trump, is scapegoating unrelated communities and programs to deflect, divide, and conquer the working class.
This tactic is as old as time, but did you know the roots of the term we use for it today are found in the Hebrew Bible?
The scapegoat ritual
The ritual of the scapegoat is described in detail in Leviticus 16, as part of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. (1) The ritual likely originated during the First Temple period (around 950–586 BCE), though some scholars argue it has even earlier roots in Ancient Near Eastern purification rites.
Here’s how it worked: Two goats would be brought before the High Priest at the Temple in Jerusalem. Through a lottery system, one goat would be designated “for the Lord” and sacrificed as a sin offering. The second goat would be designated “for Azazel.”
The High Priest would then lay both hands on the head of this second goat and confess over it all the sins and transgressions of the Israelite people. This goat — the scapegoat — would then be led into the wilderness by a designated man. In Second Temple times, according to the Mishnah, the goat would be led to a cliff and pushed off, ensuring it could not wander back to inhabited areas.
The Hebrew term for the scapegoat is “sair l’azazel,” literally the “goat for Azazel.” Scholars debate the meaning of Azazel; it might refer to a demon or deity thought to inhabit the wilderness, or it might simply mean “complete removal,” describing the goat’s function of carrying away the community’s sins.
The ritual ended with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. However, its psychological and social impact lives on in our language and, more disturbingly, in our politics.
Then vs. now
That ancient ritual served an important communal purpose: it provided a way for the community to symbolically cleanse itself of wrongdoing and start fresh.
But notice a crucial difference: in the Biblical ritual, the scapegoat carried away sins that the community had already acknowledged and confessed. The ritual was preceded by genuine reflection and repentance.
Modern political scapegoating does the opposite. Instead of acknowledging real problems and working to address them, it displaces blame onto vulnerable groups. Instead of bringing the community together in reflection and renewal, it tears society apart through fear and hatred.
When Trump and his allies scapegoat migrants, DEI programs, and trans people, they’re not engaging in any kind of meaningful moral or political discourse. They’re cynically exploiting an ancient psychological mechanism to maintain power and avoid accountability.
The Biblical scapegoat ritual reminds us that genuine renewal requires honest self-examination and collective responsibility — precisely what modern political scapegoating is designed to prevent. Perhaps understanding these ancient roots can help us better resist their modern manipulation.
After all, if an entire ancient civilization could acknowledge their collective sins and work toward genuine atonement, surely we can do better than allowing demagogues to blame society’s most vulnerable for problems they didn’t create.
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FOOTNOTES:
- The ancient scapegoat ritual is the historical and theological foundation of Yom Kippur, but, of course, the modern observance no longer includes animal sacrifice. After the destruction of the Second Temple, it developed into a beautiful spiritual ritual of purification through prayer, repentance, and fasting.
