The scarlet thread and the scapegoat
The Scarlet Thread: Scripture or Tradition?
The so-called scarlet thread associated with the scapegoat—often said to turn white when Israel’s sins were forgiven—is frequently cited in theological discussions. However, this concept does not originate in Scripture. It is a later tradition, developed within post-biblical Judaism and later echoed by some early Christian writers.
Understanding this distinction is essential, because later interpretive traditions are often mistakenly treated as if they were part of the biblical atonement system itself.
1. The Biblical Scapegoat Ritual (What Scripture Actually Says)
The scapegoat ritual is described in detail in Leviticus 16.
Scripture teaches:
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Two goats are selected
“And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering…”
(Leviticus 16:5) -
One goat is sacrificed
“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people…”
(Leviticus 16:15) -
One goat is designated “for Azazel”
“Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel.”
(Leviticus 16:8) -
The sins of Israel are confessed over the live goat
“Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel…”
(Leviticus 16:21) -
The goat is sent away alive into the wilderness
“…and shall send it away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. The goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited.”
(Leviticus 16:21–22)
Scripture does not teach:
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A scarlet thread or cord
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A thread tied to the goat or to the Temple
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A color-changing sign of forgiveness
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The killing of the scapegoat
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A ritual confirmation that atonement had been accepted
None of these elements appear anywhere in Leviticus 16 or elsewhere in the Torah.
Leviticus is explicit: the scapegoat is released alive, not executed. The ritual symbolizes the removal of sin through separation, not death.
If a visible, miraculous sign confirming forgiveness were central to God’s atonement system, its complete absence from the Torah would be inexplicable.
2. The Origin of the Scarlet Thread (Mishnah and Talmud)
The scarlet thread first appears not in Scripture, but in later Jewish tradition, particularly in the Mishnah.
https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.31b.14?lang=bi
6 And the doors of the Sanctuary opened by themselves as a sign that they would soon be opened by enemies, until Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai scolded them. He said to the Sanctuary: Sanctuary, Sanctuary, why do you frighten yourself with these signs? I know about you that you will ultimately be destroyed, and Zechariah, son of Ido, has already prophesied concerning you: “Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars” (Zechariah 11:1), Lebanon being an appellation for the Temple.
14
https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.31b.14?lang=bi
https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.31b.17?lang=bi
6 What did the one designated to dispatch the goat do there? He divided a strip of crimson into two parts, half of the strip tied to the rock, and half of it tied between the two horns of the goat. And he pushed the goat backward, and it rolls and descends. And it would not reach halfway down the mountain until it was torn limb from limb. The one designated to dispatch the goat came and sat under the roofing of last booth until it grows dark and only then went home. And from what point are the garments of the man rendered impure, as it is stated that he is impure and his clothes requires immersion? From the moment he emerges outside the wall of Jerusalem. Rabbi Shimon says: His clothes are rendered impure only from the moment that he pushes the goat from the cliff.
These passages describe a lashon shel zehorit (“scarlet tongue/thread”) associated with the scapegoat. Later rabbinic tradition expands this imagery further, claiming that the thread would turn white if Israel’s sins were forgiven—an interpretation explicitly linked to Isaiah 1:18, but not derived from it.
Important observations:
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The Mishnah was compiled around 200 CE
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It reflects interpretive tradition, not divine command
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The Torah never mandates such a practice
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The tradition varies in detail between sources
Whether the scarlet thread originated in the late Second Temple period or developed more fully after the destruction of the Temple (70 CE), it is unmistakably post-biblical.
3. The Death of the Scapegoat: A Later Addition
Closely related to the scarlet thread is the claim that the scapegoat was killed by being pushed off a cliff.
This idea:
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Is absent from Leviticus
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Is not commanded by God
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Appears only in later rabbinic descriptions
The biblical scapegoat bears sin away from the community; it is not a substitute sacrifice and not an execution victim. The ritual’s meaning is removal, not death.
4. The Epistle of Barnabas and Early Christian Awareness
The tradition is also alluded to, not taught as Scripture, in early Christian literature—most notably the Epistle of Barnabas (late 1st–mid-2nd century).
In Barnabas 7, the author interprets the scapegoat allegorically and appears aware of Jewish interpretive traditions surrounding the ritual, including symbolic elements not found in the Torah itself.
Epistle of Banabas 7:8
https://scriptural-truth.com/PDF_Apocrypha/The%20Epistle%20of%20Barnabas.pdf
Barnabas 7:8
And do ye all spit upon it and goad it, and place scarlet wool
about its head, and so let it be cast into the wilderness. And
when it is so done, he that taketh the goat into the wilderness
leadeth it, and taketh off the wool, and putteth it upon the branch
which is called Rachia, the same whereof we are wont to eat the
shoots when we find them in the country. Of this briar alone is the
fruit thus sweet.
Crucially:
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Barnabas does not present the scarlet thread as biblical law
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He assumes it as a known Jewish tradition
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His use is theological and symbolic, not historical exegesis
Similarly, Tertullian (late 2nd century) shows familiarity with Jewish atonement traditions, again without treating them as Scripture.
Tertullian 14:1
https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0308.htm
But the Jesus
there alluded to is Christ, the Priest of God the most high Father; who at His first advent came in humility, in human form, and passible, even up to the period of His passion; being Himself likewise made, through all (stages of suffering) a victim for us all; who after His resurrection was clad with a garment down to the foot,
and named the Priest of God the Father unto eternity. So, again, I will make an interpretation of the two goats which were habitually offered on the fast-day. Do not they, too, point to each successive stage in the character of the Christ who is already come? A pair, on the one hand, and consimilar (they were), because of the identity of the Lord’s general appearance, inasmuch as He is not to come in some other form, seeing that He has to be recognised by those by whom He was once hurt. But the one of them, begirt with scarlet, amid cursing and universal spitting, and tearing, and piercing, was cast away by the People outside the city into perdition, marked with manifest tokens of Christ’s passion; who, after being begirt with scarlet garment, and subjected to universal spitting, and afflicted with all contumelies, was crucified outside the city. The other, however, offered for sins, and given as food to the priests merely of the temple, gave signal evidences of the second appearance; in so far as, after the expiation of all sins, the priests of the spiritual temple, that is, of the church, were to enjoy a spiritual public distribution (as it were) of the Lord’s grace, while all others are fasting from salvation.
5. Possible Cultural Parallels
Some scholars have noted parallels between Israel’s scapegoat imagery and purification rituals among surrounding ancient cultures, including practices attributed to the Hittites, where animals symbolically carried away impurity.
This does not require direct borrowing, but it does suggest that:
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Symbolic removal rituals were widespread in the ancient Near East
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Later Jewish tradition may have expanded biblical imagery
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Such developments belong to historical theology, not revelation
KTU 1.40 Ugaritic text (animal has ribbon tied to it) ugaritic goat ritual?
KTU 1.40 tablet is 15mm and the incomplete height is 165mm, and the calculated original height is 200mm which allows for 15 additional lines which have not been preserved. 7 This ritual text consists of six sections (or paragraphs) which are only slightly different. These sections can be divided into three units, each unit consists of a male and a female section, and each covers a different sacrifice and reason for the sacrifice.
6. Conclusion
The scarlet thread:
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❌ Is not taught in Scripture
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❌ Is not commanded in Leviticus 16
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❌ Is not part of the biblical atonement ritual
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✅ Appears in the Mishnah and later rabbinic tradition
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✅ Is alluded to by early Christian writers as tradition, not Scripture
Appealing to the scarlet thread as biblical proof is therefore a category error. It is tradition interpreting Scripture, not Scripture itself.
Recognizing this distinction protects the integrity of the biblical text and prevents later theological developments from being retrojected into the Torah.
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