Goat

The goat was one of the most common animals in the ancient Middle East — sure-footed on rocky hillsides, it could graze where sheep could not. Unlike the sheep, which follows docilely, the goat has a reputation for independence and stubbornness. It has long curved horns, a shaggy coat, and a beard. Goats provided milk, meat, leather, and hair that was spun into cloth and used to make the curtains of the Tabernacle. They were also used constantly in sacrifice.

The most dramatic use of a goat in the Bible was on the Day of Atonement. Two goats were chosen — one was slaughtered as a sin offering, its blood brought into the Most Holy Place. The other was the scapegoat: the high priest laid both hands on its head, confessed all Israel's sins over it, and it was led into the wilderness to an uninhabited place and released, never to return (Leviticus 16:8–22). The people's sins left with it. Hebrews 9:12 reads Christ's death as the final fulfilment of both goats — he is both the sacrifice and the one who carries sin away. At the last judgment in Matthew 25:32–33, the Son of Man separates the nations as a shepherd separates sheep from goats: sheep at his right, welcomed; goats at his left, sent away.