Some modern translations of Leviticus 16 assert that the live goat (scapegoat) was a sacrifice that God commanded Israel to send to a demon named Azazel!

We fast to learn humility, sacrifice, and empathy towards our Savior, who had His blood shed and who bore our sins, being forsaken for our sakes.

When the angry members of the local synagogue tried to push Jesus over the cliff, they paralleled the Jewish tradition for the azazel goat.

Some say the scapegoat (azazel) prefigures the Devil, others say it has been fulfilled by Jesus. Tradition teaches one thing; Scripture reveals another.

From the days of Sinai on, the ancient Israelites fixated on the notion that they were God's chosen people. This perspective proved counterproductive.

The Jews establishes a fixed date for Shavuot in contradiction to the instruction for counting to Pentecost. This is part of the leavening of the Pharisees.

While the church of God has long taught that the azazel goat of Leviticus 16 represents Satan, this traditional view has no biblical support.

While there is a handful of common starting places for understanding the azazel, none of them has multiple witnesses of Scripture. We must begin elsewhere.

One goat had to die for cleansing; the other goat had to remain alive for bearing the sins away. Jesus fulfilled both roles. Satan's binding atones for nothing.

Being careless with something we deem minor can be fatal. We are to live by every word God gives to us, kept pure, unadulterated by additions and subtractions.

The word 'ordinances' does not refer to God's laws. It is translated from the Greek word dogma and refers generally to opinions, judgments, and decrees.

The Jews turned a Babylonian myth of Lilith into a fabrication about a woman before Eve. Some translations suggest Israel sacrificed to a demon named Azazel.

The first sign in the book of John corrected the physical need for wine; the eighth sign of 153 fish corrected a spiritual need on the part of God's people.

Having their origin in the days of Ezra, the Scribes and Pharisees were extremely zealous for the law, separating themselves for this exclusive purpose.

The Passover is to be kept on the twilight of the 14th, while the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th. The Word of God supersedes tradition and heritage.

At the time of Christ, because of historical deviation, some kept Passover at home at the start of the 14th and others kept it at the Temple at the end of the 14th.

The harsh religion of the Pharisees was unfeeling, placing more attention on rituals and man-made laws, and had turned their super-righteousness into sin.

In the gray areas of applying God's Law, extending mercy and easing of burdens trumps legalism and hairsplitting.

Only in John 7 do we find some evidence of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day, providing a gold mine to discover what was on Jesus's mind during this time.

The elites' jealousy over losing political power fueled their hatred of Jesus. Conflict between those who have power and those who want it is a way of life.

The yoke of bondage Paul refers to in Galatians was a combination of the code of regulations added by the Pharisees and Gnostic ritualism, not God's Law.

Nine steps had to be included with the Passover observance, all within the house until morning. It takes place between sun's setting and complete darkness.