2. Scapegoat Mechanism 

2.1 “Scapegoat” in the Holy Bible

The expression “scapegoat” was derived from a biblical tale in The Old Testament. God let Abraham to kill his son Isaac in a certain place to prove Abraham’s loyalty. Although Abraham felt sad, he decided to do what God let him to do. He took firewood, leaving home with his son and his servants. During the way to that place, his son Isaac asked Abraham: “We have wood and fire here, but where is the lamb for the burned offering.” (New Living Translation, Gen. 22.7). He said: “God himself will give the lamb for the burned offering.”(ibid: 8) Then he put firewood on Isaac’s body, and held the knife and fire on his hand. When he wanted to take an action, an angle came out and stopped Abraham. The angel told him that God already knew that he revered God in his heart. Therefore, Abraham killed a lamp, instead of his kid, as the sacrifice to God. Since that moment, the Jew sacrifices goats to get rid of their sins.

With the development of scapegoat’s meaning, this word comes to refer to those people who are blamed or punished for others’ guilt or sufferings. The tale of the scapegoat in The Holy Bible has been interpreted as a typical figure of Jesus. As known to all, Jesus takes the guilt of human beings on his back, and he was tormented by sins. Northrop Frye figures out the similar features between the definition of scapegoat and Jesus. Frye believes that Jesus is just like the goat in the sacrifice custom. “The primitive belief and custom of scapegoat in The Holy Bible have been transmitted into the western culture, and have become a day-to-day idiomatic metaphor” (Ye, 2003:47). Christians usually thought Jesus was a chaste marvel. He was found in the Church, and died for the achievement of atonement. Jesus’s soul flied into the Heaven.