“... Here we find a complex mix of cultic traditions that surely reflects the atoning ritual in Leviticus 16. However, the tradition, in its new form, is quite different than its predecessor in Leviticus. Some striking new details are added that reveal our author’s familiarity with later elaborations on the atoning rite—additions also found in the mishnaic Yom Kippur testimonies. The reference to the crimson band on the go-away goat—an attribute absent in Leviticus 16, but one that later became a crucial symbol of the scapegoat ritual—is a prime example of this development. The ritual abuses that the go-away goat endures during its exile into the wilderness is another innovation added to the classic description of the atoning rite found in Leviticus 16. These abuses are also prominent in Mishnah Yoma. It is surely not coincidental that the Epistle of Barnabas emphasizes these novel features of the ritual, since they enable the author to make important connections between the atoning ordinance and the story of Jesus: Christ’s suffering during the Passion is here compared with the abuses that scapegoat endures on Yom Kippur. It is also significant that the Epistle of Barnabas depicts the scapegoat alongside another important animal of the atoning rite: the sacrificial goat for YHWH. Barnabas makes the point that the goats are quite similar, perhaps evoking the concept of twinship, as they are “alike, fine, and equal.” ...”