What is a scapegoat? Laying hands on a sacrificial animal (29:23–24) was a symbolic act. It meant that human sin was being placed on the animal and taken away. On the Day of Atonement the people sacrificed a goat in this manner (see Lev. 16:20–22). Thus, today, when a person takes the blame for someone else, he or she may be referred to as a “scapegoat.”