Leviticus 17 · a question people ask
What were the "goat idols"?
The chapter doesn't describe them. It says only, "They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute" (17:7). What it gives instead is where sacrifices go: "to the LORD, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest" (17:5). The Hebrew word (tap goat idols) is the one Leviticus uses for a goat, as in "the two goats" of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:7), and Brown-Driver-Briggs lists it here under a separate entry (see the word study). "Play the prostitute" is how Exodus speaks of turning to other gods: "lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods" (Exodus 34:15). Later, Jeroboam "appointed priests for the high places, for the male goat and calf idols which he had made" (2 Chronicles 11:15).
The verses
“This is to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the LORD, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD.”
“They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.’”
“He shall take the two goats, and set them before the LORD at the door of the Tent of Meeting.”
““Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;”