Goats in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. Wild goat, yeliym, the ibex of ancient Moab. 2. The goat deer, or else gazelle, aqow. 3. The atuwd, "he goat", the leader of the flock; hence the chief ones of the earth, leaders in mighty wickedness; the ram represents headstrong wantonness and offensive lust (Isaiah 14:9; Zechariah 10:3; compare Matthew 25:32-33; Ezekiel 34:17). As the word "shepherds" describes what they ought to have been, so "he goats" what they were; heading the flock, they were foremost in sin, so they shall be foremost in punishment. In Song of Solomon 4:1 the hair of the bride is said to be "as a flock of goats that appear from mount Gilead," alluding to the fine silky hair of some breeds of goat, the angora and others. Amos (Amos 3:12) speaks of a shepherd "taking out of the mouth of the lion a piece of an ear," alluding to the long pendulous ears of the Syrian breed. In Proverbs 30:31 a he goat is mentioned as one of the "four things comely in going," in allusion to the stately march of the leader of the flock. 4. Sair, the goat of the sin-offering (Leviticus 9:3), "the rough hairy goat" (Daniel 8:21). Sa'ir is used of devils (Leviticus 17:7), "the evil spirits of the desert" (Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14). 5. Azazeel, "the scape-goat" (Leviticus 16:8; Leviticus 16:10; Leviticus 16:26 margin) frontATONEMENT, DAY OF.) The "he goat" represented Graeco-Macedonia; Caranus, the first king of Macedon, was in legend led by goats to Edessa, his capital, which he named "the goat city." The one-horned goat is on coins of Archclaus king of Macedon, and a pilaster of Persepolis. So Daniel 8:5.