26. And he that let the goat go. Since this goat was the outcast ( κάθαπμα) of God’s wrath, and devoted to His curse, he who led it away is commanded to wash his person and his clothes, as if he were a partaker in its defilement. By this symbol the faithful were reminded how very detestable is their iniquity, so that they might, be affected with increasing dread, whenever they considered what they deserved. For when they saw a man forbidden to enter the camp because he was polluted by simply touching the goat, they must needs reflect how much wider was the alienation between God and themselves, when they bore upon them an uncleanness not contracted elsewhere, but procured by their own sin. The same may be said of him who burned the skin, the flesh, and the dung of the bullock and the goat. We have elsewhere seen that these remnants were carried out of the camp in token of abomination. And on this head Christ’s inestimable love towards us shines more brightly, who did not disdain to go out of the city that He might be made an outcast ( rejectamentum) for us, and might undergo the curse due to us.