BIBLICAL Allusions/definitions PASSOVER In the Book of Exodus , God helped the Israelites escape from slavery in ancient Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release the Israelite slaves. The last of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born . The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday scapegoat 1: a goat upon whose head are symbolically placed the sins of the people after which he is sent into the wilderness in the biblical ceremony for Yom Kippur 2a: one that bears the blame for others b: one that is the object of irrational hostility Liberated Israelites Liberated from Slavery: The “exodus” to designate the deliverance of the...