Azazel (Hastings' Dictionary)

The name of the spirit (Lv 16'- '''•"'), supposed to have its abode in the wilder- ness, to whom, on the Day of Atonement, the goat laden with the sins of the people was sent {ib. v.'"") 'Azazel is not mentioned elsewhere in OT ; but the name occurs in the Book of Enoch (2nd cent. B.C.)

as that of the leader of the evil angels who (Gn U'- *) formed unions with the daughters of men, and (as the legend is developed in the Book of Enoch) taught them various arts, and whose offspring, the giants, tilled the earth with unright- eousness and ulood. On account of the wicked- ness wrought by 'Azazel upon earth, the four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael (9' Gr.), are represented as impeaching him before the Almighty, who thereupon (ch.

10)l)ids Raphael bind him hand and foot, and secure him, under ' rough and jagged rocks,' at a place in the desert called ' Dudael," until on 'the greatdayof judgment' he is cast into the fire.

* Whether this legend is developed from the notice of 'Azazel in Lv, taken in connexion with the fact that the goat was actually, in the time of the Second Temple, led away to perish at the spot referred to, or whether the belief in the existence of such a spirit, bound in the wilderness, had already arisen at the time when the ceremonial of Lv 16 was framed, we do nut know : the latter alternative is supported by Cheyne (ZATW 1895, pp.

153-156), who supposes that the aim of this part of the ritual of the Day of Atonement was partly to provide the ignorant people with a visible token of the removal of the sins of the year, partly to abolish the cultus of the seirlm (Lv 17', 2 Ch ll'», 2 K 23* [reading onTi? he- goats, for D"ivci gates] ; cf. Is 13" 34"), by substitut- ing a single personal angel, 'Azazel (evil no doubt by nature, but rendered harmless by being bound), for the crowd of impersonal and dangerous se'irim.

But whatever the precise attributes with which 'Azazel was invested at the time when the ritual of Lv 16 was framed, there can be little doubt that the ceremonial was intended as a symbolii^al declaration that the land and people are now purged from guilt, their sins being handed over to the evil spirit to whom they are held to belong, and whose home is in the desolate wilderness, remote from human habitations (v." 'into a land cut oil').

No doubt the rite is a survival from an older stage of popular belief, engrafted on, and accommodated to, the sacrificial system of the Hebrews. Eor the expulsion of evils, whether maladies or sins, from a community, by their being laid symbolically upon a material medium, there are many analogies in other countries (see J. G. Frazer, The Gulden Buuf/h, ii. 182fl'.)

t The belief in goblins, or demons {jimi), haunting the wilder- ness and vexing the traveller, is particularly common in Arabia (see Wellhausen, iieste Arab. Ileidentums, pp. 135-140) J; in OT it is found in Lv 17', Is 13" 34" ('satyrs,' lit. he-goats, and Lilith, the night-monster). 'Azazel must have • Of. 54^^- 6M, 6^ and 81, which also mention 'Azazel, but treat him not an flrBt but on tenth in command, are considered by l>illm.

aniit'Iiur)es(A'MorA, ]>, (U)to lielonjj to a later stratum of the worit. Tile tlrst part of tiie mime I>iula-el has been ingeniously exi>Iained i)V i'-vust-r (Jii/t. Ztitc/ir. 18(34-18115, p. 201) as a cor- niiitioii of iiadiuio in ' ItdiU lladiidO' ^'place of stiarp rocks'), tile place V2, miles from Jems., to wnich, occonliiii' to the Miahn:i O'oinn ciW- «), the Targ. of Ps.-Jon.

(on Lv 10i»-22), ond other authoritieH, the j{oat was led on the I)ay of Atonement, and preciiiitjtled over the rocks that it mi)<ht nerish. lifih lloilu'fo rum been identilled, with (;reat probability, with a ruined site now called Bt'l-hwlfilttn, on tne edj^e of a chalk range, overhanging' a 8t<.'ep and rncky chasm, nearly due K. of Jems., and at the required distance (Sdiick, ZDFV, 1880, p. '218).

\ In the OT the aim of the rite described In Lv 14«f- •' » (the living bird lei loose in the ritual of purillcation ofter leprosy) is prnbablv niinilur (liilhn. p. 63:!; Nowock, Arch. il. 2Ulf.: W. U. Snulh, UH. Vem.'p. iTl). J The gttiil ('suriiriser' ; plur. 'aqhxrAt) wa« one of them (Lane. Arab. Ltce. p. 2911). See also Hmith, Ret. Stm.* p.

IMfL 208 AZAZIAH AZZUR been such a spirit, sufficiently distinguished from the rest, in popular imagination, to receive a special name, and no doubt invested with attributes which, though unknown to us, were perfectly familiar to those for whom the ceremonial of Lv 16 was lirst designed. The meaning of the name is very uncertain.

No root Sij; is known in Hebrew ; but 'azala in Arab, means to remove, place far apart ; hence it has been conjectured that the name may have signified the averterol evil (Ges. ),* or have denoted a spirit, supposed to separate travellers in the desert from their companions, or divert them from their way (Steiner, and, with some reserve, Dillm.)t Cheyne considers that the name was originally W'\2, 'God is strong' (cf. tn;i!

i; 1 Ch 15-'), t but that it was afterwards deliberately altered, to conceal the true derivation of tha fallen angel's name.§ LiTERATCRB.— 0€8. Thet. ».«. (p. 1012 f.); Dillm. on Lt 168; Nowack, Arch, ii. 186 f. (where further references are ^ven) : also Ewald, Alt. p. 479 f. ; Lehre von Gott, ii. 2911.; Oehler, OT Theol. i 140 ; Schultz, OT Thtol. i. 403-406. S. R. Driver. AZ&ZIAH (w;!!!?,). — 1. A Levite musician who took part in the proceedings when David brought up the ark to Jems.

(1 Ch 15-'). 2. The father of Hoshea the prince of Ephraim when David numbered the peojile (1 Ch 27-'"). 3. An overseer of the temple in Hezekiah's reign (2 Ch 31").