Azazel
Azazel is a region mentioned in the Old Testament. It appears across 3 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Azazel is one of the most theologically charged and enigmatic terms in the entire Hebrew Bible. It appears three times in Leviticus 16, the chapter describing the annual Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) ritual. In the elaborate ceremony ordained by God through Moses, the high priest was to take two goats: one was sacrificed as a sin offering to the LORD, and the other was designated "for Azazel." After confessing all the sins of Israel over the living goat, the priest sent it away into the wilderness "to Azazel" (Lev. 16:8, 10, 26). Interpretations of Azazel have varied widely across centuries of scholarship. The earliest Jewish traditions, reflected in 1 Enoch, understood Azazel as a demonic figure or fallen angel to whom the scapegoat was dispatched — symbolically returning sin to its source. Others interpret Azazel as a remote desert locality — a cliff or wilderness region — while still others read the term as a compound Hebrew noun meaning "the goat that departs" (hence the English term "scapegoat"). All three readings reflect a common theological point: on the Day of Atonement, Israel's guilt was removed and symbolically banished beyond the inhabited world, underscoring God's complete forgiveness of his covenant people.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Azazel as a geographical region cannot be precisely located or confirmed by archaeology, since its nature in the biblical text is primarily cultic and symbolic rather than topographical. Second Temple Jewish sources, particularly the tractate Yoma in the Mishnah and the Book of 1 Enoch, elaborate the Azazel tradition and describe a cliff (Beit Hadudo or Tzuk) east of Jerusalem, traditionally located in the Judean wilderness, from which the scapegoat was pushed. No confirmed archaeological remains have been identified with this site. The wilderness landscape east of Jerusalem, including the area toward the Dead Sea, broadly corresponds to the kind of desolate terrain the biblical text envisions.
Verse Appearances (3)
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →