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In the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
, the name Azazel (; he, עֲזָאזֵל ''ʿAzāʾzēl''; ar, عزازيل, ʿAzāzīl) appears in association with the scapegoat rite; the name represents a desolate place where a
scapegoat
In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...
bearing the
sin
In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
s of the Jews during
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
was sent. During the end of the
Second Temple period
The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Jewis ...
, his association as a
fallen angel responsible for introducing humans to forbidden knowledge emerged due to
Hellenization
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...
, Christian narrative, and interpretation exemplified in the
Book of Enoch. His role as a fallen angel partly remains in
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
and
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic traditions.
Bible
Torah
![Azazel IMG 1758](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Azazel_IMG_1758.JPG)
In the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
, the term is used three times in
Leviticus 16
Acharei Mot (also Aharei Mot, Aharei Moth, or Acharei Mos) (, Hebrew for "after the death") is the 29th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It is the sixth weekly portion (, ''parashah'') in the Book of Leviticus, co ...
, where two male
goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s were to be sacrificed to
Yahweh
Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...
and one of the two was
selected by lot, for Yahweh is seen as speaking through the lots.
One goat is selected by lot and sent into the wilderness , "for Azazel". This goat was then cast out in the desert as part of
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
. The scapegoat ritual can be traced back to 24th century BC
Ebla
Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center t ...
, from where it spread throughout the
ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
.
In
older English versions, such as the
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
, the phrase ''la-azazel'' is translated as "as a scapegoat"; however, in most
modern English Bible translations, it is represented as a name in the text:
A
b'raita, apparently interpreting ''azazel'' as ''az'' (rugged) + ''el'' (of
God), understands it to refer to the rugged and rough mountain cliff from which the goat was cast down.
[For a delineation of the various Rabbinic opinions here, see R. Aryeh Kaplan']
note
on "Azazel" (Lev 16:8).
Gesenius Gesenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Justus Gesenius (1601–1673), German theologian
*Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius
Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist ...
also thought the term referred to the object, and emended the name to עזלזל ''utter removal,'' theoretically the name of a demon''.'' However, neither this demon nor the root עזל (comp. אזל) are attested.
עז (ez) also generically means goat and אזל (azal) means to be gone, used up, or exhausted and the contraction could simply mean 'the goat that is expended'.
In Greek Septuagint and later translations
The translators of the Greek
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
understood the Hebrew term as meaning "the sent away" (apparently reading either עז אזל ''goat which leaves'' or ''the mighty sent'' or עזלזל v.s.),
and read:
Following the Septuagint, the Latin
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
,
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
and the King James Version also give readings such as
Young's Literal Translation
Young's Literal Translation (YLT) is a translation of the Bible into English, published in 1862. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of ''Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible'' and ''Concise Critical Comments on the New Tes ...
: "And Aaron hath given lots over the two goats, one lot for Jehovah, and one lot for a goat of departure'".
![4Q180](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/4Q180.png)
According to the
Peshitta
The Peshitta ( syc, ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ ''or'' ') is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the ...
, Azazel is rendered Za-za-e'il ''strong one against/of God''. Pesher on the Periods A (
4Q180) reads, " . . . on Azazel (some read ''
Uzael'') and the angels . . ." If the name is in fact Azazel's, it is spelled עזזאל, equivalent to the Peshitta's version.
Targum Neofiti reads עזזל, without the
aleph
Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez .
These letter ...
.
In Judaism
Rabbinical Judaism
The
Mishnah
The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...
(
Yoma
Yoma (Aramaic: יומא, lit. "The Day") is the fifth tractate of ''Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the ''Mishnah'' and of the ''Talmud''. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, on which Jews atone for their ...
39a) follows the Hebrew Bible text; two goats were procured, similar in respect of appearance, height, cost, and time of selection. Having one of these on his right and the other on his left, the high priest, who was assisted in this rite by two subordinates, put both his hands into a wooden case, and took out two labels, one inscribed "for
Yahweh
Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...
" and the other "for Azazel". The high priest then laid his hands with the labels upon the two goats and said, "A sin-offering to Yahweh" (thus speaking the
Tetragrammaton
The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew language, Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', ''he (l ...
); and the two men accompanying him replied, "Blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever." He then fastened a scarlet woolen thread to the head of the goat "for Azazel"; and laying his hands upon it again, recited the following confession of sin and prayer for forgiveness: "O Lord, I have acted iniquitously, trespassed, sinned before Thee: I, my household, and the sons of Aaron Thy holy ones. O Lord, forgive the iniquities, transgressions, and sins that I, my household, and Aaron's children, Thy holy people, committed before Thee, as is written in the law of Moses, Thy servant, 'for on this day He will forgive you, to cleanse you from all your sins before the Lord; ye shall be clean.'"
This prayer was responded to by the congregation present. A man was selected, preferably a priest, to take the goat to the precipice in the wilderness; and he was accompanied part of the way by the most eminent men of Jerusalem. Ten booths had been constructed at intervals along the road leading from Jerusalem to the steep mountain. At each one of these the man leading the goat was formally offered food and drink, which he, however, refused. When he reached the tenth booth those who accompanied him proceeded no further, but watched the ceremony from a distance. When he came to the precipice he divided the scarlet thread into two parts, one of which he tied to the rock and the other to the goat's horns, and then pushed the goat down (Yoma vi. 1–8). The cliff was so high and rugged that before the goat had traversed half the distance to the plain below, its limbs were utterly shattered. Men were stationed at intervals along the way, and as soon as the goat was thrown down the precipice, they signaled to one another by means of kerchiefs or flags, until the information reached the high priest, whereat he proceeded with the other parts of the ritual.
The scarlet thread is symbolically referenced in ; and the Talmud states (ib. 39a) that during the forty years that
Simeon the Just was
High Priest of Israel
High Priest ( he, כהן גדול, translit=Kohen Gadol or ; ) was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post- Exilic times until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Previously ...
, the thread actually turned white as soon as the goat was thrown over the precipice: a sign that the sins of the people were forgiven. In later times the change to white was not invariable: a proof of the people's moral and spiritual deterioration, that was gradually on the increase, until forty years before the destruction of the
Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
, when the change of color was no longer observed (l.c. 39b).
Medieval Jewish commentators
The medieval scholar
Nahmanides (1194–1270) identified the Hebrew text as also referring to a demon, and identified this "Azazel" with
Samael. However, he did not see the sending of the goat as honoring Azazel as a deity, but as a symbolic expression of the idea that the people's sins and their evil consequences were to be sent back to the spirit of desolation and ruin, the source of all impurity. The very fact that the two goats were presented before God, before the one was sacrificed and the other sent into the wilderness, was proof that Azazel was not ranked alongside God, but regarded simply as the personification of wickedness in contrast with the righteous government of God.
Maimonides
Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...
(1134–1204) says that as sins cannot be taken off one's head and transferred elsewhere, the ritual is symbolic, enabling the penitent to discard his sins: “These ceremonies are of a symbolic character and serve to impress man with a certain idea and to lead him to repent, as if to say, ‘We have freed ourselves of our previous deeds, cast them behind our backs and removed them from us as far as possible’.”
The rite, resembling, on one hand, the sending off of the basket with the woman embodying wickedness to the land of
Shinar
Shinar (; Hebrew , Septuagint ) is the name for the southern region of Mesopotamia used by the Hebrew Bible.
Etymology
Hebrew שנער ''Šinʿar'' is equivalent to the Egyptian ''Sngr'' and Hittite ''Šanḫar(a)'', all referring to southern M ...
in the vision of
Zechariah
Zechariah most often refers to:
* Zechariah (Hebrew prophet), author of the Book of Zechariah
* Zechariah (New Testament figure), father of John the Baptist
Zechariah or its many variant forms and spellings may also refer to:
People
*Zechariah ...
(), and, on the other, the letting loose of the living bird into the open field in the case of the leper healed from the plague (), was, indeed, viewed by the people of Jerusalem as a means of ridding themselves of the sins of the year. So would the crowd, called Babylonians or Alexandrians, pull the goat's hair to make it hasten forth, carrying the burden of sins away with it (Yoma vi. 4, 66b; "Epistle of Barnabas," vii.), and the arrival of the shattered animal at the bottom of the valley of the rock of Bet Ḥadudo, twelve miles away from the city, was signalized by the waving of shawls to the people of Jerusalem, who celebrated the event with boisterous hilarity and amid dancing on the hills (Yoma vi. 6, 8; Ta'an. iv. 8). Evidently the figure of Azazel was an object of general fear and awe rather than, as has been conjectured, a foreign product or the invention of a late lawgiver. More as a demon of the desert, it seems to have been closely interwoven with the mountainous region of Jerusalem.
In Christianity
Latin Bible
The
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
contains no mention of "Azazel" but only of
caper emissarius, or "emissary goat", apparently reading עז אזל ''goat which leaves'':
English versions, such as the
King James Version
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
, followed the Septuagint and Vulgate in understanding the term as relating to a goat. The modern
English Standard Version
The English Standard Version (ESV) is an English translation of the Bible. Published in 2001 by Crossway, the ESV was "created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors." The ESV relies on recently published critic ...
provides the footnote "16:8 The meaning of Azazel is uncertain; possibly the name of a place or a demon, traditionally a scapegoat; also verses 10, 26". Most scholars accept the indication of some kind of demon or deity, however Judit M. Blair notes that this is an argument without supporting contemporary text evidence.
Ida Zatelli (1998) has suggested that the Hebrew ritual parallels pagan practice of sending a scapegoat into the desert on the occasion of a royal wedding found in two ritual texts in archives at
Ebla
Ebla ( Sumerian: ''eb₂-la'', ar, إبلا, modern: , Tell Mardikh) was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center t ...
(24th C. BC). A she-goat with a silver bracelet hung from her neck was driven forth into the wasteland of 'Alini' by the community. There is no mention of an "Azazel".
According to ''The Expositor's Bible Commentary'', Azazel is the Hebrew word for scapegoat. This is the only place that the Hebrew word is found in the whole Hebrew Old Testament. It says that the Book of Enoch, (extra-biblical Jewish theological literature, dated around 200 B.C.) is full of demonology and reference to fallen angels. The EBC (Vol 2) says that this text uses late Aramaic forms for these names which indicates that The Book of Enoch most likely relies upon the Hebrew Leviticus text rather than the Leviticus text being reliant upon the Book of Enoch.
Christian commentators
Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...
("Contra Celsum," vi. 43) identifies Azazel with Satan.
In Mandaeism
Azazel is occasionally mentioned as ''Azaziʿil'' in
Mandaean scriptures
This article contains a list of Mandaean texts (Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic). Well-known texts include the ''Ginza Rabba'' (also known as the ''Sidra Rabbā'') and the '' Qolastā''. Texts for Mandaean priests include ...
. In the ''
Right Ginza
The Right Ginza is one of the two parts of the Ginza Rabba, the longest and the most important holy scripture of Mandaeism. The other part of the Ginza Rabba is the Left Ginza.
Summaries of each book (or tractate), based mostly on Häberl (2007 ...
'', Azaziʿil is the name of an
uthra (celestial being or angel).
In Islam
In Islam, Azazel appears in relation to the story of
Harut and Marut
Harut and Marut ( ar, هَارُوْت وَمَارُوْت, Hārūt wa-Mārūt) are two angels mentioned in Quran 2:102, who are said to have been located in Babylon. According to some narratives, those two angels were in the time of Idris. The ...
, a pair of angels mentioned in the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
. Although not explained by the Quran itself, Muslim exegetes, such as
Al-Kalbi and
Al-Tha`labi
Al-Tha''ʿ''labi (''Abū Isḥāḳ Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nīsābūrī al-Thaʿlabī'' ; died November 1035) was an eleventh-century Islamic scholar of Persian origin.
He was accorded a high rank by Sunni scholars. In ''Tabaqa ...
, usually linked the reason of their abode to a narration related to the Watchers known from 3 Enoch. Just as in 3 Enoch, angels complained about humans iniquity, whereupon God offered a test, that the angels might choose three among them to descend to earth, endowed with bodily desires, and prove that they would do better than humans under the same conditions. Accordingly, they choose Aza, Azzaya and Azazel. However, Azazel repented his decision and God allowed him to turn back to heaven. The other two angels failed the test and their names were changed to Harut and Marut. They ended up on earth, introducing men to illicit magic.
Apocrypha
Enochic literature
In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the name Azazel occurs in the line 6 of 4Q203, ''
The Book of Giants
The ''Book of Giants'' is an apocryphal Jewish book which expands upon the Book of Genesis, Genesis narrative of the Hebrew Bible, in a similar manner to the Book of Enoch. Together with this latter work, the ''Book of Giants'' "stands as an atte ...
'', which is a part of the
Enochic literature found at
Qumran. Despite the expectation of Brandt (1889) to date no evidence has surfaced of Azazel as a demon or god prior to the earliest Jewish sources among the
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
.
The
Book of Enoch brings Azazel into connection with the Biblical story of the
fall of the angels
In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said R ...
, located on
Mount Hermon, a gathering-place of
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...
s of old. Here, Azazel is one of the leaders of the rebellious
Watchers in the time preceding
the Flood; he taught men the art of warfare, of making swords, knives, shields, and coats of mail, and taught women the art of deception by ornamenting the body, dyeing the hair, and painting the face and the eyebrows, and also revealed to the people the secrets of witchcraft and corrupted their manners, leading them into wickedness and impurity until at last he was, at Yahweh's command, bound hand and foot by the
archangel Raphael and chained to the rough and jagged rocks of
aDudael Dudael ( Heb. דּוּדָאֵל, compd. of ''dud'' דּוּד "kettle", "cauldron", "pot" + '' El'' אֵל "deity", "divinity" — lit. "cauldron of God") is the place of imprisonment for Azazel (one of the "fallen" angels), cohort of Samyaza. It i ...
(= Beth Ḥadudo), where he is to abide in utter darkness until the great
Day of Judgment, when he will be cast into the fire to be consumed forever.
![Azazel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Azazel.jpg)
According to the Book of Enoch, Azazel (here spelled ''‘ăzā’zyēl'') was one of the chief Grigori, a group of fallen angels who married women. Many believe that this same story (without any mention of Azazel) is told in the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
6:2–4:
These "sons of God" have often been thought of as fallen angels, and are sometimes equated with the
Nephilim
The Nephilim (; ''Nəfīlīm'') are mysterious beings or people in the Hebrew Bible who are large and strong. The word ''Nephilim'' is loosely translated as ''giants'' in some translations of the Hebrew Bible, but left untranslated in others. ...
. (On the other hand, it has also been argued that the phrase refers only to pious men, or else that it should be translated "sons of the rulers".)
Enoch portrays Azazel as responsible for teaching people to make
weapons
A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...
and
cosmetics
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
, for which he was cast out of heaven. The Book of Enoch 8:1–3a reads, "And Azazel taught men to make swords and knives and shields and breastplates; and made known to them the metals
f the earth
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
and the art of working them; and bracelets and ornaments; and the use of antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids; and all kinds of costly stones and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed
fornication
Fornication is generally consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. When one or more of the partners having consensual sexual intercourse is married to another person, it is called adultery. Nonetheless, John ...
, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways." The corruption brought on by Azazel and the Grigori degrades the human race, and the four
archangel
Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...
s (
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
,
Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
, Raphael, and
Uriel
Uriel or Auriel ( he, אוּרִיאֵל ''ʾŪrīʾēl'', " El/God is my flame"; el, Οὐριήλ ''Oúriēl''; cop, ⲟⲩⲣⲓⲏⲗ ''Ouriēl''; it, Uriele; Geʽez and Amharic: or ) is the name of one of the archangels who is mentio ...
) “saw much blood being shed upon the earth and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth
The souls of men
ade
Ade, Adé, or ADE may refer to:
Aeronautics
*Ada Air's ICAO code
*Aden International Airport's IATA code
*Aeronautical Development Establishment, a laboratory of the DRDO in India
Medical
* Adverse Drug Event
*Antibody-dependent enhancement
*ADE ...
their suit, saying, "Bring our cause before the Most High;
Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were in heaven, which men were striving to learn." God sees the sin brought about by Azazel and has Raphael “bind Azazel hand and foot and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert – which is in Dudael – and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there forever, and cover his face that he may not see light.” Azazel's fate is foretold near the end of Enoch 2:8, where God says, “On the day of
the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire.” He will be delivered to the
angels of punishments (Satan).
Several scholars have previously discerned that some details of Azazel's punishment are reminiscent of the scapegoat rite. Thus, Lester Grabbe points to a number of parallels between the Azazel narrative in Enoch and the wording of Leviticus 16, including "the similarity of the names Asael and Azazel; the punishment in the desert; the placing of sin on Asael/Azazel; the resultant healing of the land."
[Andrei Orlov (2009),]
Azazel as the Celestial Scapegoat
. An excerpt (pp. 79-111) from his contribution "The Eschatological Yom Kippur in the Apocalypse of Abraham: Part I: The Scapegoat Ritual" to A. Orlov and B. Lourié, eds., ''Symbola Caelestis. Le symbolisme liturgique et paraliturgique dans le monde Chrétien''. Daniel Stökl also observes that "the punishment of the demon resembles the treatment of the goat in aspects of geography, action, time and purpose."
[ Thus, the place of Asael's punishment designated in Enoch as Dudael is reminiscent of the rabbinic terminology used for the designation of the ravine of the scapegoat in later rabbinic interpretations of the Yom Kippur ritual. Stökl remarks that "the name of place of judgment (''Dudael'') is conspicuously similar in both traditions and can likely be traced to a common origin."][
Azazel in 1 Enoch has been compared to Greek ]Titan
Titan most often refers to:
* Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn
* Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology
Titan or Titans may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Fictional entities
Fictional locations
* Titan in fiction, fictiona ...
Prometheus. He might be a demonized counterpart of a heavenly creature, who provided knowledge for people to make weapons, thus causing bloodshed and injustice. The latter might be identified with Greek kings and generals, who suppressed the Jews with military forces, but learned how to make their weapons by this specific expelled creature.[George W. E. Nickelsburg. ''Apocalyptic and Myth in 1 Enoch 6-11.'' Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 96, no. 3, 1977, pp. 383–405]
In the fifth-century 3 Enoch
The Third Book of Enoch ( he, ספר חנוך לר׳ ישמעאל כ׳׳ג , abbreviated as 3 Enoch) is a Biblical apocryphal book in Hebrew. 3 Enoch purports to have been written in the 2nd century, but its origins can only be traced to the 5th c ...
, Azazel is one of the three angels (Azza hemhazaiand Uzza uza Uza may refer to:
;Places
* Uza, Landes, a village in the department of Landes in France
*Uza, Israel, a moshav in Israel
*Horvat Uza (Uza ruins), archaeological site in the Negev desert, Israel
* Horbat 'Uza (Uza ruins), archaeological site east of ...
are the other two) who opposed Enoch's high rank when he became the angel Metatron. Whilst they were fallen at this time they were still in Heaven, but Metatron held a dislike for them, and had them cast out.
In the Apocalypse of Abraham
In the extra-canonical
A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible.
The English word ''canon'' comes from the Ancient Greek, Greek , meaning "ruler, rule" or "measu ...
text the Apocalypse of Abraham (c.1st CE), Azazel appears as an unclean bird who came down upon the sacrifice which Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
prepared. (This is in reference to Genesis 15:11: "Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away" NIV">span style="font-variant:small-caps">NIV">NIV.html" ;"title="span style="font-variant:small-caps">NIV">span style="font-variant:small-caps"> .
The text also associates Azazel with Serpent (symbolism)#Judaic and Christian symbolism">the serpent and hell">NIV.
The text also associates Azazel with Serpent (symbolism)#Judaic and Christian symbolism">the serpent and hell. In Chapter 23, verse 7, it is described as having seven heads, 14 faces, "hands and feet like a man's [and] on his back six wings on the right and six on the left."
Abraham says that the wicked will "putrefy in the belly of the crafty worm Azazel, and be burned by the fire of Azazel's tongue" (Abr. 31:5), and earlier says to Azazel himself, "May you be the firebrand of the furnace of the earth! Go, Azazel, into the untrodden parts of the earth. For your heritage is over those who are with you" (Abr. 14:5–6).
Here there is the idea that God's heritage (the created world) is largely under the dominion of evil – i.e., it is "shared with Azazel" (Abr. 20:5), again identifying him with the devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
, who was called "the prince of this world" by Jesus. ( niv)
See also
* Azazel (Marvel Comics)
* Azazel in popular culture
Azazel, a demon from Jewish mythology, has been developed into characters in popular culture.
Books
*Robertson Davies introduces Azazel and Samahazai as rebel angels in the first book of his Cornish Trilogy, The Rebel Angels. They are said to ...
* Baphomet
* Capricorn (astrology)
* Dudael Dudael ( Heb. דּוּדָאֵל, compd. of ''dud'' דּוּד "kettle", "cauldron", "pot" + '' El'' אֵל "deity", "divinity" — lit. "cauldron of God") is the place of imprisonment for Azazel (one of the "fallen" angels), cohort of Samyaza. It i ...
* Enki
, image = Enki(Ea).jpg
, caption = Detail of Enki from the Adda Seal, an ancient Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC
, deity_of = God of creation, intelligence, crafts, water, seawater, lakewater, fertility, semen, magic, mischief
...
* Lucifer
* '' The Master and Margarita''
* Palorchestes azael (Australian large extinct marsupial)
* Samael
* Samyaza
Samyaza ( he, שמחזי; arc, שמיחזה; el, Σεμιαζά; ar, ساميارس, '), also Shemhazai, Azza, Uzza, or Ouza, is a fallen angel of apocryphal Abrahamic traditions and Manichaeism who ranked in the heavenly hierarchy as the leade ...
* Scapegoat
In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...
* Watcher (angel)
Watcher is a type of biblical angel. The word occurs in both plural and singular forms in the Book of Daniel (4th–2nd century BC), where reference is made to the holiness of the beings. The apocryphal Books of Enoch (2nd–1st centuries BC) r ...
* Zazel (spirit) Zȃzȇl ( he, זאזל, Zazl) The darker spirit ( demon) of Saturn, mentioned as a spirit in such works as the '' Key of Solomon''. As it says on the 10th Plate: "The First Pentacle of Mercury.--It serveth to invoke the Spirits who are under the Fi ...
* ''Zazel Zazel may refer to:
* Zazel (spirit), a spirit of Saturn in magic
* Zazel, stage name of English circus performer Rossa Matilda Richter (1860–1937)
Characters
* Zazel, a character in the poem ''Tiriel''
* Zazel Pierce, a character in the film ''Q ...
'' (erotic art
Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any Work of art, artistic work intended to evoke Sexual arousal, erotic arousal. It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity, and has included works in various visual mediums, ...
film 1997)
References
{{Hell
Angels in Islam
Book of Leviticus
Demons in the Old Testament apocrypha
Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible
Hell (Christianity)
Javanese folklore
Jewish underworld
Watchers (angels)
Yom Kippur
Devils
Fallen angels
Animals in the Bible
Goats
Uthras