AZAZEL ə zā’ zəl (עֲזָאזֵֽל). Three times in the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:8, 10, 26) reference is made to one of two goats being consigned to Azazel. Uncertainty still attaches to its origin and significance. Three possible interpretations have been advanced: (1) It is equivalent to a proper name of the goat itself, meaning “the goat that departs,” i.e. its traditional meaning of scapegoat (KJV). This is inadmissible since the goat was released to or for Azazel. (2) The rabbinic view was that it designated the area to which the goat was released as a rugged or desolate place. However, the parallelism of v. 8 virtually demanded a personal name in apposition to “the Lord.” (3) Most scholars accept that Azazel is the leader of the evil spirits of the wilderness, possibly to be identified with “demons” (Deut 32:17; Ps 106:37) and “satyrs” (2 Chron 11:15). In 1 Enoch Azazel appears at the head of the rebel angels.

The significance of the act depends on the provenance of the Day of Atonement. Critical scholarship sets this in the postexilic period, while allowing that it developed various ancient rites, including the offering of a scapegoat to Azazel. However, it is unlikely that the Jews in the exilic period would have deliberately introduced a specifically pagan concept. Moreover, the view of a late date for the Day of Atonement has been seriously weakened by archeological discoveries in Babylonia and Ugarit, which show that there were rituals connected with the New Year festivals analagous to the Day of Atonement. The consigning of a goat to Azazel was prob. one of many features adapted from contemporary cultic life in the Mosaic period and incorporated into the Israelite cultus, receiving an entirely different significance in the process. Leviticus 17:7 precludes the view that the goat provided a sacrifice for Azazel; in all likelihood this custom meant no more than a symbolic transfer of sin from the realm of society into that of death.

Bibliography N. Micklem, Leviticus IB II (1953), 77-84; W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity, 2nd ed. (1957), 329; R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (1961), 507-510; J. Gray, The Canaanites (1964), 137, 138.