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AZAZEL*
Hebrew term of uncertain origin and meaning, occurring in Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26. Since biblical or extrabiblical information is lacking, the meaning of Azazel has been interpreted in at least four ways:
1. Scapegoat. Some have thought the word refers to the scapegoat used in the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement. That interpretation is unlikely because verses 10 and 26 state that the goat was sent for and to Azazel (rsv).
2. Place to which the goat was sent. This is the view of many Jewish scholars, who attempt to support it by connecting the word “Azazel” with a high and rugged cliff from which the goat was thrown. Others regard the word as meaning “desert places.”
3. Abstract “place” or state of being. Some believe Azazel comes from a Hebrew word meaning “depart” or “remove,” and thus interpret it as “utter removal,” “complete sending away,” or “solitude.” That the goat “may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel” (v 10) may be interpreted as “sent into a realm of being (or nonbeing) that is utterly removed.” This possibility strengthens the idea of removal of sins: they become “nothing,” since they are totally removed. Sending the goat away would then be a symbolic and ritual act through which God annihilates or removes one’s past sins.
4. Personal name of a being, most likely a demon, to which the scapegoat was sent. Many modern scholars adopt this interpretation. Some support is found in the noncanonical book of Enoch, where Azazel appears as a ringleader of fallen angels who mislead mankind. Such a being would be an evil spirit to whom the sins of the people belong. Thus one goat is given to the Lord, the other to an evil being. Some have conjectured that that being was Satan himself.