Azazel

Biblical Text

Azazel occurs only in Leviticus 16. This chapter sets out the duties of the high priest on the annual Day of Atonement.

• Casting lots: Aaron sets two male goats before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and casts lots over them, one lot "for the LORD" and the other for Azazel (rendered in the KJV as "for the scapegoat") (Leviticus 16:8).
• The two goats: The goat on which the LORD's lot falls is slain as a sin offering. The goat on which Azazel's lot falls is presented alive before the LORD and then sent away into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:9–10).
• Transfer of sin: The high priest lays both hands on the head of the live goat and confesses over it all the iniquities and transgressions of the children of Israel. He puts these sins on the goat's head and sends it into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task. The goat bears the people's iniquities into "a land not inhabited" (Leviticus 16:21–22).
• Purification requirement: The man who releases the goat must wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water before he may return to the camp (Leviticus 16:26).

The Word and Its Background

The Hebrew word is ʿazazel, and its precise meaning remains unsettled among scholars. The principal views are as follows.

• "The goat that departs": This view takes the word as a compound of "goat" and "to go away." The Septuagint rendered it with a term meaning "that which is sent away," and the Vulgate translated it as "the goat that is sent out." The English term "scapegoat" continues this tradition.
• A place name: This view holds that the word refers to a rugged place in the wilderness or a remote region.
• The name of an evil spirit of the wilderness: Because the text sets "for the LORD" and "for Azazel" side by side, this view reads the word as the name of a personal being. Even on this reading, the goat is understood not as an offering made to that being but as a symbol of sin being sent back to him. In the Jewish pseudepigraphal Book of Enoch, Azazel appears as one of the leaders of the fallen angels.

Traditions not found in the biblical text have also been handed down. The Mishnah, a later Jewish work, records that during the Second Temple period the goat was pushed off a cliff. The text of Leviticus states only that the goat is "sent" into the wilderness.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The New Testament does not use the word Azazel. However, Hebrews 9–10 explains the Day of Atonement sacrifices in comparison with Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. Many Christian interpreters read the two goats as a picture of two aspects of a single atonement: the slain goat represents death as the penalty for sin, and the goat sent away represents the removal of sin far away. Passages commonly cited in support of this reading include the following:

• Isaiah 53:4–6: the Song of the Suffering Servant, which declares that "the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all"
• John 1:29: "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world"
• Psalm 103:11–12: the confession that "as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us"

Interpretations and Points of Debate

Most Protestant denominations read the Azazel goat as a foreshadowing of Christ's work of atonement, particularly his taking away of sin.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church interprets it differently. Drawing on the writings of Ellen G. White, the church teaches that the Azazel goat symbolizes Satan. In this view, the Azazel goat is not an agent of atonement but the one who is finally made to bear responsibility for causing sin. Theologians of other denominations criticize this interpretation as appearing to assign Satan a role in the atonement. In response, the church maintains that atonement was accomplished by Christ alone and that Satan bears only his own responsibility.

In the Korean Church

The New Korean Revised Version transliterates the Hebrew term as "Asasel." In preaching and Bible study, the expression "the Azazel goat" frequently comes up in explanations of the Day of Atonement, where it is usually presented as a type of Christ bearing away sin.