We are introduced to Azazel in Leviticus 16:8-10 ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.⁹ And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.¹⁰ But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Azazel (or Azael) is one of the leaders of the angels who desired the daughters of men. In the account of the sons of God and daughters of men (Gen. 6:1–4) in the First Book of Enoch, it was Azazel who taught human beings how to manufacture weapons and ornaments (8:1–2).

Several translations do not translate the word Azazel as scapegoat:

• KJV: And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
• RSV: and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one for the Lord and the other lot for Aza’zel.
• ESV: And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.

Azazel was a demon, he is a deity. He’s a wilderness entity, a god, a deity associated with the wilderness.

AZAZEL (Heb. עֲזָאזֵל), name of the place or the “power” (see below) to which one of the goats in the Temple service of the *Day of Atonement was sent. 

The identification of this Azazel with the biblical Azazel is clear from the continuation of the story, as the angel Raphael is commanded to “bind the hands and feet of Azazel and cast him into the darkness. Make an opening to the wilderness which is in Dudael and cast him there. Put upon him hard sharp rocks” (10:4–5). Dudael is the Bet Hadudo (or Bet Harudo) which is mentioned in the Mishnah (Yoma 6:8) and the association is certainly with the cliff from which the goat was cast.

The remnant of a pesher (commentary) on Azazel and the angels found in Cave 4 at Qumran resembles the account in the Book of Enoch. Although the remnant is deficient, it is possible to learn from it that the pesher is dealing with Azazel and the angels who lusted after the daughters of men so that they might bear them strong men, and that Azazel taught human beings how to deal wickedly.

Azael is also identified with Azazel in several late Midrashim (cf. Yalkut Shimoni, Gen. 44; Jellinek, Beit ha-Midrash, vol. 4, p. 127). Azazel also appears in the Apocalypse of *Abraham where he takes the form of a fallen angel.

This view is reinforced by the widespread belief that the wilderness was the habitat of demons (see Lev. 13:21; 34:14; esp. Lev. 17:7). The demonic identification would indicate that the original purpose of the ritual was to get rid of the impurities by banishing it to its original source.

All the things in the Levitical system that render someone ritually impure are things that are unavoidable in life. They’re not designed to teach the Israelites anything about how awful they are. They’re designed to teach the Israelites, how human they are and how other non-human, how above human God is.

We associate with the day of atonement, because that is the chapter where the, you know, the ritual ceremony is laid out in Leviticus16 in verse eight. Again, we’re familiar with the fact that Aaron is told to pick two goats and cast lots over the two goats. So we’ve got two goats, Aaron cast lots over them. One lot falls on a goat. And then that goat is for the Lord, for Yahweh.

Azazel was a demon, he is a deity. He’s a wilderness entity, a god, a deity associated with the wilderness. He is not Yahweh. The wilderness is his domain. It’s the opposite of Eden.

The wilderness is not the habitation of Yahweh. He is leading the Israelites through the wilderness, to his land. To the land He is giving them. To the new Eden, the land that flows with milk and honey

But while they were in the wilderness, they were given the instructions in Leviticus 16. They have these two goats. One of them is for Yahweh. The other one is for Azazel.

Well, is this a sacrifice like you have, have God like telling the Israelites to sacrifice a goat to a different God? No. If you actually look through and read Leviticus 16, only one of the goats is sacrificed. The goat which was dispatched to Azazel was not a sacrifice since it was not slaughtered.

There’s one goat that is sacrificed to Yahweh. The blood of that goat is applied to the structure of the tabernacle.

Leviticus 16:16  And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. ¹⁷ And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

It’s sprinkled on the mercy seat where the Ark of the covenant is it’s. This is the day of atonement. It actually has nothing to do with the forgiveness of any individual sins.

The blood is never applied to people but with two exceptions:

1. Where blood is applied to people and they have to do with the priesthood sanctifying the priesthood because they will occupy sacred space and perform various rituals to protect Yahweh’s land.
2. To protect sacred space from defilement and allow access to worshipers and people who bring offerings.

The offerings are consistently about purging and cleansing sacred space so that the people are accepted into sacred space, or at least on to some part of sacred space to bring their offering, regardless of whatever kind of offering it is.

So the blood of the one goat is applied to the tabernacle itself. It’s spring cleaning for the tabernacle. It makes it clean for another year. It’s about sacred space. It’s not about people. The blood was never applied to people.

Now, the second goat, what is that? This goat is not sacrificed.

Some have taught that the second goat, the scapegoat was an offering to the god Azazel. But we don’t have an offering sacrificed to some foreign God. What the priest does with it is he lays his hands on the head of the second goat. And he symbolically transfers the sins of the people.

Everything that would defile sacred space, that would be an offense to Yahweh, is transferred to the head of the goat. And then the goat is sent off into the wilderness to Azazel.

Why send the goat to the wilderness? Well, this is where sin belongs. This is where impurity belongs. It doesn’t belong in the camp of Yahweh. It doesn’t belong in sacred space.

Once a year the tabernacle was purified. Through the year, people came and they were often unclean. They had contact with a dead body or with blood, or the other day to day things the law speaks of.

None of those things have to do with moral failure or moral impurities. They’re not sins. They are things that happen to people that render them, ritually, impure, and all the things in the Levitical system that render someone, ritually impure are things that are unavoidable in life.

They’re not designed to teach the Israelites anything about how awful they are. They’re designed to teach the Israelites, how human they are and how above human God is. This is the point. This is the logic of the system.

We’ve sort of read New Testament, forgiveness and sacrifice of Jesus terminology back into the old Testament. And therefore we don’t understand what’s going on here. What we should do is understand what’s going on here and then read that into New Testament material. We do the reverse and it creates a lot of confusion.