Azazel the Scapegoat

[Michael V. Frazier]

Question Received - Aug. 26, 2009
I would like to ask you a question. . . . In the following verses, do you have any idea why Azazel was changed to scapegoat?

Leviticus 16:8-10: "8and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord, and offer it as a sin offering; 10but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel."



REPLIED - Aug. 26, 2009
I believe you're referring to the translators of the KJV. Please keep in mind that the "full" KJV has marginal notes which the translators included in order to ensure utmost accuracy in the text. Most modern KJV bibles regrettably do not include these marginal notes at all. In the text you are referencing at Lev. 16:8, the marginal note reads "Heb. Azazel" for the word scapegoat. So, in one perspective, they didn't change the word.

Also, I'm sure you're aware, azazel is a compound Hebrew/Aramaic word: az (goat) + azal (to go away). But this translation may stem from the Greek translation of the Hebrew. Ancient rabbinical traditions interpreted azazel differently. They read azal for "rugged" and el for "strong," and thereby understood the word to refer to a rugged mountain cliff, from which the goat was pushed.

According to the Jewish Mishnah Yoma 4:1, one lot was inscribed "L-YHWH" (for the LORD) or "La-Shem" (for the NAME), and the other was inscribed "La `Azazel" (for the goat of departure). Yoma 6:2-6 indicates that the man who delivered the goat to the "uninhabited place" or "isolated place" (i.e. the desert) would push the goat over a cliff backwards. Yet this may have only been to prevent the goat from returning to any inhabited place laden with the sins placed upon it.

Many modern Jewish scholars have accepted the opinion suggested by Ibn Ezra and Nahmanides that Azazel belongs to a class of se'irim, goat-demons haunting the desert, where Lev. 17:7 may allude the Israelites were desirous to offer sacrifices [KJV "devils," Heb. se'irim (goat), from where we may derive(?) the word satyr]. They both interpreted Azazel as the name of the goat. This view is also expressed in the Jewish Talmud: "The school of Rabbi Ishmael explained it is called Azazel because it atones for the acts of the fallen angels Uzza and Azazel" (referring to 1 Enoch in relation to Gen. 6:1-4; 8:1-2).