Qn on Leviticus

[lucky_boi]

Hello!

My lenten penance was to read the bible, and i’ve progressed from finishing the NT to starting the OT. I’ve realised that there’s alot of culture and customs in the OT which i don’t really understand, and God depicted in the OT seems really different from Jesus in the NT. I guess the emphasis is on different themes.

Anyway, I’ve a question on Leviticus 16:8-10.

He (Aaron) is to draw lots for the two goats and allot one to Yahweh and the other to Azazel. Aaron is to offer up the goat whose lot was marked “For Yahweh”, and offer it as a sacrifice for sin. The goat whose lot was marked “For Azazel” shall be set before Yahweh, still alive, to perform the rite of atonement over it, sending it out into the desert to Azazel.

What does this passage mean? Isn’t Azazel a demon? I’m confused. Why must one goat be sent out to Azazel?

Thanks in advance.

 

[praise_Jesus_1]

I haven’t heard of this before so I just gave it a quick look on Wikipedia you can see the link here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azazel

If you go down to the part on Personification of Impurity it explains what was happening a bit more clearly.

This act was seen by the people as ridding themselves of the sins of the year.

to quote from the Wikipedia article:

“Far from involving the recognition of Azazel as a deity, the sending of the goat was, as stated by Nachmanides, a symbolic expression of the idea that the people’s sins and their evil consequences were to be sent back to the spirit of desolation and ruin, the source of all impurity”

also check out this link that talks about the day of atonement from the Catholic Encyclopedia. It includes the reference to Azazel as well:

newadvent.org/cathen/02054a.htm

 

[lucky_boi]

I’m still struggling with the passage, but your links have clarified the context. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Tyuiop411]

I haven’t heard of this before so I just gave it a quick look on Wikipedia you can see the link here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azazel

If you go down to the part on Personification of Impurity it explains what was happening a bit more clearly.

This act was seen by the people as ridding themselves of the sins of the year.

to quote from the Wikipedia article:

“Far from involving the recognition of Azazel as a deity, the sending of the goat was, as stated by Nachmanides, a symbolic expression of the idea that the people’s sins and their evil consequences were to be sent back to the spirit of desolation and ruin, the source of all impurity”

also check out this link that talks about the day of atonement from the Catholic Encyclopedia. It includes the reference to Azazel as well:

newadvent.org/cathen/02054a.htm

I don’t know if he could of made the meaning of the passage more clear. It was a ceremony where they sacrificed one goat to Yahweh and sent the other backt to “Azazel” AKA Satan and this entire ceremony was supposed to purify them of the sins they had committed that year.

 

[LilyM]

There’s a passage in one of St Paul’s epistles where he talks about a couple of disruptive and unrepentant sinners and says that he ‘gave them up to Satan’ or very similar.

This and the passage in the OT don’t literally mean that they are being offered as a sacrifice of worship to the Devil or demons in the manner that one would worship a deity. Instead, as a previous poster said, they are being sent to the source or originator of sin and evil.

 

[NotWorthy]

I got this from AgapeBibleStudy.Com. You can read more about this on their study of Hebrews.

When he has made atonement for himself and his household, as well as for the whole Israelite community, he shall come out to the altar before the LORD and make atonement of it also. Taking some of the bullock’s and the goat’s blood, he shall put it on the horns around the altar, and with his finger sprinkle some of the blood on it seven times. Thus he shall render it clean and holy, purged of the defilements of the IsraelitesLeviticus 16:17B-19].

On the Day of Atonement lots were cast over the two goats to determine which sacrifice was for Yahweh and which for the azazel Leviticus 16:8, 10, 20, 26]. The High Priest then confessed the sins of the people as he laid his hands upon this animal which was intended to carry the sins of the people away as it was led out into the wilderness to go to its doom Leviticus 16:21]. The etymology of the word azazel is unknown nor is it explained in the text [see http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/leviticus/leviticus16.htm#v8”]Leviticus 16:8

, 9, 10, 26 where this word is used in the literal text]. In the opinion of some scholars it is the name of a desert demon—perhaps the one who tempted the Israelites to make the Golden Calf while other scholars suggest the word translates as “precipice”—the goat being thrown off a precipice to its death in the wilderness. After the priest laid his hands upon the live goat and confessed the sins of the people it was then led out into the wilderness, Since the goat is to carry off their iniquities to an isolated region, it must be sent away into the desertLeviticus 16:27], where it would be pushed over a cliff to its death by a Levitical priest. Thus the people, the priests and the sanctuary Leviticus 16:16] were cleansed of defilement, atonement was made and fellowship with God reestablished for a covenant people, but unlike the other blood sacrifices, the bodies of the sacrificed animals were to be burned outside the Sanctuary—outside the camp of Israel: The sin-offering bullock and goat whose blood was brought into the sanctuary to make atonement, shall be taken outside the camp, where their hides and flesh and offal shall be burned up in the fireLeviticus 16:27]. This practice was unique to the Day of Atonement and was unlike any of the other animal blood sacrifices which were offered up on the great Bronze Sacrificial Altar and either burned entirely [holocaust offering and Tamid offering] or eaten in a sacred meal after the blood was poured out at the foot of the Altar and the fat burned [communion sacrifices and the Passover sacrifice were eaten by the offerer and his family and friends].

**Question: **The city of Jerusalem was considered to be “the camp of Yahweh.” Where was the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, consumed on the altar of the Cross which became for us the Mercy Seat of God the Son? See John 19:17-21; Hebrews 13:11-12
http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/hebrews/hebrews13.htm#v11

Answer: He was sacrificed outside the city walls from which the Jews standing on the city walls could read the inscription “The King of the Jews.”

On the Day of Atonement, sacrifices of atonement were made for the collective sins of the people: This atonement is to be made by the priest who has been anointed and ordained to the priesthood in succession to his father. He shall wear the linen garments, the sacred vestments, and make atonement for the sacred sanctuary, the meeting tent and the altar, as well as for the priests and all the people of the community. This, then, shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: once a year atonement shall be made for all the sins of the IsraelitesLeviticus 16:32-34]. Atonement means “at-one-ment” or “bringing together” in English and in Hebrew kapper, “to cover” or “to conceal.” Atonement includes the concepts of expiation for sin and the reconciliation of man with God. In the Old Covenant this “covering” was accomplished by covering or concealing the offense of sin and thereby removing the obstacle to reconciliation by the application of the blood of the sacrificial victim: Since the life of a living body is in its blood, I have made you put it on the altar, so that atonement may thereby be made for your own lives, because it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonementLeviticus 17:11].

 

[COPLAND_3]

Azazel should not be understood as a proper name, but as the Greek Septuagint translators correctly interpreted it, it means ἀποπομπαίος in Greek, which is “scape-goat.” This is how other early translators understood it as well as Church Fathers who knew Greek and Hebrew. As St. Cyril of Alexandria says, it is unthinkable that they should venerate a demon.

Tertullian interprets it this way

If I may offer, moreover, an interpretation of the two goats which were presented on the great day of atonement, do they not also figure the two natures of Christ? They were of like size, and very similar in appearance, owing to the Lord’s identity of aspect; because He is not to come in any other form, having to be recognised by those by whom He was also wounded and pierced. One of these goats was bound with scarlet, and driven by the people out of the camp into the wilderness, amid cursing, and spitting, and pulling, and piercing, being thus marked with all the signs of the Lord’s own passion; while the other, by being offered up for sins, and given to the priests of the temple for meat, afforded proofs of His second appearance, when (after all sins have been expiated) the priests of the spiritual temple, that is, the church, are to enjoy the flesh, as it were, of the Lord’s own grace, while the residue go away from salvation without tasting it. Against Marcian 3.7

Also I would like to add a comment by Theodoret of Cyrus

I will however mention the sacrifice in which two goats were offered, the one being slain and the other let go. In these two goats there is an anticipative image of the two natures of the Savior; in the one let go, of the impassible Godhead, in the one slain, of the passible manhood. Dialogue 3

 

[COPLAND_3]

By the way, here is the way the passage should be translated, that is, from the Greek Septuagint

8 and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scape-goat. 9 And Aaron shall bring forward the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and shall offer him for a sin-offering. 10 and the goat upon which the lot of the scape-goat came, he shall present alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon him, so as to send him away as a scape-goat, and he shall send him into the wilderness.

 

[BerhaneSelassie]

Azazel is a demon in Jewish tradition, this is not necessarily the case. The popular Jewish origin of the word Azazel is a contraction of “Azaz” (rugged/hard) and “el” (strong). which is believed to be a reference to the Jewish tradition that says the goat was pushed off a cliff of a rugged mountain.