Azazel in Early Jewish Tradition

The term" Azazel," which appears four times in the prescriptions for the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:8, 10, 26), has elicited much debate. Although many scholars have identified Azazel with a demonic figure to whom the sin-laden scapegoat was dispatched, the term remains undefined in the biblical text. This article will attempt to demonstrate that two noncanonical Jewish works, 1 Enoch and the Apocalypse of Abraham, reveal a tradition in which Azazel was regarded as a demon, and in which the scapegoat rite was utilized as a symbol of demonic expulsion. Hence it will be argued that a segment of ancient Jewish apocalypticists found a symbol of eschatological victory over demonic forces in the rite involving Azazel and the scapegoat.