Leviticus 16:1-18:30
(In a regular year, read with Parashah 30; in a leap year read separately.)
“Adonai spoke with Moshe after the death of Aharon’s two sons, when they tried to sacrifice before Adonai and died; Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell your brother Aharon not to come at just any time into the Holy Place beyond the curtain, in front of the ark-cover which is on the ark, so that he will not die; because I appear in the cloud over the ark-cover’”(Leviticus 16:1).
Excerpt:
The Scapegoat or Az’azel
“No longer will they offer sacrifices to the goat-demons, before whom they prostitute themselves” (Leviticus 17:7).
In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the name Az’azel is found in the Book of the Giants, a section of the Book of Enoch that describes the activities of the fallen angels during the ‘days of Noach.’ According to the book, Az’azel was one of the leaders of the rebellious ‘Watchers’ who had sexual relations with human women (Genesis 6:24).
Az’azel taught human men the art of warfare: making swords, knives, shields, and coats of mail. He taught human women the art of deception through ornamenting the body: dying the hair and painting the face and eyebrows with cosmetics. He also revealed to both men and women the secrets of witchcraft leading them into wickedness and impurity (1 Enoch 8:1–3a).
The corruption brought on by Az’azel defiled the human race until all flesh, including human bloodlines, was corrupt except for Noach and his family. The four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Phanuel, “saw much blood being shed upon the earth and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth…. The souls of men [made] their suit, saying, ‘Bring our cause before the Most High…. Thou seest what Az’azel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were in heaven, which men were striving to learn’” (1 Enoch 9:1-4).
Elohim sees the sin brought about by Az’azel and has Raphael “bind Az’azel hand and foot and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert – which is in Dudael – and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there forever, and cover his face that he may not see light”(1 Enoch 10:6).
“And the angels that did not keep within their original authority, but abandoned their proper sphere, he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for the Judgment of the Great Day” (Jude 6).
Az’azel means ‘scapegoat’ and ‘rugged and strong’ referring to the cliff from which it would fall and die. Some commentary suggests Az’azel, the most mysterious being in sacred writings, was not just a supernatural being, but second in command to the Adversary. In the regulations for Yom Kippur, the ‘scapegoat’ is given the task of removing the wickedness and impurity brought about by a fallen angel named Az’azel.
“The whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Az’azel: to him ascribe all sin” (1 Enoch 10:8).
There is no mention in Scripture that the Israelites ever sacrificed to goat-demons, only to the ‘god’ of the golden calf. However, Adonai is preparing them to enter and conquer the Promised Land from giants, the descendants of the Nephilim, who may themselves worship ‘goat-demons.’
Hebrew Word Pictures
Scapegoat or Az’azel – עזאזל – ayin, zayin, alef, zayin, lamed
– understand the division of the first strength, the division that urges forward
A tradition developed with the scarlet woolen thread placed on a rock before taking the goat into the desert. After the Temple was built, the scarlet thread was tied on the door of the Temple. When the thread supernaturally turned white, the priests and the people of Isra’el would breathe a sign of relief: the goat had shed his blood and their wickedness had been removed.
The Talmud records that during the 40 years that Simon the Just was high priest, the thread on the rock actually turned white as soon as the goat was thrown over the precipice: a sign that the sins of the people were forgiven. In later times, the change to white was not invariable: a proof of the people’s moral and spiritual deterioration was gradually on the increase, until 40 years before the destruction of the Second Temple when the change of color was no longer observed.
Selah
The scarlet thread represents the blood of the High Priest who made atonement for sin in 30 CE.
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