Azazel is a great fallen angel and demon of Jewish lore: the leader (with Semyaza) of the fallen Watchers who descended to corrupt humankind, the teacher of forbidden arts, and above all the dread figure of the wilderness to whom the “scapegoat” was sent on the Day of Atonement — the demon of the desert who bears away the sins of Israel. He is one of the most ancient and resonant of the dark beings.
The Scapegoat of Atonement
Azazel’s most ancient appearance is in the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) in the Book of Leviticus. On that day, two goats were chosen: one was sacrificed to the Lord, and the other — the “scapegoat” — had the sins of all Israel confessed over it and was then sent away into the wilderness “for Azazel,” bearing away the people’s sins into the desert. Azazel, in this rite, is the dread power of the wilderness — a desert-demon or fallen being to whom the sin-laden goat is dispatched, the embodiment of the wild, impure realm to which sin is banished. (The English word “scapegoat” derives from this ritual.)
The Fallen Watcher
In the Book of Enoch, Azazel is one of the chief of the fallen Watchers (the Grigori — Hebrew realm) who, with Semyaza, descended to take mortal wives and corrupt the earth. Azazel’s particular sin was teaching humankind forbidden knowledge: the making of swords, knives, and weapons of war; the working of metals; and the arts of cosmetics, jewelry, and seduction — so that violence, vanity, and corruption spread among humankind. For loosing these evils upon the world, Azazel was singled out for a special doom: the archangel Raphael was sent to bind him hand and foot and cast him into a pit of darkness in the desert, there to remain until the final judgment, when he will be cast into the fire. Upon Azazel, the Book of Enoch says, “ascribe all sin.”
The Demon of the Wilderness
Azazel thus unites two great roles: the desert-demon of the scapegoat ritual, who bears away the sins of the people; and the chief fallen angel who taught humankind the arts of war and corruption and was bound in the desert pit for his crimes. In later demonology he became a prince of demons and a figure of the infernal hierarchy. A being of ancient and profound resonance, Azazel embodies sin, the wilderness, and the fallen angel. In Azazel, Jewish lore gave form to the demon of the wilderness and the fallen Watcher — the dread power to whom the scapegoat bears the sins of Israel, the chief fallen angel who taught humankind the arts of war and was bound in the desert pit, the great demon upon whom all sin is laid.