Aron Pinker, "A Goat to Go to Azazel"

Abstract:

Significant evidence suggests that biblical עזאזל was originally the homophone עזזאל “Powerful God,” whose abode on earth was in the desert. The ritual described in Lev 16:5-26 was to the same God, potentially being at two locations -- the Temple or the desert, and identified as יהוה and עזזאל respectively. On the unique Day of Atonement God (as יהוה and עזזאל) was approached at both locations. In later times, God’s abode in the Temple or Jerusalem completely displaced God’s desert abode, relegating it to evil forces as was the belief in Near-Eastern cultures. In this process עזזאל, or a derivative of this name, became a satanic figure.

Those who wish to access this article directly may go to http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/abstracts-articles.html#A69

A review on Bergen, Wesley J., Reading Ritual: Leviticus in Postmodern Culture (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplements, 417; London/New York: T & T Clark International, 2005) by Bernon P. Lee has also been published recently. To access the review directly, please go to http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/reviews/reviews_vol.html