| The King of the Abyss and the Unholy Trinity continued Azazel the Scapegoat continued ... 15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, ... and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their un-cleanness. 17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. ... 20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their trans-gressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. As noted above, the name/word Azazel is most commonly translated �scapegoat.� There has long been disagreement among scholars about this word�s use and meaning. The following quote summarizes the primary views: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (1836) reference for Lev.16:8 : ...Azazel, that is, the goat-gone-away. The Hebrew has been supposed by some to be the name of a place... Other learned men think it was the name of the devil, who was worshipped by the heathen in the form of a goat. ... The more probable opinion seems to be, that it was name given to the goat itself, on account of his being let go; from {aiz,} a goat, and {azal,} to depart. The Midrash of Semhazai and Azazel supports the second view above. (In the Jewish Talmud, a Midrash contains ancient lore and commentary about biblical texts.) The Midrash of Semhazai and Azazel: 7 ...Semhazai and Azazel...took to them wives, and begat children. Semhazai begat two children, whose names were Heyya and 'Aheyya. And Azazel was appointed chief over all kinds of dyes and over all kinds of women�s ornaments by which they entice men to unclean thoughts of sin. ... 13 Azazel did not repent. And he is appointed chief over all kinds of dyes which entice man to commit sin and he still continues to corrupt them. 14 Therefore, when the Israelites used to bring sacrifices on the day of atone-ment, they cast one lot for the Lord that it might atone for the iniquities of the Israelites, and one lot for Azazel that he might bear the burden of Israel�s iniquity. This is the Azazel that is mentioned in the Scripture. The statement that �Azazel...[must] bear the burden of Israel�s iniquity� reflects back on God�s judgment of Azazel in Enoch 10:12 � All the earth has been corrupted by the effects of the teaching of Azazel. To him therefore ascribe the whole crime. Now, the other of the two goats in Leviticus 16, whose blood was carried inside the veil of the Most Holy Place, and sprinkled upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant �� that sacrificial lamb of the goats was symbolic of Jesus Christ being sacrificed for the sins of the world. The following passages make this clear: ...the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. Lev. 16:27 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Hebrews 13:11-12 According to Jewish tradition, the whole purpose of the Day of Atonement was/is twofold: 1) to effect a yearly purging of the sins of the people, and alternately, to condemn and reject those who refuse to repent; and 2) to foreshadow the ultimate Judgment of God upon all Creation in the Last Days. This latter symbolism of Yom Kippur is the subject of much of the book of Revelation. The redemption of Israel has been everlastingly fulfilled when Christ �redeemed us to God by [his] blood...[offered up within] the temple of the tabernacle of the testi-mony in heaven.� Rev. 5:9; 15:5; see Hebrews 8-9. Like with the archetypal Mosaic ordinance, the final event of the ultimate heavenly rite will take place when Azazel the scapegoat is permanently banished. This will be more fully explained below. The King of the Abyss As we saw above, Azazel was thrown into the Abyss (Bottomless Pit, Tartarus) during or just prior to the Flood. There he was to remain �unto the judgment of the great day,� Jude 6. We are now at the very eve of that day. Therefore, we should expect that Azazel will soon be loosed and emerge from his prison, prior to being sent to his eternal doom. Enoch 10:6, 8-9 speak of both his past-present and future abodes: 6 Again the Lord said to Raphael, Bind Azazel hand and foot; cast him into darkness; and opening the desert which is in Dudael, cast him in there. ... 8 There shall he remain for ever; cover his face, that he may not see the light. 9 And in the great day of judgment let him be cast into the fire. The book of Revelation speaks about a demon that fulfills these precise conditions, both past and present: 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star having fallen from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 And he opened the shaft of the Abyss; and there arose a smoke out of the shaft, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the shaft. 3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. ... 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the Abyss, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. [Both names mean Destroyer.] ... 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. ... 7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the Abyss shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. ... Continue Return to previous page Return to Index |