Don’t forget the ram. Maybe we should revisit this when Yom Kippur rolls around again? The whole “for Azazel” problem is a perennial fave. Milgrom’s Leviticus commentary notes that the most common ancient view is that “Azazel” is the name of a demon, which he finds the most plausible. I agree. The goat is not referred to as a sacrifice, but rather as the vehicle used to dispatch Israel’s impurities (transferred onto its head by the High Priest) into the wilderness, the haunt of demons.
Three sacrifices. A bull and two goats.
Is there a significance simply in the number, 3 ?
The goat driven into the wilderness is the one chosen by lot, “for Azazel”. What is the meaning of that goat? Why make any provision for Azazel?
RCB
Don’t forget the ram. Maybe we should revisit this when Yom Kippur rolls around again? The whole “for Azazel” problem is a perennial fave. Milgrom’s Leviticus commentary notes that the most common ancient view is that “Azazel” is the name of a demon, which he finds the most plausible. I agree. The goat is not referred to as a sacrifice, but rather as the vehicle used to dispatch Israel’s impurities (transferred onto its head by the High Priest) into the wilderness, the haunt of demons.