6) The Case for Azazel

No study of Lilith would be complete without a discussion of Azazel.  Azazel is a famous demon in First Enoch, the Zohar, and other ancient texts.  He is even mentioned in the Bible in Leviticus.  Today, Azazel is commonly assumed to be a Watcher, thanks largely to the influence of First Enoch.  Watchers were fallen angels who left their heavenly estate to have sexual relations with the daughters of Adam.  The result of these fornications were the Nephilim — a race of powerful angel-man hybrids that First Enoch states nearly pushed ordinary mankind to extinction before the flood.  However, a careful study of all the ancient texts – including First Enoch – reveals that Azazel was not a Watcher.  Rather he was a Nephilim seed of the Watchers.  Moreover, as we shall see, Azazel was no ordinary Nephilim.  He was not born to the daughters of Adam like his brethren.  Instead, he was the product of Lilith mating with Semjaza, the leader of the Watchers.  Thus, Azazel was less human than all the other Nephilim, and the most powerful.  He was even more powerful than his father Semjaza. 

The Yom Kippur ceremony of Leviticus demonstrates that Azazel is the legendary seed of the Serpent. Azazel’s role in the ceremony identifies him as a rival to Messiah.  God cursed the Serpent that its seed would bruise the heel of Eve’s promised seed (Messiah), but Eve’s seed in turn would crush the head of the Serpent Lilith and destroy her seed.  Azazel precisely mirrors this foiling role in Yom Kippur. Furthermore, God heaped upon the Serpent’s seed all the curses associated with the sins of Lilith and Lucifer in causing man to fall.  This heaping of all sin is repeated upon Azazel in Leviticus and First Enoch.  In Leviticus all the sins of Israel are placed upon the scapegoat sent to Azazel.  First Enoch says in regard to Azazel, “Ascribe to him the whole sin.” 

Identifying Azazel as the seed of the Serpent Lilith is largely a revolutionary idea outside of the Zohar.  Many who have not pondered the issue much may think the seed of the Serpent is Anti-Christ and is yet to come.  However, this cannot be the case.  The seed of the Serpent has already worked his most dastardly deed.  According to scripture, the seed of the Serpent must bruise the heel of Messiah.  This bruising was accomplished over 2000 years ago in Messiah’s self-immolation.  The seed of the Serpent must have existed at that time.  Any future Anti-Christ could be nothing more than a descendent or reemergence of that infamous seed. 

Undoubtedly, the biggest obstacle to proving Azazel is the seed of the Serpent is dispelling popular misconceptions about his nature due to hasty conclusions drawn from First Enoch.  Because of First Enoch, Azazel has long been considered a fallen Watcher, at least outside of Kabbalah.  In First Enoch Azazel suddenly appears after the Watchers began cavorting with women.  Readers naturally assume he is a late appearing Watcher.  This is an easy mistake to make.  For even though Azazel appears late, when he does suddenly show up, he is always at the forefront of all the Watchers’ sins.  Azazel also takes a dominate position over all the Watchers, even over Semjaza their leader.  Scholars have attempted to explain this bizarre transition of prominence from Semjaza to Azazel by various unsatisfactory means.  Some claim that later redactors of First Enoch clumsily edited together two versions of the story.  They hold that in one version the leader was Semjaza, in the other it was Azazel.  However, the true explanation requires no such hypothetical editing.  Close examination reveals that First Enoch never states that Azazel was a Watcher.  First Enoch treats Azazel quite differently than the Watchers, and his treatment is consistent with him being a seed of the Watchers.  Confusion about Azazel’s role arises, at least in part, because he is immensely powerful, even more so than the Watchers themselves. 

I am not alone in identifying Azazel as the seed of the Serpent Lilith.  The Zohar of Kabbalah implies Azazel is the seed of the Serpent.  A few old legends also hint at this possibility.  However, the most conclusive evidence for identifying Azazel as the seed of Lilith comes from the Bible itself.  Leviticus 16 states that the Yom Kippur scapegoat, upon whom was cast all the sins of Israel, was given “to Azazel”, whereas the goat who atoned for Israel was given “to Jehovah.”  By carefully studying the Yom Kippur ceremony and its spiritual symbolism, one reaches the conclusion that Azazel must be a rival to Messiah.  He therefore meets all the requirements for being the infamous seed of the Serpent.