6.6) Summary of Evidences for Azazel

Below I have compiled twenty evidences from First Enoch, the Book of the Giants, Leviticus 16, and the Zohar that Azazel was not a Watcher, but rather the firstborn seed of the Serpent Lilith with the Watchers. 

  1. First Enoch never explicitly states that Azazel is a Watcher or angel.
  2. Semjaza mating with Lilith provides an explanation for the mysterious sin Semjaza must commit and the strange oaths he extracts from the other Watchers atop Mount Hermon in First Enoch 6:3. This is especially valid when one considers the anti-parallels of the events with the legend of Asterah. 
  3. In First Enoch 6:7 Azazel is not listed as one of original leaders of the Watchers before their fornications with women.
  4. In First Enoch 8:1-2, immediately following the Watcher’s sexual relations with women, Azazel is listed as the foremost figure in the Watcher’s sin. Azazel being a Watcher cannot explain his sudden prominent appearance, but being a seed of the Watchers can. 
  5. First Enoch 10:8 ascribes all the sin of the Watcher’s crime to Azazel. This is not consistent for a Watcher who was not even present at the start of Watcher’s downfall.  However, this is consistent with Azazel’s role in the Bible’s Yom Kippur ceremony, which identifies him as the infamous seed of Eden’s Serpent, Lilith, upon whom are placed all the sins of Israel. 
  6. In First Enoch 9:6, Azazel is testified against by God’s angels first and separately from “Semjaza and his associates” in the next two verses. This implies Azazel is not an associated of Semjaza (i.e. a Watcher).  This also implies Azazel is not under the authority of Semjaza, who the next verse reminds us is the leader of the Watchers.  Thus, Azazel cannot be a Watcher, and his sin is again more prominent than the Watchers.
  7. In First Enoch 9:6, the angels do not accuse Azazel of fornication with the daughters of man, but Semjaza and his fellow Watchers are in the next verses. Azazel is merely blamed for instructing man in unrighteousness.  This is consistent with Azazel not being an angel or Watcher, since all Watchers pledged by solemn oath upon Mount Hermon to go onto the daughters of man.  Note that if Azazel was the seed of the Watchers and had sexual relations with women, he still would not have be accused of this act by the angels, because any seed of the Watchers would not be under any heavenly prohibition as their fathers were. 
  8. In First Enoch 10:4-6, the angels punish Azazel before the Watchers, along with the Watcher’s other seed. This early punishment is consistent with him being the seed of the Watchers.  A key element to the Watcher’s punishment was to witness the demise of all their seed. 
  9. In First Enoch 10:4-6, Azazel’s special and heavy punishment being first before all other seed of the Watchers, is consistent with him being a firstborn seed of the Watchers.
  10. In First Enoch 10:4-6, Azazel being the first punished precludes him from being a Watcher. He would not be able to witness the demise of his seed, per the judgment laid out against the Watchers. 
  11. First Enoch 10:6-7 states that when Azazel is cast into the lake of fire, this will heal the earth of the angel’s corruption upon it. The angel’s corruption upon the earth is their Nephilim  This again suggests Azazel is the foremost seed of the Watchers. 
  12. In First Enoch 10:8, Azazel is once again not accused of fornication with the daughters of man, but Semjaza and his associates are in just a few verses. Azazel is only accused of teaching man unrighteousness.  (See #6)
  13. In First Enoch 10:9, Azazel suffers an individual punishment at the hand of an angel who is different from the one commissioned to punish all the Watcher’s seed of “fornication.” This fornication is specifically the sexual acts of the Watchers with the daughters of Adam.  Note that given Azazel is a seed of the Watchers, his not being included in this category suggests Azazel’s mother was not a daughter of Adam.  In which case she could only be Lilith.
  14. In First Enoch 10:11, Azazel is again not included with “Semjaza and his associates.” This again implies Azazel is not a Watcher.
  15. In First Enoch 13:1, when Enoch is commanded by God to confront the fallen Watchers and their seed, Enoch confronts Azazel separately and first from the Semjaza and his fellow Watchers.
  16. In First Enoch 13:1-2, Enoch does not charge Azazel with the sin of having sexual relations with women, as God earlier commanded Enoch to do to the Watchers on his mission. Rather, Enoch accuses Azazel only of teaching man unrighteousness.  This is consistent with Azazel not being a transgressing Watcher. 
  17. In First Enoch 13:3, Azazel is not present at a gathering where all the Watchers are said to be present.
  18. In a fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls’ Book of the Giants, Azazel is treated as a peer to the Nephilim seed of the Watchers. The fragment implies that Azazel’s linage is more polluted and deserving of punishment than the giants’ linage, which was the product of Watchers mating with the daughters of Adam.  From this, it may be inferred that Azazel’s linage was the product of Lilith mating with the Watchers.
  19. Vayetze 116 of the Zohar indicates that the secret of Azazel is that he is the “unholy filth” in whom is “joined together” the male rider with the female Serpent, Lilith. “Unholy filth” suggests the result of sexual acts.  This indicates that Azazel is the resulting seed of the Serpent Lilith mating a male inseminating spirit.  
  20. Azazel’s role in Yom Kippur ceremony of Leviticus 16 indicates he is the Serpent’s infamous seed. This is because of the parallelism between the Yom Kippur ceremony and the bitter water trial of the Sotah, of whom the first archetype was the Serpent, Lilith.