LEVITICUS 17:1-7

Q: They are told they must no longer offer their sacrifices to goat idols. The Daily Bible 

footnote says “or demons.” Can you elaborate on what is meant by this?  

This is actually a complicated question that scholars are still debating, and it is closely related to a 

proper understanding of the “scapegoat” in the previous chapter.  In Leviticus 16, a goat “designated 

for azazel” is chosen to carry away the sins of the people into the wilderness. Depending on the 

possible origins of this rare word, it may mean: going away or removed, the wilderness region to 

which the goat goes, a goat-demon who inhabits that region, destined for destruction, or a precipice 

from which the goat is pushed. As George Wenham states, whatever the meaning, “it all comes back 

to the same basic idea: that sin is exterminated from Israel.” (The Book of Leviticus, p. 235) 

One of these above interpretations may reflect on Leviticus 17:7 (which literally says “goat” only): 

namely, the belief in a goat demon named Azazel living in the wilderness. The main problem with 

this interpretation is that it seems to imply that the scapegoat was sacrificed to this demon in order 

to remove the sins of the people. This is inconsistent with everything we are taught in Scripture and 

is directly contradicted by the prohibition in Leviticus 17:7 which says we should not worship “goat 

demons.”  Such goat demons were actually later incorporated into Israelite worship by King Jereboam

 (II Chronicles 11:15), and the popular non-canonical Book of Enoch features Azazel as a powerful 

fallen angel. In addition, Isaiah mentions goat demons twice (13:21-22 and 34:14) as inhabiting 

wilderness areas. One way (but not the only one) of putting all these pieces together is to recognize 

that demonic forces, pictured with goat-like features, were worshiped at one time or another by the 

Jews and neighboring peoples. However, the Scapegoat ceremony outlined in Leviticus 16 should 

not at all be construed as meaning that the people were giving an offering to such a god-demon. 

Instead, “the goat took the sins of Israel back to their place of origin [the wilderness where demonic 

forces were concentrated], breaking their binding and oppressive power.” (New International 

Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, I, p. 850)

It is interesting, and not coincidental, that demonic beings such as satyrs, the nature god Pan, and 

Satan himself were all commonly pictured having the legs of goats.