2 Ch 28", one of the four ' heads of the children of Ephraim,' in the reign of I'ekah, who sujiported the proiihet Oded when he rebuked the army of Israel for purposing to enslave the captives of Judah. He and his fellows treated the captives kindly, and conducted them back to Jericho. 18, 19. 2 Ch 29''^ two Levites, a Koliathite and a Merarite. The son of the former, Joel, and the latter, were among those who took a leading part in cleansing the temple in the reign of Hezekiah. 20. Nell S'", one of those who rejtaired the wall of Jerusalem, probably a priest. 21. Neh 7', called Seraiah, Ezr 2'; Zacharias, 1 Es 5*; one of the twelve leaders of Israel who returned with Zerubbabel. 22. Neh 8' (LXX om. )j Azarias, 1 Es 9**, one of those who heli)ed the Levites to ' cause the people to understand the law.' 23. Jer 43', son of Hoshaiah (the Maacatliite, 40"), also called Jezaniah (4U", 42'), Jaazaniah (2 K 25''), etc. He was one of the 'captains of the forces' who joined Gedaliah at Mizpah. They warned him of his danger (Jer 40'^), and endeavoured to avenge his murder (41"). Hut, the assassin escaping, they feared lest they should be imjilicated in tlie affair, and prepared to llee into Egyjit. They then went through the fonn of consulting Jeremiah ; but when he advised them to stay in Jud.Ta, 'all the proud men' refused, and carried off the prophet to Egypt. 24. The Ileb. name of Abednego, Dn 1»- '•"•>" 2" (see Hananiah).
N. J. D. WiiiTK. AZARIAS ("Afap/as).— 1. 1 Es 9", called Uzziah, Ez 10". 2. 1 Es 9", one of tho.se who stood beside Ezra at the reading of the law : the name is omitt«d in Neh 8'. 3. 1 Es 9*", called Azariah, Neh 8'. 4. Name a-ssuined by the angel Kaiihael (To 5" 0»- " 7" 9'). S. A captain in the army of Judas Maccabams (1 Mac 6'"- "• "").
AZARU (1$ 'Afapos, A'Afovpot, AV Azuran), 1 Es 6". — The progenitor of a family of 432 who re- turned with Zerubbabel. There is no corresn. name in the lists of Ezr and Neh. He is |)erliai)s identical with Azzur (B 'ASo\Jp ; k A 'Afoilp) in Neii 10".
AZAZ (ijv), a Keubenite, the father of Bela (1 Ch 6»). See GENEALOGY.
AZAZEL (^!K!:?,). — The name of the spirit (Lv 16'- '''•"'), supposed to have its abode in the wilder- ness, to whom, on the Day of Atonement, the goat laden with the sins of the people was sent {ib. v.'""). 'Azazel is not mentioned elsewhere in OT ; but the name occurs in the Book of Enoch (2nd cent. B.C.) as that of the leader of the evil angels who (Gn U'- *) formed unions with the daughters of men, and (as the legend is developed in the Book of Enoch) taught them various arts, and whose offspring, the giants, tilled the earth with unright- eousness and ulood. On account of the wicked- ness wrought by 'Azazel upon earth, the four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael (9' Gr.), are represented as impeaching him before the Almighty, who thereupon (ch. 10)l)ids Raphael bind him hand and foot, and secure him, under ' rough and jagged rocks,' at a place in the desert called ' Dudael," until on 'the greatdayof judgment' he is cast into the fire.* Whether this legend is developed from the notice of 'Azazel in Lv, taken in connexion with the fact that the goat was actually, in the time of the Second Temple, led away to perish at the spot referred to, or whether the belief in the existence of such a spirit, bound in the wilderness, had already arisen at the time when the ceremonial of Lv 16 was framed, we do nut know : the latter alternative is supported by Cheyne (ZATW 1895, pp. 153-156), who supposes that the aim of this part of the ritual of the Day of Atonement was partly to provide the ignorant people with a visible token of the removal of the sins of the year, partly to abolish the cultus of the seirlm (Lv 17', 2 Ch ll'», 2 K 23* [reading onTi? he- goats, for D"ivci gates] ; cf. Is 13" 34"), by substitut- ing a single personal angel, 'Azazel (evil no doubt by nature, but rendered harmless by being bound), for the crowd of impersonal and dangerous se'irim. But whatever the precise attributes with which 'Azazel was invested at the time when the ritual of Lv 16 was framed, there can be little doubt that the ceremonial was intended as a symbolii^al declaration that the land and people are now purged from guilt, their sins being handed over to the evil spirit to whom they are held to belong, and whose home is in the desolate wilderness, remote from human habitations (v." 'into a land cut oil'). No doubt the rite is a survival from an older stage of popular belief, engrafted on, and accommodated to, the sacrificial system of the Hebrews. Eor the expulsion of evils, whether maladies or sins, from a community, by their being laid symbolically upon a material medium, there are many analogies in other countries (see J. G. Frazer, The Gulden Buuf/h, ii. 182fl'.).t The belief in goblins, or demons {jimi), haunting the wilder- ness and vexing the traveller, is particularly common in Arabia (see Wellhausen, iieste Arab. Ileidentums, pp. 135-140) J; in OT it is found in Lv 17', Is 13" 34" ('satyrs,' lit. he-goats, and Lilith, the night-monster). 'Azazel must have