• Of. 54^^- 6M, 6^ and 81, which also mention 'Azazel, but treat him not an flrBt but on tenth in command, are considered by l>illm. aniit'Iiur)es(A'MorA, ]>, (U)to lielonjj to a later stratum of the worit. Tile tlrst part of tiie mime I>iula-el has been ingeniously exi>Iained i)V i'-vust-r (Jii/t. Ztitc/ir. 18(34-18115, p. 201) as a cor- niiitioii of iiadiuio in ' ItdiU lladiidO' ^'place of stiarp rocks'), tile place V2, miles from Jems., to wnich, occonliiii' to the Miahn:i O'oinn ciW- «), the Targ. of Ps.-Jon. (on Lv 10i»-22), ond other authoritieH, the j{oat was led on the I)ay of Atonement, and preciiiitjtled over the rocks that it mi)<ht nerish. lifih lloilu'fo rum been identilled, with (;reat probability, with a ruined site now called Bt'l-hwlfilttn, on tne edj^e of a chalk range, overhanging' a 8t<.'ep and rncky chasm, nearly due K. of Jems., and at the required distance (Sdiick, ZDFV, 1880, p. '218).
\ In the OT the aim of the rite described In Lv 14«f- •' » (the living bird lei loose in the ritual of purillcation ofter leprosy) is prnbablv niinilur (liilhn. p. 63:!; Nowock, Arch. il. 2Ulf.: W. U. Snulh, UH. .Vem.'p. iTl).
J The gttiil ('suriiriser' ; plur. 'aqhxrAt) wa« one of them (Lane. Arab. Ltce. p. 2911). See also Hmith, Ret. Stm.* p. IMfL
208
AZAZIAH
AZZUR
been such a spirit, sufficiently distinguished from the rest, in popular imagination, to receive a special name, and no doubt invested with attributes which, though unknown to us, were perfectly familiar to those for whom the ceremonial of Lv 16 was lirst designed.
The meaning of the name is very uncertain. No root Sij; is known in Hebrew ; but 'azala in Arab, means to remove, place far apart ; hence it has been conjectured that the name may have signified the averterol evil (Ges. ),* or have denoted a spirit, supposed to separate travellers in the desert from their companions, or divert them from their way (Steiner, and, with some reserve, Dillm.).t Cheyne considers that the name was originally W'\2, 'God is strong' (cf. tn;i!i; 1 Ch 15-'), t but that it was afterwards deliberately altered, to conceal the true derivation of tha fallen angel's name.§
LiTERATCRB.— 0€8. Thet. ».«. (p. 1012 f.); Dillm. on Lt 168; Nowack, Arch, ii. 186 f. (where further references are ^ven) : also Ewald, Alt. p. 479 f. ; Lehre von Gott, ii. 2911.; Oehler, OT Theol. i 140 ; Schultz, OT Thtol. i. 403-406.
S. R. Driver. AZ&ZIAH (w;!!!?,). — 1. A Levite musician who took part in the proceedings when David brought up the ark to Jems. (1 Ch 15-'). 2. The father of Hoshea the prince of Ephraim when David numbered the peojile (1 Ch 27-'"). 3. An overseer of the temple in Hezekiah's reign (2 Ch 31").
AZBUK (piaiB Neh 3").— Nehemiah, the son of A., took part in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.
AZEKAH (njjiy 'a place hoed over'). — A city of Judah, named Jos 10'"-", 1 S 17', 2 Ch 11», Neh ll**. It was evidently near the valley of Elah and near Gath, and was a frontier fortress of Rehoboam. The Jews inhabited it ' and the villages thereof ' after the Captivity. The later notices would agree with a site in the south, where the name might be traced at Tell el 'Azek ; but this would not suit the earlier notices. The name El 'Azek is stated to occur in the hills north of the valley of Elah, but
• AverruruMt. So Olsh. $ 188», Stede, i 124", treating azd'zil ftj9 (anomalously) softened from the intensive form 'azalzet.
t The form of the word is peculiar, and resembles one of the tjTies of Arab, 'broken,* or collective, plurals. This was re- marked long ago by Bochart (Hieroz. i. 750. — with many examples), though he atssigned to it an improbable meaning : Steiner (Schenkel, liibellex. v. 599), adopting the same sug- gestion, but interpreting more probably, conjectures that originally 'azdzU was a collective designation of such spirits of the desert (from a sing. 'azrd^ ; Wriglit, .4r. (rraTmn. i. § 305, II.), and that it only gradually became the name of a single spirit.
t Not only Gabriel and Michael in Dn, but also many of the other names of angels in the Book of Enoch, are compounded with Kl ' CJod ' (Ariel, Raphael, Kokabiel, Taraiel, etc. : see vi, 7).
ij The rendering of AV gcape-goat, inherited from the 'Great HiMe' of l.S.'J9, may be traced back through Seb. Miinster I.' cAper abiturus'), Coverdale ('the free goat'), Luther ('der ledige Bock*), and Jerome ("caper emissarius') to the rpayot Lwtpx^fMvtt (v.'o «^<i>i*o<) of S>'Qimachus(2nd cent.) ; but implies « derivation (SlNJi^rrSlK \\!_ 'the gmTig goat') opposed to the arenius of the Heb. language (which does not form such com- pounds), besides being mconsistent with the marked antithesis between for 'A zazft and for Jehovah, which does not leave it open to doubt that the former is conceived as a personal being. to whom (cf. V.2' ) the goat is sent. The Targ. of Pa. -Jon. (on v.i») and other Jewish authorities interpret 'Azazel as the name of the ' strong and difficult place* (Tpi "j'pn inK,— Implying the Tiew that the first part of the word waa in some way connected with ^V »trong) in the wildemeas to which the goat wa« sent :