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Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book
Chapter 14

1 The angel said to me: ["Abraham!" And I said: "Here I am, your servant." 2 And he said: "Know from now on that the Eternal One has chosen you, (He) whom you love; 3 take courage and use this authority, as I instruct you, against the one who slanders truth; 4 should I not be able to shame the one who has scattered over the earth the secrets of heaven and has rebelled against the Mighty One?⁠ 5 Say to him: Be the burning coal of the Furnace of the earth; go, Azazel, into the inaccessible parts of the earth;⁠ 6 [for your inheritance is (to be) over those who exist with you and are born with the stars and clouds, with the men who have you as their portion, and (who) exist through your being; 7 and your hostility is justification. So disappear from my presence through your own destruction." 8 And I said the words which the angel had taught me. 9 And he said: "Abraham!" And I said: "Here I am, your servant."] 10 And the angel said to me: "Do not answer him; for God has given him power (lit. will) over those who do answer him." 11 [And Azazel spoke to me a second time 12 and the angel said: "Now, however much he speaks to you, do not answer him, so that his will cannot act freely in you, 13 because the Eternal and Mighty One has given him weight and will; do not answer him." 14 I did what the angel commanded me;] and however much he spoke to me, I gave him no answer at all.

Texts in conversation

Compare Apocalypse of Abraham 14:6 and Yoma 67b

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Rabbinic

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Summary

The Apocalypse of Abraham links Azazel from Leviticus to the Watcher story and the rebel angels. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Yoma also ties Azazel to the scapegoat rite and to fallen angels like Uza and Azael, explaining his name from that tradition.

Passages

Apocalypse of Abraham 14:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And he said: "Know from now on that the Eternal One has chosen you, (He) whom you love; 3 take courage and use this authority, as I instruct you, against the one who slanders truth; 4 should I not be able to shame the one who has scattered over the earth the secrets of heaven and has rebelled against the Mighty One? 5 Say to him: Be the burning coal of the Furnace of the earth; go, Azazel, into the inaccessible parts of the earth; 6 [for your inheritance is (to be) over those who exist with you and are born with the stars and clouds, with the men who have you as their portion, and (who) exist through your being; 7 and your hostility is justification. So disappear from my presence through your own destruction." 8 And I said the words which the angel had taught me. 9 And he said: "Abraham!" And I said: "Here I am, your servant."]
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

Yoma 67b

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
The Gemara asks: And the other, what does he do with this word gezeira? The Gemara answers: He needs it for that which was taught in a baraita with regard to the word gezeira: Gezeira means nothing other than cut. That is, he must send the goat away to a place cut up by rocks standing upright and sticking out. Alternatively, gezeira is referring to nothing other than something that breaks apart and falls, a reference to the goat, which is torn limb from limb. Alternatively, the word gezeira is written lest you say the procedure of the scapegoat is a meaningless act, since what sanctity and atonement is achieved in sending the goat to Azazel and pushing it from the cliff? Therefore, the verse states: “I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:5), i.e., I, the Lord, decreed it [gezartiv], and you have no right to question it. Having clarified the reasoning of each opinion, the Gemara concludes its discussion of whether the limbs of the goat are permitted for benefit. Rava said: It is reasonable to rule in accordance with the one that said the limbs of the goat are permitted, since the Torah did not say: “And send the goat” to cause mishap. Once the man pushes the goat off the cliff, he is no longer responsible for it. Therefore, if it were prohibited to derive benefit from the goat’s remains, the mitzva itself could lead to a mishap if someone were to find the goat’s remains and make use of them. § The Sages taught: The word Azazel indicates that the cliff the goat is pushed from should be rough and hard. I might have thought that it may be located in a settled area. Therefore, the verse states: “In the wilderness.” And from where does one derive that the goat is pushed from a cliff? The verse states “gezeira,” indicating an area that is sharp, like a cliff. It was taught in another baraita: Azazel is a reference to the hardest mountain, and so it says: “And the mighty [eilei] of the land he took away” (Ezekiel 17:13). Azazel is interpreted as azaz-el, with the term el connoting something rough and hard. The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Azazel is so called because it atones for the actions of Uzza and Azael. These are the names of “sons of God” who sinned with “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2) and thereby caused the world to sin during the generation of the Flood.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Yoma

References

"... Several Qumran materials also appear cognizant of this angelological reinterpretation of the scapegoat figure when they choose to depict Azazel as the eschatological leader of the fallen angels, incorporating him into the story of the Watchers’ rebellion. Thus, 4Q180 1:1–10 reads ... Later rabbinic materials also link the sacrificial animal known from the scapegoat ritual to the story of the angelic rebels. Thus, for example, b. Yoma 67b records the following tradition: 'The School of R. Ishmael taught: Azazel — [it was so called] because it obtains atonement for the affair of Uza and Aza’el.' As can be seen, the conceptual link between the scapegoat and the fallen angel is documented in a number of important materials across a substantial span of history. A broad scholarly consensus now recognizes this connection ..."
Andrei Orlov, The Eschatological Yom Kippur in the Apocalypse of Abraham: Part I: The Scapegoat Ritual (Marquette Theology Faculty Research and Publications 85, 2009), 79–111.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Apocalypse of Abraham 14:6 and Yoma 67b

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