Azazel

In today’s world—especially given the influence of drama in the cinema and on television—it’s easy to imagine a “scapegoat” as just being a simple person. Either it’s someone truly guilty or, more likely, an innocent person framed for a set of wrong actions or circumstances but who is vindicated in the later part of the story.

By contrast, the scapegoat in the Bible, known as Azazel, was not selected in error. He represents Satan, of whom Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). He became the chief adversary of God and of all believers. The Azazel goat is sent into the wilderness once the sins of the people are, symbolically, placed on its head.

This in no way suggests that the Azazel goat—or Satan, who is bound after the Second Coming and the judgment—atones for the sins of all. That is given to the Lord’s goat, in the sanctuary application, and to Jesus during His life on earth and death on the cross. Jesus, and He alone, has paid the complete price and made the total atonement for our sins, and the sins of all who have ever, or will ever, live. It is, of course, up to each individual to accept Christ’s sacrifice so that they may be saved.

The Azazel goat is a symbol of Satan, the adversary of whom Peter warned, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The Bible says that this opponent of God’s people will see a sad, eternal end when he will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone” (Revelation 20:10).

Apply It:

As we consider God’s use of the Azazel goat as a type of Satan, whose ultimate destruction is assured, let’s give thanks for Jesus’ redemptive sacrifice on our behalf.

Dig Deeper:

Leviticus 16:20; Hebrews 9:22; Revelation 20:2, 3

Key Bible Texts

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. (Leviticus 16:8 KJV)